Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
Perhaps I moan too much about the British Horseracing Authority, which has an enormous amount on its plate. But a couple of incidents involving Coneygree have caused me to regret their inflexibility in the application of their rules.
Coneygree is famously not entered in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day because connections managed to botch the entry process last week. His career is managed by a couple who are fantastic at getting the best out of racehorses but appear not so completely in control of the admin side of things.
Now the Bradstocks will have to stump up £10,000 to supplement Coneygree at the five-day stage if they decide to run him in the King George. Surely that is a grossly disproportionate punishment for a simple trip over the red tape. You can be late with your tax return and only get fined £100.
I asked the BHA last week if they might be prepared to stretch a point and allow a late entry, in view of the fact that connections clearly intended to make the entry, but the answer was a flat ‘no’. If we do it for them, we’d have to do it for everyone, I was told.
But is it wise to take such a narrow view? Many other sports would go to a lot of trouble to make sure that all the major competitors would take part in the most high-profile events. Why risk Coneygree missing one of the winter highlights just because a wrong button was pressed? Come to that, why was nobody on the phone to the Bradstocks an hour before the deadline, saying ‘Um, why isn’t your horse in the King George yet? Can we help?’ It is not as if any competitive advantage would be conferred thereby.
Or at least the BHA could have provision for an entry being made 24 hours late for early-closing races. Perhaps it might cost you an extra £1,000 to be added to the prize money pool.
The second incident involved a request by Sandown that Coneygree have a Remembrance Day poppy sprayed on his bum when he ran there yesterday. It would have been a simple gesture in support of a great cause and it already had the backing of the trainer, the owners and the race-sponsors.
Again the BHA said no, because coloured logos of any kind are not allowed to be sprayed on runners. They have fined people in the past for advertising in this way. They would only allow a poppy outline to be brushed into Coneygree’s hair, which barely seemed visible to my eyes.
Well, it’s hardly the end of the world but wouldn’t it have been easier and preferable to just say yes? What on earth was achieved by squashing this perfectly simple and appropriate suggestion? I’m certainly not saying we have to have poppies on horses for Remembrance Sunday every year but, if all the parties involved want to do it, why stop them? Someone at the BHA should look up the word pettifogging. Just occasionally, relaxing the rules is the right thing to do.
The depth of talent at Paul Nicholls’ yard has cause him to send a couple of his better types to Carlisle today. I think Silsol will make a successful debut over fences in the 1.45pm race but he’s not a betting proposition against the very useful Seeyouatmidnight.
Later, I’m inclined to oppose the Nicholls-trained Salubrious, who put in a disappointing round of jumping on his chasing debut last year and has since been sidelined by a leg injury. Of course, Deputy Dan (2.50) also proved disappointing over fences last season but at least we have the trainer’s assurance that issues were found by bone scans in the off-season which have since been corrected.
Oliver Sherwood insists that this horse now looks like the fluent jumper we all hoped he might be and that would make him dangerous in quite a winnable contest. He gets the deep ground on which he goes so well and appeals a lot at 7-2.
At the same price, I’ll take Landwade Lad (5.10) for the good staying handicap at Kempton. From the James Fanshawe yard which has had a productive autumn, this three-year-old has been frustrating in turf handicaps but he’s gone close in all three starts at Kempton, including a comfortable win in August. He was only a nose behind a subsequent winner here in September and has gone up only 3lb for that.
Tipping competition - a new week
Congratulations to Copshaw, who catapulted himself to the top of last week’s leaderboard in the very final race by picking Dukes Meadow, a 25-1 Roger Ingram winner. That put Copshaw on +32.88, a tenner in front of Mulldog, who had earlier inched past Bacciodilupo thanks to Village Vic scoring at Musselburgh.
This week’s prize, in celebration of three days at Cheltenham at the end of this week, is a copy of WINNER: My Racing Life, the new book from the pen of AP McCoy, who used to ride a bit, as the more senior among you will recall. Billed as “the complete story of his astonishing career”, WINNER allows the 20-times champion jump jockey to reflect on his exploits in the saddle as well as discussing the more private side of being AP. If you don’t win, you can buy a copy here.
To kick things off, we’d like your selections, please, for these races: 2.50 Carlisle, 3.25 Carlisle, 5.10 Kempton.
As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers.
In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.
For terms and conditions click here.
Good luck!
And post your tips or racing-related comments below.
