Wragg The Master

17/9/17

A couple of well-backed winners but it wasn’t really my week at Doncaster. Hopefully Premier League Picks will make up for it as we’re 3-3 so far this weekend (3/1, 5/4 and Evens), including the preferences before the recommended bet, with my suggestions on this afternoon’s two big games still to come. PL Picks will return on Friday.

It was good for the wellbeing of the race moving forward to see the class acts come to the fore in the St Leger (14 of the last 26 favourites have now justified their market position), though unfortunately for me Crystal Ocean didn’t quite see it fully out and was outstayed by Capri who now looks Arc bound for Aidan O’Brien alongside last season’s second and third, Highland Reel and Order Of St George, the latter having been ruled out of the Melbourne Cup by his owner yesterday. Ulysses joins them at Chantilly which I could have done without for our 16/1 ante-post for the Breeders’ Cup Turf (though there is still plenty of time from which to recover) and also for our Arc each-way position. Prix d l’Arc de Triomphe day is the next full card I will be previewing in Race Previews in 12 days’ time.

We’ve had a couple of winners in the Horses to Follow column in the last week, notably Crafty Madam at 7/1, and that feature will return on Thursday but there will be no Ante-Post Focus this week as the Ayr Western Meeting doesn’t really do a lot for me. Good to see one of my two Cesarewitch fancies enhance his prospects in the last few days however.

I’m not sure it is on the wires yet but I hear that very sadly Geoff Wragg has passed away at the age of 87. Growing up, he alongside Luca Cumani were the two Flat trainers I had a fixation over. Teenoso was one of my early favourites in those fabulous Moller colours and the likes of Most Welcome. Pentire, Marling, Cassandra Go and Owington were others I followed off a cliff. I even kept the faith with the nutcase Arcadian Heights when he won the Gold Cup. Wragg really was a master at getting his horses spot on for Royal Ascot. I met him only once and he was as gracious as he came across finding time for four young upstarts.

Andy Richmond will be covering NFL Week 2 for us to be uploaded very shortly (around noon) and Ciaran Meagher returns with his final golf preview of the year looking at the Tour Championship. Then you’ve got me for The President’s Cup and we know how much this president likes his golf in between tweeting. Heading into tonight’ final round of the BMW Championship, Ciaran is returning a profit of 164pts for us from 460pts staked so I hope that you agree that my asking him to write for us was one of my smarter moves.