Midweek Update (12th August)

Confidence is a funny thing when you’re winning you feel every horse will be in the shakeup at the business end of the race but when you hit the bad patch nagging doubts are around every corner. I mentioned a horse on a few social media sites on Monday that I thought would be a good thing, LEGEND OF DUBAI ran at Haydock yesterday and I don’t normally bet on short priced horses but was confident the 500,000 gns Roger Varian colt would win at a canter and go onto better things, I jumped in and was well-happy with the 2/1 Bet 365 offered, which by the way soon disappeared. Legend Of Dubai was well-supported and went off 4/5 favourite, meanwhile, the second favourite was also supported and with confidence low, the doubts began and of course, River Alwen won by three-quarters of a length. I do think Legend Of Dubai will turn out to be a class horse and win some nice races but when you have hard-earned cash on it’s a difficult pill to swallow. 

✅ Off the mark

€145,000 purchase River Alwen (Dark Angel) sheds the maiden tag at the second time of asking for @rhannonracing & @Rossaryan15 at @haydockraces with a game performance to see off favourite Legend Of Dubai

Results & free replays ➡ https://t.co/sBcsavpOzF pic.twitter.com/0enkJYkSft

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 11, 2020

Another tracker who will be seen in a better light next time is State Patrol for Richard Fahey and Clipper Logistics. Drawn in the car park at Chester State Patrol was never involved and always off the pace, not one to give up on just yet. On a positive note, it was nice to see Robert Choc Thornton's horse to follow Surprise Exhibit win nicely at Wolves after finishing down the field on debut. 

Impressive performance – Showcasing colt Surprise Exhibit dominates from the front under @oismurphy to take the @WolvesRaces opener for @Archie_Watson… pic.twitter.com/H5MKQODVdU

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 12, 2020

Eye-Catcher:

14:55 Haydock 11 Aug 2020 

Legend Of Dubai is definitely one to follow but won’t be much of a price I guess next time but another tracker I had in the race was the Andrew Balding-trained JUAN DE MONTALBAN who was an 85,000 gns purchase at the 2019 October Yearling Sales. Owners Mick and Janice Mariscotti have had a few nice horses down the years with Andrew including the top-class Dashing Willoughby, he also has Lariat and Bronze River. If you are a stat man you will know already that Andrew Balding doesn't have the best record with first time 2-year-olds so it was no surprise to see the Lope De Vega colt take a big drift in the market. Juan De Montalban was slowly away but stayed on steadily without getting anywhere near the front pair. The market will be the key next time out and market support will be positive and hopefully, Juan De Montalban can get his first win on the board. 

Trackers:

13:00 Leopardstown 

MOON DAISY went onto the radar a couple of weeks back when being well-supported for trainer Donnacha O'Brien. Hopefully, the Holy Alliance filly will have learnt a bit from her first racecourse experience at this track. Moon Daisy was a 10/1 shot earlier in the day and was eventually sent off a 9/2 shot. Moon Daisy got into all kinds of traffic problems and was never involved, Wayne Lordon takes over tomorrow and I’m hoping Moon Daisy can get an each-way price and Moon Daisy can grab a place at least against some nice looking fillies. 16:15 Hamilton 13 Aug 2020 It’s always a worry when a 3-year-old has been off the track for 371 days. 

THRONE HALL for the Kevin Ryan team makes his reappearance at Hamilton in what looks an average race. The big question is can Throne Hall confirm the promise he showed as a 2-year-old on his debut at Haydock back in August last year. Well-supported from 100/30 into 11/4 that day and looked a nice Kingman colt for owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum when finishing third. 

Stay safe and good luck.