Today’s best bets, by Chris Cook
So here’s a video tour of the proposed new grandstand and relandscaped surroundings for Longchamp, newly placed on YouTube by the French authorities. The planned expense is €131m, which is about £96m, rather a modest sum, considering Ascot spent more than twice that much on its new layout six years ago.
And the cost does not end there. A press release from France Galop on Monday suggests that, in order to maximise return on investment, the new racecourse will need to be pressed into service as often as possible. A study will be undertaken to consider whether a floodlit all-weather track can be put in place at Longchamp, which is a pretty depressing thought for turf purists, even if it has been under discussion for years.
Still more depressingly, there is mention of the possibility that another Parisian track may close to reduce expense. I’m not sure how many British fans there may be of places such as Auteuil, Saint-Cloud, Maisons-Laffitte, Vincennes or Enghien but, for those who exist, this might be the time to start thinking about planning a farewell visit.
The Racing Post’s man in France has pointed out to me this morning: “The ‘alternative revenue’ which allows Ascot the luxury of no AW track was done away with here along with cake for peasants ...” Which is a fair point, although it is not as though there is no money in French racing and it is disappointing to think that long overdue renovations at the home of the Arc de Triomphe cannot take place without tearing at the fabric of the sport.
Are we now saying that major tracks of international significance cannot be renovated without recourse to the bookie-pleasing all-weather? It will be a depressing day when we have to admit that.
As for the architecture, I thought it had some visual appeal but might not be much fun to use. Lots of the smarter areas are clearly going to be restricted to the richest racegoers and it looks to me as though there will be a shortage of covered areas for the ordinary folk in the event of a downpour. Perhaps it never rains in Paris, although in that case the perpetual soft going at Longchamp would take some explaining.
Anyway, Twitter has overruled me as to the look of the proposed new stand. The word “monstrosity” has been used. “Looks like they have dredged up some architect from East Berlin c. 1960s and told him to design an NCP car park,” someone opined. A chap whose bio says he is a German photographer now based in Ireland declared: “WOW – this is ugly. All over the world they demolish those kind of clunky buildings. In Longchamp they want to build a new one?”
And so to Newbury, where the grandstands are good enough to keep us all warm on Hennessy day. Recent rainfall will ensure properly soft conditions today, which may help Bellajeu (5.10) break her maiden at the seventh attempt at odds of 7-4. She’s been highly tried on occasion, running second in the Lingfield Oaks Trial and even pushing her luck in the Oaks itself.
Her only previous effort on soft was here in a backend maiden last year, when she finished strongly to be beaten just a nose. The favourite, Clowance One, is bred to cope well with soft and certainly has promise but this is just his second start, more than three months after the first, and his first attempt on a testing surface, so I give the more experienced horse the edge.
At Fontwell, I don’t quite like the look of Dry Ol’ Party, favourite for the mares’ novice hurdle after three one-paced efforts over hurdles. Native Princess (5.50) at 5-2 makes more appeal for her hurdles debut, having shown significant improvement to land a bumper on her first start for Stuart Edmunds at Southwell in June.
Tipping competition, day two
Our winners so far:
Monday
Aussie Andre 8-1
Bimbo 3-1
Unilit 10-1
And our leader is. . .
AndieAndson +12
... who had Unilit and Bimbo. Kmill68 (+8) was the only other one to find Unilit. Six of you had Aussie Andre and are hunting up the leaders on +6.
Today, we’d like your tips, please, for these races: 4.00 Chepstow, 6.10 Newbury, 6.40 Newbury.
This week’s prize is a copy of Value Seeker by Anthony Gibson, in which the author offers his system for identifying value bets from “statistics allied with form”, leading to picks that are “overlooked by the general betting population”. It’s the sort of book which may have insights to offer that could help your own strategy, although we certainly don’t recommend adopting anyone else’s system blindly. If you don’t win this competition, you can read more about the book and order it here.
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. If you have not joined in so far this week, you are welcome to do so today, but you will start on -3.
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.
