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Captain's Blog - 15th December 2010

There was a good deal of consternation in various quarters over the ride Shane Kelly gave Faithful Duchess yesterday at Southwell. Essentially this horse traveled strongly through the race and cruised up to the leader at the furlong pole before failing to find anything off the bridle. Kelly has been criticised for not kicking on sooner on a surface that normally suits grinders rather than quickeners. Many believe he would have won if he had gone for this horse earlier, which is a supposition that presumes Faithful Duchess actually wants to go into a higher gear at any time in a race. Evidence from her previous runs suggests she does not give her all and thus, it mattered not a jot when Kelly asked her to go and win her race. She is a difficult ride and is not genuine and with such horses the best thing to do is keep them on the bridle as long as possible, give them less time to think about turning it in by putting them under pressure for the shortest amount of time possible. If you put the gun to such a horses head a long way from home you simply give the horse longer to chuck the towel in and in effect will be beaten further. Instead of criticising Kelly he should be praised for getting Faithful Duchess as close to winning a race as she has ever been. It was in fact an excellent ride that attempted to get the best out of a dodgepot. If Kelly had put her under pressure at the two furlong pole she would have been beaten further because she would have had 400 yards to give up. Her career record now reads 0/15 and this is not the first time she has found a way to lose. To believe she should have won yesterday is to simply read the race incorrectly and to those who vehemently disagree, well they can back her next time out and the following time and the following time until she finally wins, I wish you well with that particular project!

I will be in the studio today to present all the action from Kempton today for which Eddie Freemantle will be my guest. The first race comes up at 3.55pm and there is some decent action for us to get stuck into with a Listed race being the feature. The form I am in at the moment I think I will be leaving all the analysis to Eddie which is probably always a wise move but at the moment I couldn’t tip the proverbial out of a wheelbarrow. I will stick to getting the show from A to B and reading out your mails and leave the winner finding to my better qualified co-presenter. As ever send your missives to [email protected] .

I am going to head to the Gym shortly for my second session this week which will make it a better week than last when I failed to do anything. At this time of year when there is plenty of Christmas cheer around I really do need to try and keep the ever expanding waistline in control.

I shall return tomorrow with a preview of the Christmas Party! Bet you can’t wait!

Today's Selection

2.05 Newbury – Eyre Square (each way 9/2 Blue Square )

12.55 Newbury – Red Merlin (each way 7/1 Bet365 )