A Night At The Races

In which your All-English Boy takes his listenership through the ups and downs of an evening at the Brigadier Gerrard Stakes meeting at Sandown, with only minimal swearing, bile and general invective.

Twitter @RacingWhat

Transcript

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And it was good. It was one of the podcasts that I was most proud of back in the early days of the game. Because it was fun, it was from the hard it was the day unfolding the ups and downs of the day out of the races. And I thought I'd try and do it again this time down. The episode was from memories of September time. One of the first jobs race meetings of the season. This one is coming to you from sand down, bringing a Gerard evening. I think I yeah, flat all the jobs and several very valuable races on this evening, some good quality horses, and and and a good night out of the beckons. We're talking about my day at the races. The way I go about it is I tend to sort of focus on handicaps. But that would have been a little bit boring just to look at those because there's some really good quality listed and group races on this evening, which for most people is gonna be the favourite hunting medium, and it would be remiss of me not to at least have a dip at those races and see if I can come up with something new and unique. So I I sat down and looked through all of the races last night and then again early this morning, looked at the prices that were on offer, and and and and that for me is where a race meeting starts. When the declarations are known, and when you can really sort of get stuck into the form. Right back from an early race going day, I made it my business to try and understand what was going to unfold before me. Not necessarily from the point of view of trying to sort out a bit. I will very rarely go to a meeting and bet in every race. But I do want to understand what I'm looking at. I want to look and see if there's any angles to the races, and by that I mean if horses are gonna be running over a strange or different distance, if their breedings have indicates that they're not quite ready for this trip, but they'd be important at today's trip anyway. If there's a track bias going on and horses that are all winning from the front, but occasionally a horse will come from the back and win. You know, it's it's it's things like that. I would like to try and sort of feel for how races are going to unfold, and if there's a particularly left-field performance that comes along, well I I wanna I want to know why, but I want to know why I haven't sort of spotted that particular horse in that particular race, and and and I'm damn sure I'm gonna make note of it for any sort of future engagement that the horse has got where it might sort of replicate tonight's conditions or today's conditions. So that's why I have a look at the races well in advance. And and for me, as I say, and I'm prepared to admit I'm in a minority of one. I love going to the races and the racing, as I say, starts for me 24, 48 hours before, and when the declarations are known, I'm gonna get sort of stuck into looking at what's gonna occur when the racing unfolds. I will probably leave it at that for now because I'm out of the horse and I'm gonna pay to get anywhere an hour before we kick off. So I want to get in, get myself settled down, get a bite to eat, I'm gonna absolutely hang Marvin and maybe have a look at the horses in the paddock early for the first race. So I go through each race as I have analysed it and what I'm gonna be backing if I'm gonna be backing a horse in a particular race, and my rationale for doing so. So come with me, let's go racing, let's get into into Sandown, see how much it costs to get in, and see what the lights sand down has got to offer us. Let's go. One of the great vagaries of racing. Just try to pay to get into the premier enclosure here at Sandown. The internet's gone down, so uh I can't I can't get in at the moment. I have been sent uh down the course to another site where hopefully Wi-Fi slash internet exists, and uh well we'll try our luck there, but there we go. One of these little spoon docks that uh we race guys have to try and clamber over in our attempt to see horses run around in circles. Back again in a minute. Okay, I'm in eventually. I love racing and I I love Sandown and it's a great course. It's a great course to get on the train. Uh there's a uh train station right outside. Visually, it's pretty sort of stunning, you get lovely views across London, and generally it's a really well-run place. All that being said, you know, and I don't want to come here being negative, and you know, you come here with full of the joys of spring, lovely sunny evening, all set to enjoy yourself and see the good quality racing. But to have one entry point that is actually selling tickets on the night as you come across the course, there's one outlet, one very frustrated guy trying to deal with rows and rows and rows of people. It does not make for an easy, enjoyable entry to the course. In fact, it really rather puts one's teeth on edge, and compounding that fact is the impossibility of buying a race card. Now, usually I don't bother buying a race card, uh, usually I've got an app and a look on the app. But tonight, for purposes of this cast, I wanted something hard copy that I can carry around me and refer to quickly. So I'm going to be doing this cast. It's the devil's own job to find a place that sells a race card. None of the stuff. I asked four members of staff and none of them knew where to go. One sent me to the tote. They didn't know where to, they couldn't sell me a card, and they didn't know where to send me to buy a race card. And so eventually I motioned around to the front of the building and found uh somebody that was selling race cards there, bought a race card, more of which in a second, and then I was stopped going back into the court to be asked to pay again where's my ticket because I had to go outside to out to to buy the race card, and then I was being asked for my badge on the way back in. Luckily I had it, luckily I had my receipt for them where I had bought my card, so I was able to prove that I was a good and worthy citizen and I was entitled to be on their race course, but yeah, puts your teeth on edge. And something just quickly that I touched on back at Chepstone in 2002 when I did uh this live on course cast before it was a big thing then not being able to use cash on course, everything being card-based. Cash is very far from king that has been compounded over the years, and you cannot do anything now, pretty much on course, other than bet with the bookmakers with uh cash, everything else is card, and the reason why I'm mentioning that is that I couldn't even buy my race card for three quid with cash. No, that had to be with a card. So if you're a nascent race goer and you've never been before, bring cash by all means for betting purposes. But if you do have a winner, don't expect to be able to buy everyone a round of beer or a bottle of champagne with your win-ins because you ain't gonna be able to do it with the cash that you've won. It's gonna have to be card or nothing. Okay, so let's take a look at this first race, the 5'10. It's a five-furlone handicap for three-year-old horses only. I the way I go about attacking any race is to go with a a rating system that I subscribe to, rating the races, and take the uh make a short list of top half of their ratings. So if it's um it's in this case it's an eight-runner race, I've just gone with the top four in their ratings, which were Major Naysayer, the Lost Soc, Gaukan and Akira. So that immediately wipes out half the field for my analysis purposes. Historically, I found that rating the races as a rating service is pretty sort of excellent. I would say that 80% historically of the top half of their fields all win the races under analysis. So I'm prepared to forego and miss out on the 20% that don't, if it helps um cut down my race analysis time. So the four horses, Major Naysayer, the Lost Soc, Galcom and Akira. Of those lost sock, it was six to one last night, it's now favourite at seven to two. So there's some money come for the lost sock, possibly due to it being ridden by the excellent Ray Dawson, who has I think who's now I think one of the most improved jockeys in racing. I like the look of Major Naysayer. It was 9-2 last night. Looking at the odds now, it's 4-1, so it's around about the same um price as it was last night, a little bit shorter. Tongue tie for the first time. Its trainer George Scott actually doesn't have much success with tongue ties for the first time. He's 0 for 11 on tongue tie horses for the first time. It ran in a fairly decent form race last time. The form is working out relatively well, acts on good ground, he's solid at class four, but he's dropping back down from a mile. Not necessarily a worry because he is a horse that likes to ping out and get into the front rank and make all and use his pace tactically in a race to, if not front run, then certainly be in the front rank. And on a stiff course like this, then it could be that drop back from a mile might well suit more over in his favour is that he has come down from uh listed class, probably need his seasonal debut last time out. So I quite like the look of Major Sayer, uh Major Nay Sayer. He's got a 25% overall hit rate, which stacks up very favourably with the other horse against the other horses in this particular race. He comes out fairly sort of high on the ratings that I subscribe to. Um he's got good speed figures. So if I can get around about 9-2 or even 5-1 for Major Naysayer, that could well be my bet in the first race. More of which shortly. Okay, it's uh about 10 minutes to the first race. For those of you that don't know Sandown or are new to racing, the five furlong, the shortest uh race distance on the flat, the five furlong course at Sandown it is a strange one. It's run right the way across the middle of the course, pretty much sort of well away from uh the stands, and without the aid of the big screens, it's pretty difficult to make out what is happening. As I say, it's a it's a really lovely course. I do like Sandown. There's a lot going on here, uh as you can hear with the uh uh announcer on it in the background. They they love to rock the mic, these race courses, they don't like dead airspace, they're always trying to sell us something. Anyway, pressing on the the the five-follow course runs right up the middle of the course, well away from the stands, in addition to which there's a golf course in the middle of the course, there's a rake a go-kart track, there's a car park. It's kind of difficult to spot the horses. So you either have to slap over to the middle of the course or you have to check out the big screen, and I'm gonna go for the latter option to start off with. The second race is a five-furlong race, so for that, I might actually bob over to the middle of the course and have a look at going on closer up for that race for the second race. But for this race, I'm gonna be watching from the stands, and I cannot get five to one about Major Naysayer yet. I'll go up and down the bookies lines and see if I can find anyone that will uh is offering fives, but it doesn't look likely, so I'm probably gonna sit this first race out. Yeah, definite no bet in this race. Major Naysayer is four to one pretty much right the way across the board. That's the one that I would go for, but thanks but no thanks at that price. Akira was the favourite last night when I started looking at the races, it's taken a walk out to nine to one, even though it's partnered by Ross O'Reilly, who's a really decent jockey. The only other thing I can tell you no, not that it's going to be any good for you because it's gonna this uh cash is gonna come out after the race. Kolkata Knight absolutely pulled down to the post. I'll be putting a line through Kolkata Knight. It looked uh very headstrong. It's a five-furlong race for sprinters, and sprinters are usually a bit flighty and you know live on sort of fast switch and live on their nerves a lot, but he was he was pulling like a train down to the post. So not of interest to me anyway, but Kolkata Knight. Well they'll have a notes put against it um when I get back to my database tonight or tomorrow morning. So, you know, just to recap, the the the four that were on my short list are um Major Nasir, the Lost Soc, Akira, and Gaukan. So if any of those win, then uh who are for the shortlist in process. But let's take a look, they're just going down to down to the post now, and they are meandering around the back of the starting stalls. So two or three minutes to uh to the first race. Let's see how it pans out. Back shortly. Okay, you'll know the result, it'll be in the form book by the time this cast goes out. Havana Smile. So the shortlisting process did not work on this occasion. I didn't have Havana Smile in my four. But interestingly, stall one won from stall two, which is often the case for these five furlong dashes up, stand down, stiff five furlongs. Low numbers tend to predominate. But if you've got Havana Smile at 14 to 1, good for you. Takeaway from this race, Akira ran better than was expected. As I say, went supposedly favourite last night, and then took a walk in the market today. And I think it went off around about 10 to 1. Looked to be able to try and make all until it was sort of swallowed up about a furlong out, but I quite liked Akira. Probably did well, did the best of those that raced prominently. Major Nase came from the back, duck on when it was a little bit too late, but never any closer to the winner of Anna Smile for the Gary and Josh Moore team, David Probert, the jockey. Uh, 14-1 winner, well done to you if you got it. I didn't. On to the next race, another five furl long race. This is for two-year-olds, uh, listed class, so it's good quality horses. You can go through a whole range of emotions, initial pissed off offedness that my shortlisting process did not identify the winner of that race, it wasn't on my agenda at all. But take a step back, get some level vibes, and realise that I avoided a loser, and avoiding a loser can often feel like backing a winner. I did not back Major Naysayer, it wasn't the price that I wanted. I attempted to, but the price wasn't right, it collapsed into 7-2 in the end. So I stuck out and I'm glad I did. I came second, but I wouldn't have got paid, I wouldn't have backed it each way, I'd have backed it to win. So, you know, as I say, it's a strange feeling, but sometimes as I say a loser avoided can feel pretty damn good. So I'm that's what I'm taking with me into my betting for the rest of this evening. Another of the great things about racing, which often goes unsaid and unmentioned, is the rhythm to it. There's fast and furious action for when in the case of the last race, probably about a minute, and then half an hour's downtime to the next race. If you go to a jumps meeting, it's a little bit more compact. The races are a little bit longer, there's less time to between races, but it's good, it gives you a chance to calm down, get a drink, have a chat, bladder management, etc. etc. Um, before you get yourself nice and hyped and um and up for the next race. So, speaking of which, the shortlisting process, which you know you you stick with the process. The last race, okay, it didn't come up Trumps, but in this race, the top four are Napa, A Day of Scarlet, A Bear Affair, and Where Love Lived. So those are the four that uh racing the race have uh come up, top four of the eight runners in this particular race, and it just so happens that these are the first four in the betting. So it's entirely probable that uh the winner will come from one of these horses, uh one of these top four horses. Just very quickly, Napa. I think he's probably gonna get six furlongs in time, so he's gonna appreciate this stiff five furlong. Excellent form race last time out. Uh his size uh naval crown, it's a horse that does particularly well with his two-year-olds and his runs on turf as well. And it might be a slightly uneasy favourite, but um it's probably quite a sort of worthy one. A day of Scarlet, probably gonna be challenging for favouritism. Probably one the best two-year-old maiden of the season on debut. I think that was at uh Newmarket back in April. That he followed that up with another pretty emphatic win at Ascot. He's a front runner, and this sire Mimas uh is uh particularly good with runners, projecting over five furlongs. O'Sheen Murphy rides, one of the best jockeys in the weighing room at the moment. He's got really good uh metrics at Sandown as well. The Damsire a day has really good metrics as well. So I like the look of a day of Scarlet, and if I can get to somewhere north of three to one, I may be interested. A bear affair won the Brocklesby, which is the first two-year-old uh race for two-year-olds of the season. That form has taken so many knocks, it's not even funny. And the horse was beaten by a day of Scarlet Ascot last time out, pretty emphatically. This listed context is probably his ceiling. He's not a Royal Ascot type. I think that horse will drift even further. I know uh Tom Skees Tom Segal, price-wise in the racing post, doesn't think so. I think he's tipped the horse up, so that might mean a bit of money comes for him, but I can't have a bear of fare for um for any money. Where Love Lives, well, we'll see. Good form race last time out. Kevin Stott, I'm not that enamoured about as a jockey, but it's been backed. We shall see how this all pans out in around about half an hour's time. Wait, okay, I've come up to the paddock to take a look at these as they parade before the second race. Fair bit to be gained from looking at two-year-olds. You know, by definition, they've only had a couple of races so far. I think uh one of them where love lives is only a second race. So, you know, this is all still very new to them, and you can learn a lot from you know from looking at them in the paddock. I am not by any means a paddock expert, paddock watching expert, but you know, I think certainly for two-year-old horses, it it is a worthwhile exercise to come and see, just see if there's anything to be learnt from watching them parade around. So, as a for example, number seven, where love lives, sent down here by Kevin Ryan. He's a really good trainer of two-year-olds. He is a very nice, well-developed, well-grown. He's the biggest horse in the race. Probably not a sprinter-looking. Sprinters tend to be little butty types with big asses and lots of sort of musculature around the back. This has got a bit of leg to it and looks like it could be more of a mile, just purely on its looks, I would say anyway. It's on its toes, but not over-excited because it's only this his second run. Ryan has actually turned him out looking absolutely magnificent. There's not an ounce of fat on him, and he would be my paddock peak. I just wonder if he five furlongs might be a bit short for him. He's coming past now. He's looking getting a bit frisky. Calm down, son, calm down. Bad sign, he's sweating up and he he he he's he's getting drawn, which is a polite way of saying he's got his cock out and he's probably got his mind on other things, so maybe put a bit of a line through, or I'll have a watching brief on where love lives. Plenty of notes going into um the notebook on um on that particular horse. Yeah, he's getting well excited uh sexually here. He wants to um he wants to put that one away. He's um you're not allowed to run on five legs, and that's what he's got at the moment. Of the others, Adave Scarlet, the horse that I fancy, he's probably the most professional. He's wandering round, just taking it all in in his stride. Buildable number three, he's looking very much on his toes. No, I'll put next down to number five, Mr. McCartney, sent down here by Oly Ricks, ridden by Ray Dawson. He's he's just a lummox. He looks a great big thick-looking animal who's barging his handle around and generally looks a bit thick and stupid. Uh, a lummux. Napa number six was winning when he came in. He's calmed down a little bit, but his ears are still sort of the rentals, aerials. He needs to calm down a little bit. A bear of fair, he's throwing his head around, not looking particularly like his mind's on the job. Here comes our sexual athlete number seven, where love lives. He's calmed down a little bit, but he's sweating up now, so not particularly good sign. Dandy Van Dam, nice, decent, big looking horse, but again, his ears are laid back, his eyes are rolling. So there's a lot of these that are getting very sort of revved up. It's a very warm evening. I would say that a day of scarlet is probably the most professional. Where love lives is probably the most well grown and certainly the most ready to run his race now. He looks very athletic, there's not an ounce of fat on him, but whether he's going to sort of throw it away in the paddock, who knows? But let's see. Let's see how the race pans out. But that's that's it as far as this particular paddock watching brief goes. See yes later. Okay, well, a good result for the shortlist in process. Um, another good result for me, insofar as I didn't have a bet. So, my bet that I would have had on a day of scar a day of scarlet would have gone south, even though uh came second. Where love lives? Well, he got his mind on the job eventually. When he stuck his dick away, he is quite an impressive animal. It was only a second race. Okay, so there we go. Well I've lived seven to two. Yeah, only a second race. Uh one at Thirsk, and then has been sent down from the north by Kevin Ryan, who's a really good trainer of two-year-olds. He knows when he's got a good horse on his hands, and this was clearly one of the leading lights of his stable. I think he can probably deal certainly with another furlough, another sixth furlong. I'm not sure if he'd be got much fitter because he looked really fit to me. He can certainly grow into his frame a little bit more. I say he looks a little bit on the leg, but he was the he was the biggest horse in the race, and he put that sort of size to it to good use in putting the others to the sword. Not overly convincingly. I think it was three-quarters of a length in the end. But for only a second race, he'll have learnt a lot from that. And he was up in the front to right from the get-go. He stuck on well throughout, fought off all comers in the end, showed a good degree of resolution. There's a fair bit to like about the horse. Yeah, next stop will be Royal Aska, I would imagine. Don't know which race he'll go for there. But where love lives, definitely one that's gone into my notebook as one to follow for the rest of the season. So um the first group race of the evening, the Henry the second stakes, not a race I've looked at. I know what kind of a racing fan am I not to be involved in the group race. Well, because at the moment it's a pretty shit division. If you go back to like I do, to the likes of Persian Punch and Yates and horses like that, this is a bit meh for me at the present. So just gonna be watching this. Sweet William will probably win it. It's sort of one class horse in the race. Second in uh last year's derby behind Lamborn. Been off for a while, but shapes like a stair, so we'll have to see how well Lazy Griff goes. Been a bit of a gamble on Paradis from the Alan Kingyard, but with only seven runners, there's not much scope for each-way betting, and not a race that I've looked at. So you'll know the result of this in the form box. So uh let's just uh draw a veil over this one and go on to the fourth race in a wee wire. See you then. Okay, well, how wrong can you get? That answers a few questions. One is Zay Binsaroa a good trainer. Yes, he is. Give him the good, and he will deliver. Divide future, 28 to 1, 10 years of age, won that. Probably you might say a little bit lucky at the end, but good jockey chip from Probert. Uh made his move mid-ray, slung shot out of the final corner, went about three or four lengths clear. Have little sweet William gave him uh far too much rope and um paid the price. It was a rapidly diminishing neck that he won by in the end. But I think if Havlin could have that race back again, he would have made his move a little bit earlier on the odds on favourite sweet William. Lazy grip, 10 third, sort of got into it at the end. Is he a stayer? Drury's out, probably. But yeah, really interesting race and another big price winner 28 to 1. Dubai future for Sidebins or Ohr. Good trainer, always pay attention to wherever he sends out. Next up is the Heron Stakes, which is a listed race for three-year-olds over a mile. So these are horses that have probably not quite Guinea's potential, may have raced down the field in the Guineas or may have just swerved them in place of preferring to sort of come for this slightly lower level race. Good quality race, 34 grand to the winner. Interest to see Talk of New York and see how he goes. I saw him win really impressively at Newmarket at the Craven meeting. Move really well, and William Buick chooses him of the Appleby pair. Buick's won the last two renews of this race. The horse has been backed, it's been about 11-8 favourite. Three in my short list of Yazin for the Gosdons, who do particularly well in this race and have done really well in this race in the past. Nation's Hope has been off for 169 days and time to turn. Time to turn, I'm interested in. He's been off for 215 days. He had a lot of runs as a two-year-old, six runs as a two-year-old. He moves really nicely and he's well suited to the quick ground that they've got here today. He's down a class here to this uh listed level race after winning the group three Horace Hill at Newbury in the final start as a two-year-old. James Doyle rides, he's not a bad replacement. It does look like this is Godolphin's second string based on jockey bookings, and it's only based on the betting where the horse has drifted out to round about 11 to 1. Yes, the horse may need this, but he's a classy animal, got some really good speed figures. Drawn one, which is usually a decent place to be drawn on the tight circuit at Sandown. And if I can get around about 11-12 to 1, I will be backing him each way in an eight-runner race. Watch this space. Uh back up a little bit. Probably got a little bit too cocky, not referring to my notes and not referring to the race guard. When I talked about Charlie Applebee's and Godolphins runners in this next race, he's got four in the next race. On jockey bookings and on the betting, like I said, you'd have to talk about the tail of New York being probably the number one pick. Time to term, who I like, but I'm not going to be able to get 11 to 1 about him, probably number two. But he's also got Maximise written by Connor Planis and Nation's Hope written by Rosa Ryan. So he's mob handed in this race. He's got four out of the eight runners running in the next race. Heron stakes for three-year-old. So that's it, we'll have to see how they go. I would hope I would expect a Godolphin winner, but which one of the four? 20 minutes and we'll find out. Okay, that was only a listed race, but talk of New York absolutely slammed his opposition there. Was Godolphin a little bit remiss in not supplementing him for the Guineas? Maybe he wasn't ready for the Guineas, but he was certainly ready for tonight. He has absolutely taken apart this listed class field in the manner of a very impressive animal indeed. Certainly one to watch out for. Probably a role ascot next, I would think. Glad I didn't again. Another loser avoided. I think he's probably just held on for second. There was a photo, but it looks like he he just got second with Andab coming in at third for Alshakab racing. But yeah, Talk of New York, that is definitely one to go into many people's notebooks for well higher class group races in the notch too distant future, probably starting at Royal Ascot. Okay, it's a big race of the evening. The Brigadier Girard takes one mile, two furlongs, group three race. Ombudsman's gonna go off a favourite. It's kind of a bit of a boring old theme uh so far, punting-wise. It's a no-bet for me. Six runners, you can't really get an each-way deer into the race. Ombudsman will probably win it. I just like Wimbledon Hawkeye just dances every dance, probably comes up short at this level in terms of wins. He'll run his race and will probably come second, third, or fourth. But I can't really uh see a way into this from a betting perspective. So I want to sit back and probably watch Ombudsman just trot home as as his odds sort of indicate he he will do. Watch that make a fool of me in about 10 minutes' time. Well, Ombudsman won it, but hardly impressively. Um he was giving seven pounds away to all opponents. You'd have thought he would have won by a little bit bigger margin and with a bit more authority, but he got it done for odds on backers. Wimmel and Hawkeye came fifth or sixth, I think, in the end. Not quite last, but he'll come on for the run anyway. We'll run his usual big races in these low group two, group three listed class races and give a good account of himself. And in a bigger field, he's always going to be potential, sort of each and each way price. We'll come on for this run, but um but there we go. That's uh Ombudsman, that's a big race of the evening. Um, haven't talked much about anything other than the racing tonight. I was probably a bit harsh on Sandown at the start. I was in a bit of a bait, as you probably no doubt gathered. Just getting into the place was a faft. Raging is such a brilliant sport, but we just fuck up on so many occasions. Having one functioning entry point for the biggest evening meeting of the whole season, jumps all flat, from the for the main sort of car park in the middle of the course, where there's upwards of a thousand cars parked, I would say, it's not really good, is it? And then for people not to know where to send people to, in my case, me to get a race card. I mean, dear god, it's not difficult, is it? But well, apparently it is. So, but anyway, that's all in the past, and sand down on a warm summer evening, which it is now, it's very muggy, but it's beautiful. They've been rewarded with a big crowd. There's a beautiful view over the whole of London, there's trees and so on, as far as I can see. I mean, you know, I really love this place, gets boxed up with its sister course, Kempton. I can't stand Kempton, that's absolutely soulless place for me. It's got none of the buzz and none of the interest of Sandown for me, anyway. So I'm a big Sandown fan. When they get it right, probably only a handful of other courses in the UK that can match it. Certainly in terms of you know urban courses and certainly in terms of the sort of quality of racing they put on, there's usually it's usually a pretty decent card that they will attract to Sandown. It's usually a pretty decent surface that they have here, it's usually pretty fair, and the quality of racing is good, and it has been tonight. Food's been decent. Uh I've stopped to soft drinks. I tend not to drink too much if I'm on course and betting, but I haven't had a bet so far. That's all I'm going to change in this next race. So stick around for info on that. I said at the start of this cast that it's a replicated cast that I did back in 2022 from Chepstow, and it just struck me that one of the things at that meeting was a tribute band, an Oasis tribute band. And bugger me sideways, there's another Oasis tribute band playing tonight, definitely Oasis. My view on this sort of thing hasn't changed. If you're a skilled musician, why bother cheapening yourself? Why bother dicking about being a tribute band, playing songs that somebody else has played and made famous? And who are much better, much more charismatic, much more original than you will ever be? No, no. Why not use your skill and expertise as a plank spanker or a drummer or as a singer to create and produce something worthwhile and new and interesting and different? No, you gonna be a fucking tribute band. Well, definitely Oasis are gonna be doing their stuff after racing tonight. I'm not gonna be around to watch it, I'm gonna be on my way back with some of the proper real stuff on Spotify on the way back. So that's just me. The musical snob issuing definitely Oasis. But um, as I always say, if you really get your jollies to these sort of things well, you go for it with all that you've got, but don't expect me to shop for it. As promised, here's the first bet of the evening for me in the shape of Satar uh horse number five in this seven runner one mile handicap, class three handicap. Our favourite is going to be Rami, but there's plenty uh going against him, I would venture to suggest. It is only his third run, he had two runs last year, both on the all-weather. So this is his first run on turf. He's been off for 262 days, and this is his first run in a handicap. All of which conspires to say that I'm not so sure if he's worthy of odds-on favouritism, and it's a shame it's only a seven-runner race and not an eight-runner race because there's probably going to be a an each-way uh opportunity to field against him. I'm going all in on Satar to win. I think he's well drawn in store number one, the head of the handicapper still, despite winning three and then coming up slightly short last time out. I still think he's got more about him. He was he was slightly unlucky in a couple of his more recent runs, and I still think he's got more to more to offer. He's very consistent, good consistent speed figures. He's got yet to win on turf, but that doesn't really put me off him. He's run fast on turf in the past, and he's just really sort of consistent on all the sort of metrics that I that I look for. Breeding good, speed figures are good, and I just think he's a decent price at around about anything anywhere above north of 10 to 1, and he's going to be a win bet for me. Satar, S-A-Y-T, A double R, trained by James Horton, decent enough trainer, win by Dan Muscott. Fielding in against Rami, written by Ray Dawson, or I like as a jockey. Variant um trained by Roger Varian. Meh, Varian is very in and out as a trainer. I just think there's enough against Rami today to make him worth opposing, certainly at a price of around 10 to 11, something of that sort of order. So let's see how that pans out. Watch this space. So I misread the market a little bit here for this next race, the 745. The favourite is still gonna be Rami, but he's a shade of odds against now 11 to 8, 6-4, something of that sort of order. So he's taken a bit of a drift, and Setar, who has also unbacking, is now 9-1. He's drifted a little bit, opened at 8-1, he's now 9-1. Kogitate is around about the 8-1 mark. There's another couple that are a bit shorter than his boyfriend is shortened to 7-2. So it's it's not an odds-on favourite, Rami, but Setar is still a price that I'm interested in. I've got 11.5 on betfare for him, and I've uh taken that to win. So uh come on, Seter. Let's be having you let's have this favorite turned over. Yeah, Setar is taking a bit of a walk in the market now, so it doesn't look good on that effect, but drifters can still win. So let's hope let's hope he can do that. Does the business for us? Watch this space and ten minutes, we will find out. Well, go me to a degree anyway. Rami wasn't fit himself fit enough to do himself justice, or he didn't like grass, or he's a little bit high in the handicap, or whatever. I think he's gonna win races, and I think he'll win races on grass, but he wasn't fit enough after 200 plus days off. Boyfriend was 172, and Satya came fifth. I think he's probably high enough in the handicap now. I knew my fate when I saw him drifting from the price. Uh he opened up at about 15 to 2. I think he probably went off at about 910, something of that sort of order, and he was the best turned out as well. And as we all know, best turned out horses never win. So there we go. I I should be a layer. I should have laid uh laid the favourite there. He was he was never worthy to be favourite, I wouldn't have said. But but there we go. We live and learn, that is the price we pay for having a bet. It's the price we pay for getting more knowledge and more information. One last bet, my big bet of the evening to come in the next race, more of which in a few seconds. Okay, so the last race, and this is the race that I've looked at in the greatest depth. It's a handicap, class four for three-year-olds only. 12 horses run, the short list, blues and royals, Darza, the Joker, losing heights, Brave Hunter, suddenly I see. I'm hoping the winner comes from one of those. Let me go through each of the little sort of notes that I've made on uh on each of those horses. Blues and Royals, five pounds above his last winning mark, drawn four, which is a decent draw. You want to be drawn seven or lower on my reading of races over one mile on good, good to firm ground at Sandown with uh 12 plus runners. He's won convincingly a couple of times in his last few runs. He is a horse that gets backed if he's expected to. I think the stable or his own is like a gamble. So I'm watching for late money on blues and royals. Darza, no speed figures. He's only had uh two runs, so this is his first time in a handicap. I think there's more to come from him. There's no speed figures for him, but he's just got really sort of solid class four credentials. I think he's gonna run particularly well today for uh William Hagas, his trainer. Cyrus Dabawi, who's a real sort of good influence for class, drawn six, which is not doesn't put him out of the game entirely. And my reading of the draw history for this race acts on firm ground. As I say, I think there's more to come from Darza. The Joker, favourite four to one at the present. He's a front runner, which is good. Uh he's been placed in two runs here. Sire Zarak is a good influence for good, good to firm going. A trainer, Jane Chapelheim, he's only hitting sort of seven percent in the last 14 days, but 64% of the horses are running to form. Drawn in nine, which may be a little bit out wide for a favourite, but it has been back saying it's a front runner. It may have to use a lot of tactical pace up early though to get over from its outside draw, and it might not have enough to give at the end. But got good speed figures, could be a player. Losing heights, decent form race last time out. 10 pounds though above uh last winning mark. Trainer William Knight is only hitting 7% in the last 14 days, and only 47% of his horses are running to form. Widest draw in seven. He's horse has been fairly sort of unlucky once in the last sort of few outings. So I'm prepared to forgive him for that. Backed into around 11-2. But he's the most exposed horse in the race and probably hasn't got that many secrets still from the handicapper. Brave Hunter just goes well on the ground, drawn eight, but a little bit too wide out, a bit of a drift on Brave Hunter. Good speed figures though, still yet to win a race till I made them. And suddenly I see Atwell acts on the ground again, really sort of solid in class these sort of class four races, seven pounds above the last winning mark, drawn in the plum draw store one, about eight to one. We shall see, hopefully, the winner will come from one of those. I'll tell you which one I'm back in uh in a minute when I get some prices for them. So my bet was at Data and came about fifth. Uh got a price of well, it drifted out to about eleven point five on uh the exchange, which I took. And a big win bet on it. A big win bet on it. I think it will go on and improve further. It was only a third race yesterday. I think she may need a straight horse. She loves to be a bit buffeted around going around the bend down. She's in the hands of a master trainer in William Haggard. Hopefully, it's the right road to kind of raises. I think she's sort of capable of improving. She's on the firm ground and I think it's very sort of firmish ground tonight. So I think she probably does like top of the ground. She'll She'll probably go down the handicap, maybe drop a pound, maybe sort of stay around about the same sort of mile, but I think hangers will play so that's a good effect. Maybe in the Philly's only handicapped somewhere over a mile, maybe on a straight course, and particularly when the ground is right in the firm. It's been a good old night where there's been and just cracking the flags down here. Yeah, it's racing. I mean it's just fun, isn't it? You just gotta get out and go to time of life. The little wing is in the page rider that you have a great way, great way to uh spend your time as we know. I recommend you for your internal fortitude turning up for this cat as you do. And it's really good if you try to share your uh share your time with uh such as I imagine knowledge in the into the void. That's it for me. Over an hour rocket in the free world.