Tied Up in Knotts Over Hunt Ball

Before I begin, Chance du Roy runs in the 4.25 at Haydock today – I’m on 1pt e/w at 4-1.

Now, If you haven’t already seen Matt Chapman’s interview with Anthony Knott on At The Races, I implore you to view it:

Knott: farmer, one-time winning jockey, and now an owner who backs his own horse Hunt Ball with rhetoric and roubles alike, is everything we love about racing here at Palphabet.  His boundless enthusiasm for the sport has seen him recently jump on board Hunt Ball after victory at Wincanton and he famously celebrated his only win as a rider by punching the air and gesticulating to onlookers.  This is all well and good, only Anthony chose to do it with a furlong and a half left to travel on Wise Men Say, with other horses just a length or two away and whilst adopting one of the most unconventional horse riding techniques I have ever seen...Well, it had taken him 28 years to get a winner.  Again, I implore you to watch this race (fast-forward to 4:00 into THIS clip and then watch Nick Luck try to make sense of it all in the post-race interview on RUK) - hilarious!

Going back to that ATR interview, Chapman failed in his attempts to coax out of Knott the race into which Hunt Ball will next be entered.  Seeing as I’m attending Ladies’ Day and the Grand National Saturday at Aintree in a few weekends time, I certainly hope we see him in the flesh there, so that I can follow Knott and “lump on” again:

I'm pleased to say I was on Hunt Ball on Day 1 of the Festival

 
As I type, sponsor’s spokesman Mark Pearson is on talkSPORT coyly mutering about HB’s chances in the Aintree Betfred Bowl - they haven't chalked up a market for it yet - whilst  www.oddschecker.com shows he is as short as 20-1 for next year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.  The handicapper has raised him over 70lbs, more than five stone since he started his winning spree and he continues to deliver.. only time will tell how long this can go on!

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Eschewing a good think, and instead going with my gut again, I’ve put together my nominees for the Palphabet Alpha Moments of the 2012 Cheltenham Festival.   Please post your answers or alternatives in the comments box below - I did try to embed a proper poll, but I couldn't work out how to do it :-(

Ride of the Festival

1.     Barry Geraghty on Riverside Theatre – Ryanair Chase

2.     Ruby Walsh on Big Buck’s – Ladbrokes World Hurdle

3.     AP McCoy on Synchronised – Betfred Gold Cup

Shocker / Grimace of the Festival

1.     Cotton Mill’s refusal to jump the second-last Neptune hurdle

2.     The Cross Country Course Deaths

3.     The final-fence debacle in the Champion Chase

Greg Wood's Blog is worth a read on some of these matters - it wasn't a bad week so don't wish to overplay the dramas...

Man / Gelding of the Festival

1.     Nicky Henderson

2.     Barry Geraghty

3.     Synchronised

Woman / Mare / Filly of the Festival

1.     Quevega

2.     Alice Plunkett

3.     Eve McCoy (after telling her dad to "pull his finger out")

Moment of the Festival

1.     Anthony Knott’s celebration – “Bugger the cows!”

2.     Spontaneous applause for a champion – Kauto Star being pulled up in the Gold Cup

3.     Sprinter Sacre’s emergence as the most exciting chaser in racing

4.     Big Buck’s

Cheltenham 2012 - Day 4

The dust has settled, the souvenir festival magazines have been published, the BBC has lost the rights to cover major horse races, and the time is right to have a glance through the legs of the fading hangover horse, as last week is pulled up to a spontaneous and heart-felt round of applause.

Ruby Walsh & Kauto Star prepare for battle

Having laid Long Run and followed Tom Segal in on Synchronised, I was never overly concerned about the winner of the Gold Cup on Friday as I had pretty much all eventualities covered (the fact that Nicky Henderson’s stable boy didn’t add the favourite in the 3.20 to his acca spoke volumes and I was happy to oppose The Dentist’s horse at 2-1).  I just wanted Kauto Star to come back unscathed.

Yes, having placed a 4pt wager at around 6-1, I would have preferred him to have gone all the way and cross the post ahead of his rivals, but the second it was realised that he was being led away from the track there was a wave of distinct emotion.  First, momentary deflation could be felt amongst the throngs of onlookers packed inside the enclosures.  This gave way to a palpable sense of relief (accompanied by the impromptu clapping) before finally, I think I felt a twinge of pride.  Proud to have been present to see him bowed out by the horseman who knows him best. 

Ruby Walsh demonstrated in two very different rides this week why he is such a lauded jockey – on Big Buck’s, who seemed to be cajoling his rider: “go on Rubes.. prove to me that you really want to win this fourth World Hurdle” – and then on Kauto: “come on Rubes.. I’m not right here fella.. let me bow out with dignity.”

The fact that AP McCoy went on to give Synchronised such a gritty, determined, talented and vein-bulging push to beat The Giant Bolster and Long Run up the hill, felt to me like a fitting tribute to Kauto and to Ruby.  Festival Gods seemed to be saying "If the people’s horse isn’t able to finish the race, let’s give the people another white-faced horse to love." 

Synchronised ain’t as pretty as Kauto, and AP’s ride was a real street brawl to watch, but it showed heart, and too many heads had backed Long Run for my liking.  Emotion and devotion won the Gold Cup on Friday in many ways.

Here’s how I finished the week from a gambling point of view. Relatively satisfied with the final figures, particularly after the run of losing bets on what I’m now dubbing “Black Wednesday,” there are a few lessons that have been learnt and some “what-ifs” to consider. Overall, though, I went with my gut, and loved every minute of it.



-£33.65 on Horse Racing over the festival.  Noteworthy profits were banked thanks to the 45-1 winner (0.5pt each way) in the Triumph Hurdle on Friday, Countrywide Flame.  I only got a text with the tip on the day so couldn't blog it in advance - sorry!  A close second to this was Sunnyhillboy, Tom Segal's tip in Thursday's amateur riders' handicap chase.  I also had a 10pt bet on Big Buck's to claim that fourth World Hurdle.  At 1.91 on Betfair, I thought this represented both great value and also provided the racing highlight of the week. 

Offers like Paddy Power's "money back special" in the Arkle meant that Sprinter Sacre could be cheered on readily as the bookmaker refunded my losing bet on Al Ferof.  Sprinter Sacre's performance was undoubtedly one of the moments of the week, and whilst many turf accountants' race day deals made me think that backing horses in the ante-post markets is becoming increasingly less attractive, I doubt Mark "The Couch" Winstanley will agree on this occasion.  He advised SS a couple of months ago, recommending a 10pt maximum stake at a monster price! 

Apart from £20 lost in cash on the tote at the track, and including this return of £65, my total P&L for the week came to about -£58 to goodness only knows what stake.  As a wise man once told me: turnover's vanity, profit is sanity. 

At the track: Palphabet pals Westdrop aka The Alpha (left), Norbet (right) and yours truly.

Westdrop tucks into our hosts' famous fry-up on festival Friday morning.

The Racing Post did a magnificent job of capturing the essence of the festival with some breathtaking front-page splashes.  Norbet and I were pleased that the local outlets had stocked up with copies of the 'paper.

As the festival draws to a close, the Palphabet gang contemplate what to do next. Synchronised seems smug at the enormity of his day's work, and back at the guest house, a little kratooie seems sad to have missed out on proceedings.

     



Jaegerbombs are ordered and consumed at the Racing Post party (sadly I couldn't find any of their journos to harrass, so pestered Mark Langdon on Twitter instead) and in the morning the tweed is packed away until next time.