I am glad you only laid him small Tolmi and I must confess to being worried all the way round as I thought he was never well placed and except for a small period never travelling well but he was two stone well in and that's the handicappers fault.
Tolmi is probably correct when he says he won't get too much of a rise bit if I was handicapper I would clobber him.I would raise him first for the win then for not trying in Navan and finally to correct the wrong hurdle mark.
Some look on it as a horse being well placed which it is but it is hardly fair on the horses just behind him but it is also a reflection on our lazy handicapper who doesn't seem to look at the races just do it by plain ratings.

I have to say he's not one i would have been looking to take on 27 lbs better off is too much imo, crazy how Noel does not make some sort of conservative adjustment giving his recent form over the bigger fences.

The run in the Navan hurdle was just a preparatory run to get him ready for the Paddy Power chase,They have been playing ducks and drakes with the handicapper with Colbert Station,they landed their gamble today but it would be ironic if this and their preparatory Navan run would cause them to lose the ultimate prize due to inexperience.

I never used the word stopped but in my post this morning I said " having a look " and " preparatory run " but accept that saying " not trying " is not accurate.

Has to be Royal Reveille.
I like Ted and the Walsh family,genuinely don`t get why Ruby is so unpopular but for a man who makes a living in broadcasting he does seem to do what he likes with his horses.

Agreed as Roi Du Mee was another handicap blot but i did correct the not trying bit.

We have been spoiled by horses being two and three stone well in so not as confident as in the other cases but they are still well in,ten pounds is good but not hurled in,I will back the two of them but for smaller stakes.

Quartetto was 15lbs lower over hurdles than fences as well today and got beaten a HD, they don't always translate the improvement they have shown over fences back over hurdles hence the 2 different marks

Romanesco - respiratory tract infection

Quartetto - simply a pig who didn't want to win [that one is my opinion ]

theres nothing mysterious about that, it often happens.
you would have to scope beforehand to find out and you cant blame trainers for not doing that as i believe it can make a horses throat quite sore and i suppose if that happens could also bring on an infection.

Summer Star is a good example of the laziness of the handicapper,this mare won her two bumpers was then beaten in a third by Glens Melody,she then ran in a hurdle race in Sligo where she was never put into the race,this was followed by a debacle at the start of a Limerick maiden hurdle.
Her next few runs are so bad you would have to question what was going on but because our handicapper does it solely on ratings he believes it and gives her a 98 rating result a return to form and gamble landed.
I didn't back it as I wasn't sure it was a going day but at least Workrider was on.

He could disregard her runs when she was blatantly not trying.
There is a grey area here as I think he has some discretion but I would certainly welcome Stellar Manipulators view and indeed some clarification from yourself Tolmi.
I would say there was a monster corpulent gamble on it with the price of a Maltese Falcon being earned.

If the gamble was Maltese Falcon inspired it would be on course mainly with some off course bookies as well,he is in dispute with this exchange.

I take that point would be interested if anyone knows whether she was heavily gambled.

Presumably this on course pal is a bookie when he is using phrases like our books but where was he when you failed to mention a single bookie that was operating at the Sligo meeting you pretended to be at.

There was a gamble alright and I would wager that it was Maltese Falcon inspired.

I will be there both days if its on but funnily enough that obsessed nocturnal lunatic friend of yours would know if there was a significant gamble on Summer Star as he has some knowledge of betting,if only you could stop his hallucinations.

Tolmi is right when he says that the handicapper can only go on the evidence of the formbook but WMFB is also correct in suggesting that the Handicapper has some discretion on whether to handicap a horse like Summer Star or not and obviously inaction on the part of the Stewards would surely play a factor in that ? The problem with raising Colbert Stations hurdle mark after he improves over fences is that he has got beaten off marks of 114.115 and 119 in handicap hurdles (before his recent win off 119). If he does what WMFB suggests and raises the horse a stone or two over hurdles on the basis of his improved chase form , I would have thought that Ted Walsh would have an open and shut handicap appeal on that reassessment in the absence of the express discretion the BHA Handicappers have to do just that ( and which the Turf Club handicappers dont have ). So it is not laziness on their part , simply an appreciation of what you are allowed to do and what you are not allowed to do. And trainers can and do appeal in these situations as I am led to believe DKW did in relation to Vintage Crop when NOB apparently reassessed his hurdle mark after he improved massively on the flat . ( I think he won too )

i think rocket had a feeling you were banned for having a go at him....he said his mates in betfair towers ..his words , looked after their better customers ...good to see the poor deluded lad was wrong again....

Yesterday should read Saturday