Sunday Reflection

The William Haggas trained Take A Breath reappears in the finale at Newmarket on Sunday and looks certain to go off favourite in the Class 4 fillies only handicap.

She won a weak handicap at Doncaster on her reappearance in a race where the merit of the win has not been tested. She was put up 7lb for that win which seems plenty, she is also up in grade and has yet to be proven on the undulations of Newmarket.

All that makes the likely price of 2/1 or under poor value and I am happy to let her justify her new rating ( or not ) without financial involvement.

Nothing else of interest on a No Bet Day

A poor Saturday in general for punters and we were no different , especially with the 4pt Max Bet Ides of March who ran below expectations after a poor break .

But the winner Symbol of Honour showed himself to be Group Class sprinter possibly Group 1 and is a horse to follow. I think he is the better horse and won on merit.

The races featuring the Haggas bets were all impacted by non runners which cost us place points in each case – the two 7 horse races and 1 8 horse race from initially 12 influenced the outcome of all three especially the 3.45 at Newbury where Elmodjim was required to lay up with the pace which didn’t suit him. All three would have been win only bets with reduced losses

That being said I took a stance that exposed horses Al Aasy and Waleefy had ideal conditions knowing both had question marks about them and although small bets they add up when they lose. I got sucked in by the overall good form of the yard, and both bets were questionable even with the original field sizes

It was a day generally the Haggas yard will want to forget.

We had the losses from money banked and more thanks to the earlier winners in the week. I still think the max bet on Ides of March was right we just happened to choose a day when things didn’t go right for O’Brien and Ryan Moore.

A short break with no bets now until Wednesday .