Saturday racing review: David Ord's unwelcome trip down memory lane
I love this Saturday of racing, especially when the sun is shining. It’s just everything is in front of you.
Cheltenham and Aintree are around the corner, the Flat campaign will be going through the gears before you know it. There’s so much to look forward to as the first IPA of the season chills in the fridge.
As horses were bouncing off the good ground at Kempton, those slogs of the freezing cold and wet winter were suddenly a distant memory.
But just as Tritonic came forward to at least offer up a home defence of the JCB Triumph Hurdle, my memory was taken back to possibly my worst antepost bet ever.
Now that is some award, a far deeper field than I’d care to admit.
For example I was convinced Norton’s Coin hadn’t been given the credit he deserved for winning the 1990 Gold Cup and backed him again and again through the spring of 1991 to follow-up. He didn’t.
There was Saintsaire who I fell completely for. I was with him for JCB Triumph and Betfair Hurdles, a Racing Post Plate and two Grand Annuals. He never threatened to win any of them and more often than not started a bigger price than I’d snared.
Alnasr Alwasheek never won a Guineas or a Derby, Superior Finish a Grand National nor Annamix any of the Sky Bet Supremes I threw £20 his way for. On this very day last year I backed Solo to win the Triumph.
And they are but a few of those vying for places on this particular podium.
The Red Mills Trial Hurdle is to blame for the soul-searching exercise. It’s the reason, just over a year ago, that I thought Darasso would win the Champion Hurdle itself at Cheltenham.
It wasn't the 2020 renewal of the race that affected my thinking, but the previous season's. You see Joseph O'Brien's charge had won that doing handstands, before landing a decent little chase at Navan. And here he was sailing completely under the radar for Cheltenham.
He firmly stayed there, finishing last of four in the Haydock Champion Trial and second behind Cilaos Emery as he defended his Gowran Park crown.
To be fair he made it to Cheltenham, finishing 10th behind Epatante, the JP McManus horse I should have been hitching my wagon to.
He was back in the rescheduled Red Mills Hurdle on Saturday at Fairyhouse but was backpedaling quicker than Michael Jackson in his pomp from the second last.
Biting into a cheese salad sandwich as he disappeared from my screen, I wondered again what it was that made me think here was a horse who would rule the two-mile hurdling division. I’m still searching.
Never mind. You have to move on in this game.
My sole 2021 antepost bet for Cheltenham is Galopin Des Champs to win any race at the Festival at 40/1 placed in early November. Are you on too?
Thought not. After all his name doesn’t appear in any of the various Willie Mullins Cheltenham stable tours and his form figures for the yard read 2P6. The chances are he’s going to be watching the March action from over his box at Closutton.
But in a strange way it’s reassuring that even in this of all years, some things remain the same.
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