Cheltenham Festival Week 8 & Race Previews uploaded - Andy Richmond’s Beating The Bias (17/12) uploaded - General Sports uploaded (15/12) - Cheltenham Festival Week 7 & Weekend Race Previews uploaded
2/9/22
After a very pleasing Goodwood we had a disappointing York. I don’t what it is about that meeting, I find it a struggle more years than not despite having been their racecard tipster for many years.
The star of the show for both festivals was Baaeed who will in all likelihood now head for the Arc providing that the ground is not too soft. I sense that this is an owner rather than trainer preference. Nice to see some proper ambition. I covered the race in Ante Post Focus a couple of days ago taking him on with a 20/1 chance so I am hoping that the rain arrives!
Onto September where we have a very busy next week with as many as nine columns scheduled starting with Andy Richmond’s overall preview of the NFL Season on Monday right through to both days of Irish Champions Weekend from Leopardstown and The Curragh. In between we’ll have the usual two weekly columns (Beating The Bias and Ante Post Focus) plus Big Race Trends (12 races) for the St Leger Meeting, a Champions League outright preview, Paul Smith’s look at the deciding test match between England v South Africa and, after successfully recommending Bristol at 25/1 to win the regular season and Leicester at 5/1 to make the playoffs last season, Paul Matthew returns to preview the Gallagher Premiership which begins on September 9th. I might have to start getting interested in Rugby Union!
By contrast with not a lot going on the following week, the second full week of September will be very light on content. So with the exception of Andy’s two columns a week now that the NFL Season is to shortly resume, I’ll be taking a week off away before it starts getting busy again. Andy’s first weekly Sunday column previewing individual games will be on September 11th.
Overall we had a fairly decent Golf season. I don’t tend to put up more than a couple of players per tournament unlike other columns which go with five or six so to find the winners of the Players’ Championship (10/1), USPGA (7/2), US Open (7/2) all in-running and the Tour Championship lowest 72-hole total (7/1) from the outset from nine tournaments meant that it was a profitable season. I’ll give my views throughout the Presidents’ Cup in the Thought of the Day but wouldn’t it be much more fun if that was PGA Tour v LIV Golf than USA v Rest of the World!
Regards Annual Membership to the website, the 95% of members whose annual subscription is up for renewal to coincide with the start of the Jumps Season Service in late October will receive their invitation to re-subscribe the week after the Arc as usual.
I normally say that there aren’t many changes but this year there certainly will be which will result in a decreased annual membership fee for current All-Inclusive Service members. Clearly that means that I will be cutting back on certain elements of the website (I’m getting older and starting to feel the pace!) but not the jumps racing content. In fact, as that’s what most of you joined up for, that will be beefed up slightly. Full details will be given in the annual re-subscription email in a month’s time which will also be sent to the other 5% of members who joined at other times of the year.
Britain’s New Prime Minister will be announced on Monday which will be Liz Truss. The main point of interest therefore for followers of Adam Hewson’s Political Betting column is the margin of victory having recommended her to poll between 60-64.99% of the member vote at 3/1. Adam’s next column will be in October focussing on the US Midterm elections.
We’re onto Day 5 of the US Open and have lost one player in the men’s and women’s draw from Carl Redden’s recommendations. I must admit as it is being covered on Amazon Prime so am unable to watch any of it, it rather passes me by.
Two days ago it was the 25th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. I remember it well as was sleeping close to Jodami’s box at Peter Beaumont’s stables. He had kindly agreed to put me up as I was manning the Weatherbys Mobile Unit at the time and we were promoting the company at the Malton Open Day on August Bank Holiday Monday. I emerged downstairs for breakfast where Peter told me it that was a “terrible, terrible day” and the Open Day may not go ahead. Not knowing the news I looked out of the window and replied “yes it does look quite overcast.”
Aside from the fact I live 10 minutes from where she is buried, have played golf with the man who dug her grave and was all over Unfuwain when he won the Princess of Wales’s Stakes in 1988, that’s all the Diana news for this month.
