A ray of hope
Feb 11th, 2008 by Bert
A poor day on Saturday on all fronts. Swindon lost to an early goal in a tight match with few chances, which following on from last weeks draw against Northampton makes the play-offs look a bit distant again. Gary and Jamie Moore won the big race, and of course Jamie would have been riding Mon Michel had we made the race, which suggests we would have had an excellent chance. Chances to win races like this are rare and it’s a shame to miss one. My other fancies all fared badly.
Still onwards and upwards. I have one going today in the 1:40 at Plumpton - Hope Road - and I give him a pretty good chance in what is probably an above average juvenile by Plumpton standards. He got stuck in the mud last time - we thought he’d handle it but the ground was totally bottomless and it was too much for him. He was eased when beaten so coming out again after 18 days ought to be ok. The jockey was very positive last time. There’s a couple of decent types in the race but nothing outstanding, and the ground is probably exactly what he wants. Most of the boxes are ticked here.
6 Responses to “A ray of hope”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I really thought hope road was going to win quite easily turning for home.
I didt think the jockey gave him a good ride either
Any thoughts?
I watched this one in the local Ladbrokes; I don’t like to criticise jockeys but I’d have to agree with micko - it looked as though the starter just decided to let them go any old fashion and very quickly Noble Road was twenty lengths off the pace at the back of the field. Given the way the horse came through to be beaten five lengths, you’d have to wonder what might have happened if he hadn’t conceded so much ground at the start.
It looked like it was No Hope Road when he was well behind by 20lengths or so. I didnt watch race but listened to commentary but i was left wondering ihf he could have won if the rider had been nearer instead of out the back door. Therre may be Hope in the Hope Road yet with a better ide me thinks.
anychance of finding out about Nick Giffords new horse Nomecheki entered for the ARKLE, IS THIS DARK HORSE 3 runs 3 wins in france
Timmy Murphy rode pretty much to instruction - Tom told him to lay back off the pace and come with a late run. If Sweetheart had tied up we would have won impressively and comfortably - as it was she found more and we never got there.
He may have timed his run a touch too late but I don’t blame him for that, and neither does Tom (who was himself a jockey and can be very scathing of bad rides when he sees them). It’s tough timing a run from that far back and he didn’t know how much the leader would find or how quick Hope Road would pick up. I’m comfortable with it.
Christine - I’ll find out when I next speak to Nick.
Sweetheart is a really useful horse and really stays the trip, trading at 7s on the home bend Sweetheart really battled hard and put her head down. The strong pace did for a few and it looked like Hope Road might pick off the winner , the result was about right as ridden any closer the winner would probably still have outstayed Hope Road. I rate the winner about 118 + reckon you will get a mark of about 109 to 112 with a bit of luck and a quiet third run you will get less. The time wasnt great for the course but was the best of the 2 mile hurdles on Monday so a mark around 108/110 and you will win plenty of races.