Tweet

racing news / angus mcnae's blog /

Angus McNae - Saturday 2nd February

With all of this rain about and abandoned meetings galore there has been little chance for lovers of the National Hunt game to flex their muscles of late. If it ever stops raining for a week their day will come and when it does surely the big angle in will be to look for horses who want decent ground but over the last few weeks have been racing through water and mud.

Trainers have had to run their horses when they have had the chance to do so and inevitably this will have meant that some fast ground horses have run on unsuitable ground and will have performed below par.

They are the gems at the end of the rainbow that could brighten us all up in the new future, if of course we ever get enough sun for a rainbow to materialise.

I have to admit that an all-chase card at Sandown on heavy ground fills me with fear as far as punting is concerned.

Most people will be pleased to see Captain Conan strut his stuff in the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase.

He is clearly a young chaser of promise, but I am not sure that nearly two and a half miles on heavy ground will suit him. His two chase wins have been over two miles and his pedigree has plenty of speed in it.

Visually he has looked as if two and a half miles may suit him, but there is no guarantee anywhere in his form that he will get the trip.

One thing that he has going for him, apart from his obvious talent, is a small field that he may simply outclass. I will not be backing him in the conditions, but then again I suspect the conditions everywhere will persuade me to keep my money in my pocket today.

One thing that has brightened up my day enormously is that the Super League season has started. Never mind that Six Nations kick and clap nonsense, proper rugby is back and I cannot wait to sit down with a cold beer tonight to watch the mighty St Helens play Huddersfield this afternoon.

I have been waiting for this day for two months and hopefully the Saints boys will not let me down. In terms of punting I have one bet for you this Super League season, and it is a lay of Wigan to finish top of the league after the regular season.

They have lost a lot of players who occupied key positions and have replaced them with youngsters. Whilst they will win more games than they will lose I cannot see them being good enough to finish top and consequently they are my lay of the season.

I apologise if I have put a downer on your day with my negativity about the rain, but this wet weather is doing my head in – and probably everyone else’s associated with this great game of ours. I promise to return more positively on Thursday with a look ahead to the action from Meydan.