Zolder was the subject of a gamble, and a pretty large gamble, but he couldn't get the job done.
That's two days in a row where I've been on a horse at much bigger odds and we've not walked away with the win. Zolder was backed in from 9/1 and went off as the EVS favourite. There was a 35p rule 4, but still, there was serious money to get him into the price he was sent off at.
Galilean Quality 10/3 (1pt) – Haydock 2.30
With Salisbury being abandoned, there's not a lot of great racing today. I've tried to take a new approach to racing and to focus on the better quality of racing than the slums of Class 5 and 6 races.
I am more than happy to take a chance on Karl Burke's newcomer in this race at Haydock. We've seen Karl fire in winners on debut all season long in the two-year-old division, and even horses who weren't fancied in the market. This race has been dominated by Charlie Appleby over the last four years, with the Godolphin trainer winning every renewal in the last four years. He has a runner in this race, but the form of that horse doesn't look fantastic, and he didn't improve from his first to second run.
Karl Burke's runner was bought for 200k, which is a lot for a horse that doesn't have an amazing pedigree. That suggests he is a bit of a specimen and is very good physically. I don't think we'll get great value on him due to Karl being one of, if not the best, two-year-old trainers in the country.
Salamanca City 10/1 (0.5pt EW) – Haydock 4.37
Typically, in a race like this, I would deem Salamanca City to be on a tough enough handicap mark, and one of the unexposed horses would be too good for him. But in this case, I don't rate the form of the three-year-olds, and the two older horses at the top of the weights aren't bulletproof.
In my opinion, based on recent form, Salamanca City holds a very solid chance and deserves to be shorter in the market. In all fairness, he has been putting in solid performances all year, but the last couple of runs have produced some good form. His last two runs have been at the Racing League, so he knows what it's like to be in a competitive race. The winner from Chepstow has since won at another Racing League meeting, and is doing it off a 5lb higher mark, winning in impressive style. Last time out, he was behind Say What You See, who finished second, and has also won at the Racing League last week.
We know he will be fine at the trip, and the ground should be fine if it doesn't get too soft. He might be in the grips of the handicapper off his current mark, but every other horse in the race has questions to answer.
GambleAware