Only a very small interest in Kentford Mallard in this mares’ handicap hurdle. Fell early at Plumpton on seasonal return, that looked a good race for the grade though. Ran well to finish 2nd at Chepstow over 2 miles next time. Both her wins so far come over around 2 and half miles so step back up in trip is a positive, and this is a really weak race. She only has 2 wins from 19 though, so not one for maximum faith, that’s why only a small bet.
Of her main rivals, Havacuppa landed a gamble at Uttoxeter in March, but I think she might need the run. Furia d’Oudairies finished 4th of 7 in a similar race to this over c&d on her return, 2 lbs lower and fitter now, I can’t see her not finishing in first 3 but needs to improve to win, she is one to include in forecasts/tricasts though.
Just Henny hasn’t shown much so far, but it is her handicap debut and she is prominent in betting so could be interesting. The two that are not without hope at big prices are, Bluebell Sally and Kalaya. Bluebell Sally ran very well for a long way before eventually finishing 4th in the novice handicap (2 mile 6 furlongs) on this card last year. 9 lbs lower than that today and interesting that she has shortened from 28/1 to 12/1 this morning. Other one Kalaya is interesting at 25/1 because there are lots of different things happening with her today. She is going up in trip for first time, and wearing cheekpieces for first time, and Brendan Powell who rode her on her only placed run (25/1) is back on board. And she is actually 17 lbs better off with the favourite Havacuppa for finishing 25 lengths behind her at Uttoxeter.
So, not a race to go mad in. Small win bet on Kentford Mallard for me but I am also covering 4 horses mentioned (Kentford Mallard, Furia d’Oudairies, Bluebell Sally and Kalaya) in forecasts & tricasts, hoping for a big return from small investment.
Correct thing to do on this occasion I think.....could not blame anyone for avoiding that fence with horse stricken just after!
Common sense prevails Donb
It turned out to be a bad race for me as I had laid Dharma Rain for a place, it had no chance at the time of incident. I was annoyed but have had time to calm down and just put it down to bad luck. But it doesn’t take away from how farcical it was. I have seen the replay, and you can clearly see groundsmen with signs in middle of track not a long distance away from the hurdle. So I don’t blame the jockeys as I think they did the right thing to avoid possible injury to the men, as it would have been difficult to judge the distance in poor visibility, even Jack Tudor, jockey of Dharma Rain, initially goes left to go around but as he was last he had more time to decide and straightened the horse to jump the hurdle. What would have happened if he too had gone around? It would have been a void race?
Among all this, I can’t find any mention of condition of injured horse Bluebell Sally in any reports, I hope she was ok.
Well I was watching and the jockeys were rightly disqualified . Irrelevant of the chap with the sign. If the fence was not to be jumped the chap would have placed the board's before the hurdle.rules are rules . You drive the wrong way down a one way street or go through a red light or go speeding past a camera. Yes I can see people getting frustrated but the jockeys were at fault.
Agree Mr P. Rules (which in normal course of life are there to be circumnavigated when are stupid or flawed) alas have to be adhered to in sporting rules until changed.
Maybe so, it’s still shambolic though when a horse is well beaten but still awarded the race, there needs to be some common sense applied. And a chap standing bang in middle of the course with an arrow sign is not the best way to handle these situations, I really think he would have risked injury if all the horses jumped and were coming at him at full speed.