Friday, January 05, 2007

Sandown's Tolworth Hurdle

A good start to the new year for some punters with 125/1 shot Tioga Gold going in at Southwell on Tuesday and a 100/1 winner at Lingfield on Thursday. Not such a good start to the year for the Betfair customer who laid Tioga Gold in running at 1,000/1 to the sum of £40.

The big race at Sandown tomorrow is the Tolworth Hurdle; only seven go to post but it looks a fascinating renewal of a race where the market has proved a decent guide over the years.

Charlie Mann's My Turn Now is the Racing Post's top rated horse but there will be many who feel Paul Nicholls' Silverburn has the scope for improvement. On a line through Tagula Blue there wouldn't be much between the two horses and at the tissue prices available today My Turn Now, who will handle the ground and is a course and distance winner, looks the value.

Paul Webber's De Soto wears a tongue strap which is off putting with the ground riding soft / heavy; clearly though this horse is a class performer held in high regard http://www.paulwebberracing.com/News.htm

Perce Rock comes over from Ireland, looks unexposed and, with McCoy on board, is respected, as is Astarador. A trappy race in which I'm going to side with Irish raider Perce Rock.

I take Pauillac to win the the 1.00 race while Preacher Boy's third in the Hennessy looks good form to take into the 3.45.

1 comment:

GeeDee said...

Pauillac won at 2/5. Perce Rock and Preacher Boy finished second at 2/1 and 9/4 respectively; it's academic now but both horses were available at bigger prices in the morning (7/2 and 9/2).

The Tolworth saw some interesting betting with eventual winner Silverburn drifting out to 5/1. In the event My Turn Now fell heavily at the last when coming back for another go at Silverburn and Perce Rock. Jockey Noel Fehily said he thought the horse would have won had he not fell; my reading was that he would probably have finished second ahead of Perce Rock. McCoy was clearly disappointed his horse didn't find much after the last and hinted his inexperience may have been a factor. Whatever, Silverburn won well on desperate ground and I'd imagine connections will be eyeing the Royal Sun Alliance hurdle over two miles five furlongs at the Cheltenham Festival in March. Equally, Charlie Mann knows he has a horse to go to war with.