Bert’s Horseracing Blog

Shawhill goes up to York to run in a competitive little listed handicap.  She’s the outsider of five, and I fancy her to go very well.

There are a lot of imponderables here;

• She’s never raced on ground as soft as this
• … or over a distance as long as this
• Last time she won she was on a mark of 67, 23 lbs lower than today
• The jockey has never sat on her before
• She’s had a lot of racing and could be over the top

All of the above are concerns - the biggest concern is simply that she may well not be good enough at this level. 

None of these things worry me - I love the horse and I think she’ll win.  I’ve owned her for a while now, but other than the odd small bet I’ve never backed her - initially we didn’t know a lot about her and her last two runs have bee in France.  I’ve backed her today.  Expect her to run prominently alongside the favourite.

Captain Hurricane ran a poor race yesterday.  I haven’t given up on him - we know he has talent and we just have to hope that one day he’ll return to form.