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Captain's Blog - 23rd September 2010

Tenessee provided us with a 5/1 winner at Kempton last night which follows on from a 6/1 strike at Beverley on Tuesday. I was delighted with the win and hope you followed me in. My delight at getting another one through the hoop was somewhat diminished by a critical email suggesting that it was unbelievable that Racing folk such as myself and Dave Nevison did not know anything about Racehorse transport in the 19th century! Indeed the critical missive went on to suggest that to not have any knowledge of this subject was somewhat unprofessional. I apologise for not having researched this at some point in my life, but to be honest I am not really bothered how a horse got to the races in the 1830’s. The history of Horseracing is very interesting but it does not energise me in any way. If that sort of thing interests you then the Internet will provide you with a wealth of information and I suggest you spend your time doing some research rather than criticising us in offensive emails. Clearly tipping a 5/1 winner is not enough for some people. Other than that the show last night was very enjoyable and we did receive some interesting and thought provoking missives and I would like to thank all our contributors for those.

I said last night that I would write about the incident at Perth yesterday when some people felt Sam Twiston Davis eased down prematurely on Mad Moose in the last race and ended up finishing second beaten two lengths. The horse was backed at 1.01 on betfair for a shed load of money and many people have suggested that in taking no action the Perth stewards have brushed the issue under the carpet. We received emails last night on the subject, some were very critical of the jockey and stewards and some felt that the horse was beaten on merit. Last night I had not seen the race but I have reviewed it now and am of the opinion that Sam Twiston Davis did momentarily stop riding and spent too much time looking over his shoulder but that it made no difference to the result, after all he was not beaten by a nose or a head, he was beaten two lengths. His horse was tired and hanging left jumping the last and found nothing once shaken up on the run in. I cannot see that Twiston Davis actually contravened any rules and although the 1.01 backers were stung they should be blaming their poor race reading techniques rather than jockey error. What I would say is that Twiston Davis needs to be more focussed and professional, he should not have looked over his shoulder as often as he did and he should not at any stage have stopped riding which he did for three strides, the result was unaffected but it was unprofessional. Finally on this watch the review and as Mad Moose gets to the line his head is in the air, I would summise he found nothing for pressure because he was gasping for air and may have a problem in terms of his wind. I am not brushing this under the carpet I am analysing it as I see it and I have watched it half a dozen times now, it sure beats researching horse transport in the dark ages.

Right enough is enough. Its time to get to the Gym for me. Have a good one.

Todays Selections

3.30 Pontefract – Bosun Breeze (each way 5/1 Stan James )