The Romans Are Coming (15:05 Gowran Park (IRE) 19 Oct 2020)

Happy birthday Aidan O’Brien the drinks are on you haha, well I don’t know about anybody else but I managed to win a few quid on Friday. As I mentioned in my post on Thursday WILLOW is well-thought by the Ballydoyle stables and after 80 odd days off the track I was slightly worried to be honest but I had no reason to be as the American Pharoah filly won with plenty in hand. 

I managed to get 9/2 for Willow the night before and decided to do an each way double with BOLSHOI BALLET as I wasn’t willing to do any single bets at their prices. The Galileo colt won just as easily as Willow to make it a pretty nice day for me and Aidan. I’m pretty sure we will be seeing Bolshoi Ballet and Willow compete in higher grade races next season and hopefully they can go onto better things. 

A mixed bag on a couple I mentioned on Twitter the last few days, Celestial Queen for the Karl Burke yard ran at Haydock on Friday and I did get drawn in when the Dark Angel 200,000gns filly was attracting early support but his stats for first timeout winners over 9/2 are pretty poor so after a lot of thought and hanging on I decided to have a small each way even though the price was 11/2, yes big mistake as she trailed in towards the back. I won’t be giving up on Celestial Queen and interested to see how the market speaks next timeout. 

I didn’t have time to post much on Saturday but had a little wager on POETIC FLARE over in Ireland, I managed to get 7/1 Friday night but of course a bloody rule 4. I also had an each way double on Noman, and She’s a Lion who came second, I did actually think She’s a Lion could have been ridden a bit more aggressively but let's not go into that. A quick mention for Hollie Doyle and Tom Marquand who are both riding out of their skins at the minute and both bagged a double on Champions Day at Ascot. 

I feel like I have written about O’Brien hoping to have a double before haha but seriously another two potentially nice types turn up at Gowran Park on Monday afternoon. 

15:05 Gowran Park (IRE) 19 Oct 2020 

ROMAN EMPIRE has been off the track since making his debut here back in July. It was a pretty uninspiring performance that day and had to be ridden vigorously for parts of the race by Michael Hussey. Hopefully the extra distance plus the time off the track we will see Roman Empire in a different light today. 

15:35 Gowran Park (IRE) 19 Oct 2020

Really don’t like betting on newcomers especially Aidan O’Brien newcomers but this tracker could be potentially nice. I have been waiting a while for the Le Havre filly MARTINIQUE to make her debut and let’s hope she doesn't disappoint. A half-sister to the Richard Hannon runner Al Madhar who won his first two races but has been disappointing of late(gelded last month). Martinique is another well-thought of filly for the O’Brien team and whatever she does today I’m pretty sure she will improve for the run. 

Thanks for reading and stay safe.