...is a serious understatement. Having been relatively quiet during the week on the gambling front, I decided to have some tasty bets on Saturday as the quality of racing was decent.
Parisian Pyramid ran a good race, but it unfortunately wasn't good enough on the day as he eventually finished 3rd. He led entering the final furlong and looked like he had enough in him to hold on but Crown Choice produced a lovely late run under Alan Kirby to win going away in the end.
Spanish Duke unfortunately didn't handle the step up in class today. He travelled off the pace in the early stages and looked to be going well turning into the straight, but he didn't seem to find much for pressure and eventually weakened to finish last.
Masamah was undoubtadly the success story of the day for me. Having been backed last night at 12/1, he was sent off at 8/1 having been well punted before the off. Masamah bounced out of the stalls in front, and while he was joined briefly in the early stages of the race, he barely saw a rival throughout the whole race and hung on well from a fast finishing Doctor Parkes to win by half a length.
That win for Masamah meant a profit of 25 points for the day, which is impressive in anyone's books!
Unfortunately there's mainly jumps racing on tomorrow, with the only flat action coming at The Curragh in Co. Kildare. I don't usually like punting on the Irish racing but I've found 2 bets for tomorrow that look like good value to me.
The Curragh 2.10 - See You Smile - 1 pt e/w @ 33/1 (Boylesports)
See You Smile is still quite a lightly raced filly, having only had 11 starts. Her one and only career win came on her seasonal debut last season after 218 days off the track. Tomorrow she makes her seasonal debut for 2011 after 212 days off the track, so hopefully she can produce a similar result to that one this time last year. That run was over 6 furlongs at Navan, the same trip she faces here tomorrow. The ground conditions at the moment say that it's Good to Firm at The Curragh at the moment. If this is the case then it'll be perfect for See You Smile, as she loves the good ground. However there's been plenty of rain on Saturday so I wouldn't be surprised to see the ground description change between now and race time tomorrow. See You Smile has never run on soft ground, so it's an unknown as to how she would handle it. Hopefully we'll have a dry morning tomorrow and the ground dries out from today's rain. See You Smile won that race mentioned above off a mark of 68, and while her follow up run was rather decent, she never really produced a good performance after that for the whole season. She was running off a mark of 79 at one stage, and now that it's back down to 70, it certainly appeals to me. Add in the fact that promising claimer Darren Egan takes off a further 7 pounds then See You Smile certainly looks to me running off a decent mark. Her draw in stall 10 looks ok, considering the last 2 winners of this race came from stalls 12 and 8 respectively, so stall 10 looks to be suitable for a prominant showing. I've decided to take Boylesports' 33/1 instead of Paddy Power's 25/1, despite the fact PP is paying 5 places compared to Boyles' 4 places. Fingers crossed for a decent run for my money.
The Curragh 3.40 - Vivacious Vivienne - 1pt e/w @ 16/1 (Paddy Power)
I've decided to have a punt on the winner of this race last year, Vivacious Vivienne. Vivacious Vivienne was highly progressive last year, starting her campaign off a mark of 77, and having won her final start of the year at Leopardstown, she began this season off a mark of 93. Further progress this season in Listed and Group company means she's running off a mark of 97 tomorrow, which is 15 pounds higher than the mark she won this race off last year. However, her win at Leopardstown at the back end of last season came off 88, and with Conor Hoban's 7 pound claim tomorrow, she virtually gets in here off a mark of 90, which is well within her ability in my opinion. Her draw tomorrow is not ideal, in box 20, but she won this last year from the widest draw of them all so she's capable of winning from there. Vivacious Vivienne has had 2 runs so far this year, in better quality races than this. Both have been over inadequate trips, so the return to this 1m4f trip tomorrow will definitely suit. The drop in class here tomorrow is also a positive for her chances. She has bits of form on all sorts of ground, so she should handle the conditions whether there's rain or not. Vivacious Vivienne is an extremely consistent sort, either winning or placing in 39% of her career starts (18 starts, 5 wins, 2 places), and I'm confident she can run another big race here tomorrow.
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