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Captain's Blog - 13th November 2010

As much as I enjoyed Cheltenham yesterday I was just as happy to see Halsion Chancer win for us yesterday at Lingfield. He was returned at 7/2 but was available at 9/2 earlier on in the day and I hope you got involved. I certainly did and my bet on John Best’s horse made up for some poor decision making at Cheltenham.

Looking back on the action at Cheltenham you could not fail to be impressed by the performance of Cue Card. On only his second start over hurdles he was slick and fast over the majority of his hurdles and was far too fast between the hurdles for his rivals. Indeed he hardly came off the bridle. Bookmaker and the shrewdest judges in the land were quick to hail him as already having achieved the necessary standard of form to win a Supreme Novices Hurdle at the Festival. They base this assumption on the vanquished, whose ratings and the margin by which they were beaten can be used to come up with a number somewhere around 153. This is all well and good but does depend on the vanquished having actually run to their ratings? They may well have done and as such the performance of Cue Card was exceptional, but there still needs to be some caution applied to an analysis of this performance. I am sure the Tizzard’s will have a plan of attack for this horse, but if he were mine I would run him just one more time before the Festival and keep him fresh. He has a great deal of enthusiasm for the job and too much racing will only serve to blunt that zest from which all his speed comes from.

I am in the Studio today, but before that I will be presenting Mark Your Card with Dave Nevison. We go on air at 11.30pm and will be linking up with the guys on course at Cheltenham. This means getting on the road fairly early which is probably a good thing given that there is a Rugby International at Twickenham today and the traffic on my route to work can be horrendous when the kick and clap brigade come out to play. If I leave at around 10.00am there should be no problem though.

I am looking forward to today as the Racing is excellent and there should be plenty of opportunities to nick a few quid. I am particularly interested in Sam Winner in the first, simply because Ruby Walsh seemed to be so keen on this horse when I interviewed him. He has ridden this horse at home and seemed very impressed with him. He is not known to us because all of his racing to date has been done in France, but his level of form at decent French tracks entitles him tom plenty of respect. Incidentally during my chat with Ruby I got the distinct impression that he is gutted to be missing the ride on Tataniano on Sunday, you have been warned!

I have just switched over from the BBC news to the Morning Line where our very own Nick Luck is hosting. He will also be representing on course during Mark Your Card, it’s a busy life for our Mr Luck but he loves it.

Right I am going to get ready for today. Some mates of mine are going to Twickenham and want a lift to Teddington and I need to get to the office to go through the running order for Mark Your Card.

Take plenty of water with it !

Today's Selection

12.50 Cheltenham – Sam Winner (each way 9/2 Betfred )

3.10 Cheltenham – Pistolet Noir (each way 11/1 Stan James )