Both of Monday's horses ran with credit, and with a bit of better luck, we could have walked away with two winners.
Culligran got going too late, and I don't think one of the hurdles being removed help his chances. Spioradalta was keen for the best part of three furlongs, so it was a shock to see him finish his race out and land a place. If he had conserved his energy better, I have no doubt he would have been fighting for the win.
Whilst watching the first runner, I completely forgot I tipped Monday's horses as EW. I was gutted to see him not win, but remembered they were each-way bets. A small profit was secured, which is better than a kick in the nuts.
Two B Tanned 3/1 (1pt) – Nottingham 4.42
I was on Two B Tanned when she was earlier into his winning streak, a couple of months ago, she managed to rack up four in a row in impressive style. She was below par on her final start, but I think you can forgive her for that effort.
I think the reason for her poor performance on the all-weather was that she was tired and needed a rest. She had five runs in the space of a month and a half, which is a lot of racing; these aren't robots. Julie Camacho made the wise decision to give her filly a well-deserved rest, so hopefully she is ready to fire after 42 days away from the track.
Her transformation this year has been very impressive. She started the win streak off an official rating of 48 and is now rated 74. If she didn't run badly due to exhaustion and more because of the handicapper catching up to her, then we could be in trouble as she had a 5lb claimer on board last time, and is now 4lb heavier. That means she is 9lb worse off from last time around, but Julie knows what she is doing, and if she firmly believes the freshness will bring her back to form, I believe that too.
During her winning streak, she was racing from the front and dictating the race at her own leisure. At a lower grade, and when she was clearly ahead of the handicapper, they couldn't contest her lead as she was far too good. Against better horses, that might be a struggle, but thankfully, this is a small field. That should allow Joe Fanning to dictate the race from the front, and despite Joe being a veteran in the weighing room, he is brilliant when riding from the front.
The form of the yards in this race is not the greatest. Apart from Julie Camacho, the rest of the trainers are struggling for winners in recent weeks, so you are taking a gamble on their horses. Julie is thriving at present, shown by her 21% SR with six winners in the last fortnight.
GambleAware