Seeing is believing. Has anyone seen an easier winner of a long-distance handicap chase than Iris De Balme when he trotted up in the Scottish Grand National last Saturday? I defy anyone to name me one.
There are often very good reasons for not taking easy wins like that -- especially from horses that win at no less than 66-1 -- at face value. But Iris De Balme could easily have beaten that solid yardstick Halcon Genelardais by much more than 14 lengths. The form has a rock-solid look and the winner finished to such effect that you can't imagine it having any impact on him when he lines up in the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on Saturday. As such 3.20pm Iris De Balme rates a bet for the weekend's big race. He's on offer generally at 8-1 and I reckon those are very fair odds. Back him now.
Turning to today's action I do fancy 2.45pm Von Galen at Perth. The step up in trip will suit and the form looks good. Jockey Rose Davidson is off-putting to say the least but you can't have everything and the horse should be good enough to carry her home. Fleet Street will probably start too short in the 3.20pm but he will surely win if he stays the extra distance and that looks likely.
At Nottingham I would be keen to take on Curtain Call, the second favourite for the Derby, in the 3.30pm. His form isn't as far in advance of the other runners as the stingy odds would suggest and I would not be at all surprised if Drill Sergeant led all the way as so many of Mark Johnston's runners do.
I tipped Heaven Knows in the paper in the 2.55pm but if I had the chance to tip again I would definitely go for Cabinet from Sir Michael Stoute's powerful yard. The stable had a winner last night and this one is likely to prove much better than his current rating in time. There's been money for him this morning.
This is one of those fascinating days when there are horses of interest all over the place. If there's one race I would recommend everyone watch it's the National Hunt Flat race at Punchestown. There will be runners in this we will certainly see in big races over hurdles and fences during the coming seasons. These 'bumpers', as they are more widely known, are usually run at a false pace and you can get some unusual results but I suggest an each-way bet on 5.25pm Touch Of Irish. Alan Swinbank is as shrewd a trainer as there is in these events, he reports his horse in terrific order and he will go off a nice price with the home Irish crowd getting behind their favourites.
2.40pm Oh no -- pilot error! Northern Alliance, Ron Cox's tip of the day which was well supported this morning into clear favouritism, should have won the opener at Punchestown with something to spare but was given far too much to do by his inexperienced jockey and finishes second. I would not like to be in the rider Mr Farrelly's boots when he reports to trainer Tony Martin after that.
2.45pm Great Leighs have attracted a decent standard of runner tomorrow, at least for an all-weather card anyway, but it's still guests only while the facilities are readied to let the great unwashed in on May 28.
The track's owner John Holmes has admitted that because the grandstand is in the middle of the track no one can see any of the action until two furlongs from home. The trilby is now an endangered species at the races -- could binoculars be next?
Once it was de rigueur to carry your bins. Most went for the off-the-shoulder look. Some, mainly stewards and the tweedy set, wore them over the shoulder as the many with their "man bags" do now. Personally I always thought the late, great Ryan Price was the most stylish man on the track and he would always look dapper with them dangling over his arm. John Dunlop carries on that tradition.
Holmes says "the general public don't carry binoculars any more". Maybe they don't, but if you're going to watch racing properly on course and not rely on the awful camerawork on the closed-circuit TV then you have to have your field glasses with you.
2.47pm They're off at Perth with Von Galen carrying your correspondent's hard-earned. Made a mistake already -- I'm blaming Rose Davidson. Let's hope for better as the horse warms to his task. Now she's pulled the thing up! Stewards enquiry! Stewards enquiry!
Good old Gordon Brown. No, not him, the Attheraces (henceforth ATR) presenter who has gone out of his way to catch Rose Davidson on her way back. Rose tells him: "Von Galen was never travelling . . . didn't give me much of a feel . . . and kept changing his legs."
2.55pm Cabinet wins! He may have only just got there but he was pulling double early on and I am convinced that he will prove a lot better than this. He is one to follow . . . unlike Richard Hills. Hills was on my paper selection, Heaven Knows, but unlike Ryan Moore on the winner he did not have his horse in a good position when push came to shove.
As the Racing UK presenter James Willoughby points out Heaven Knows has had to make an inordinate amount of ground in a race that didn't suit those who came from off the pace. If you are a regular reader here you will soon get to know how low I rate Richard Hills. I would argue that he is indisputably the worst big-name jockey riding today and if he wasn't retained by Hamdan Al Maktoum who doesn't do sackings he would have surely gone some time ago.
3.30pm Curtain Call, the second favourite for the Derby, is back for the season at Nottingham now. They're off! Well that was pretty good I must say as he romps home by six lengths. Thought he might have a hard time today but he did it very easily. He has only done what was expected by the form students, however, and we will get a better idea in a proper Derby trial when he lines up at Lingfield. In the meantime he's being cut virtually across the board so there's no need to get involved at what might look a short price in early June at Epsom.
4.25pm The big race at Punchestown is won by the hot favourite Neptune Collonges who was never in serious danger once he took up the running again. Paul Nicholls ought to be taken in front of the monopolies commission such is his dominance of the jumps scene. Martin Pipe may have revolutionised National Hunt racing but Nicholls is training more big-race winners than he was in his pomp and he looks assured of his position at the top for as long as he wants now.
The winner, second and well beaten by the horse of the season Denman, has paid a huge compliment to his Cheltenham Gold Cup conqueror. It's an awful long way ahead but I simply can't wait for Denman to run in the Grand National. The greatest steeplechaser of his generation running in the greatest race in the world. Owner Harry Findlay says that won't be until 2010. Bring it on! Oh and goodbye Beef Or Salmon. It's been a shame to see him past his sell-by date for some time now and it's for the best he has been retired.
4.40pm What on earth do you make of the news that Roy 'Chubby' Brown has a racehorse as exclusively revealed by the Observer's Tattenham Corner column? Personally I think it's excellent news. Not impressed with the naming of the horse though. Rasaman? Royston Vasey would have been better -- what about You're My Wife Now Dave. Those Guardian readers who think Mr Brown/Vasey is beyond the pale ought to read an interview with Andy Medhurst the paper ran last year.
Mr Medhurst, who was promoting his book on British comedy, said Chubby was the most important comic of the last 25 years. Here's what Mr Medhurst said: "He gives a voice to people who don't have one. He sticks up two fingers at the liberal-progressive consensus, and stands up for the white, predominantly northern working class that Tony Blair liked to pretend doesn't exist any more. He says things that they've been told they can't say and, because of that, he's a hero to them." For that interview in full click here
Racing's a broad church. Did you know Germaine Greer used to have horses in training? Or that her trainer also houses nags owned by Mystic Meg? Gregory Peck once had a runner in the Grand National.
5.15pm Silver Steel flatters to deceive at Perth and the race is won by a horse trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies -- that's his third of the afternoon.
Don't forget to set your Sky+, your Virgin box or, for old farts out there, put your VHS tape in for the next at Punchestown. This is a race worth watching very closely. Alan Swinbank, the trainer of my tip for the race Touch Of Irish, has just had a winner at Nottingham.
5.35pm Cousin Vinny follows up his Cheltenham Bumper victory at Punchestown. His rider gave him an unecessarily hard race at the finish but he has won very well and this is a horse who is obviously going places. To pull off that double in the manner he did speaks volumes for his ability. Take away the runner-up Endless Intrigue too who is bred along speedy lines and will beat plenty of old plodders on the jumps tracks in years to come.
6.45pm I like Cairo's idea of a Racing Room 101 (see his post below). This is a subject to which I will return. Good night.
Click here for all the day's racecards, form, stats and results.
And click here for today's latest odds.
