The Pointing Thread

BennyB said:
Do you have any riding experience? I've schooled horses over fences and I can tell you it's not at all easy. Given that she had never sat on a horse a year ago it's phenomenal what she's achieved.
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I've never had a lesson in my life Benny. But ive ridden full pelt over cross country on many occasions. (Its been a few years mind!) The point to all this is she is not just like you or me going for a few lessons at the weekend. She has been full time on this for over a year, with training paid for and given by the best. Any fit and healthy human given that kind of training could do what she is doing. Carl Fogarty was initially going to be the celeb for this but he wouldn't have got the public wanking into gym socks. Its nothing more than a huge publicity campaign. She says she is going to do it for the rest of her life now....must be nice when you have someone to basically fund anything you fancy doing in life.

The Media day for the Cheltenham handicaps weight was cancelled today. #justsaying
 
Digger said:
I've never had a lesson in my life Benny. But ive ridden full pelt over cross country on many occasions. (Its been a few years mind!) The point to all this is she is not just like you or me going for a few lessons at the weekend. She has been full time on this for over a year, with training paid for and given by the best. Any fit and healthy human given that kind of training could do what she is doing. Carl Fogarty was initially going to be the celeb for this but he wouldn't have got the public wanking into gym socks. Its nothing more than a huge publicity campaign. She says she is going to do it for the rest of her life now....must be nice when you have someone to basically fund anything you fancy doing in life.

The Media day for the Cheltenham handicaps weight was cancelled today. #justsaying
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I don't believe any fit and healthy human being could do what she is doing. It's very difficult. The natural advantages she has are an athlete's mentality and the core stability, fitness and balance from her cycling.

She has also clearly had every advantage in being helped by Nicholls, Breisner etc, plus a financial situation which means she is able to devote 100pc of her time to this.

The stuff in my second paragraph seems to be the source of a lot of sour grapes, much in the same way as Sam Waley Cohen used to get stick ("anyone could do what he's doing if they had a daddy buying the expensive horses" etc.). The fact is that this sport, like many others, isn't a pure meritocracy. Who you know, who your Dad is, and how much money you have can all affect the opportunities you get. Very much like life really.
 
Irish Stamp said:
Great to see VP winning yesterday.

Not an amazing start to the year for us on here but:

16:50 Ludlow - Invisible Man @ 16/1. Double the price he should be, generally goes well in these 2m4f competitive HC's and while Phine Banks isn't the best with doubts surrounding Monkey Kingdom & Grandioso she should at least be in a position to take advantage.

Martin
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had a dabble on that thanks Martin..what do you think of shoreacres?..gonna dutch with yours..interesting that they run it RH after the break..horse has good form when off a break of 181+ days + Right Handed....form = 11P21
 
Irish Stamp said:
16:50 Ludlow - Invisible Man @ 16/1. Double the price he should be, generally goes well in these 2m4f competitive HC's and while Phine Banks isn't the best with doubts surrounding Monkey Kingdom & Grandioso she should at least be in a position to take advantage.

Martin
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Excellent call !
To Place 4.40

Well done, indeed.
 
EC1 said:
had a dabble on that thanks Martin..what do you think of shoreacres?..gonna dutch with yours..interesting that they run it RH after the break..horse has good form when off a break of 181+ days + Right Handed....form = 11P21
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Sorry I didn't see this until now EC.

I made it 9/2 each of three (Monkey Kingdom, Shoreacres, BFG) with 8's Grandioso & Invisible Man.

Backed Shoreacres last night but wouldn't have done so once the 7's+ went really.

Martin
 
Hi Lads,

Does anyone have any latest news on Mr. Mercurial? I got a tip for the horse from a lad in work and see that the horse has been backed. He also has Cheltenham experience but why have we not seen him since last May?

Thanks,
Harry
 
Made today's Catterick affair a three horse race - Carlton Ryan the obvious one but not much juice in the price now (made it 10/11).

The other two I thought would go well are Comedinewithme who's 2 from 2 in lesser races than this in 2015/16. She was out on her legs last time out bu tgets a handy weight allowance and has one of the top jockey's in the North/Yorkshire in the saddle today.

Also liked Fureys Bar who I saw win at Askham Bryan ten days ago for the Teal's. Jack is a very capable jockey and while FB was beaten 30 lengths by the favourite at Sheriff Hutton in January he should still go well here.

Don't like Scots Gaelic who has quite a bit to find on ratings and I made three times his current price, would be opposing him in match bets and laying him at 11/8ish 3 places despite the NR's situation.

Martin
 
Carlton Ryan beat Comedinewithme in a photo finish - Fureys Bar was very disappointing and Scots Gaelic was miles out the back from a relatively early stage.

Short HC at Leicester on Friday, some drying ground wouldn't go amiss there as have one in mind already for that.

Martin
 
Irish Stamp said:
Carlton Ryan beat Comedinewithme in a photo finish - Fureys Bar was very disappointing and Scots Gaelic was miles out the back from a relatively early stage.

Short HC at Leicester on Friday, some drying ground wouldn't go amiss there as have one in mind already for that.

Martin
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Looking like going will be Heavy tomorrow Martin. Assume that impacts the selection?
 
It's not ideal DH - my fancy in this is the Philip Rowley horse Siro Demur he took this event in 2014 and was narrowly defeated by a good ride from Harry Cobden in last years renewal. He's been the victim of a couple of iffy rides in the past and is definitely better at this two mile trip than the P2P trips over which he has run in the past. Cottenham is a short 3m (ie. 2m6f) but he weakened quickly on that occasion and was PU when making his seasonal debut in early January. I wouldn't worry too much about that with the drop in trip to suit here and I made him favourite against Dineur & Bobcatbilly who both look ridiculously underpriced to me, the former ran in a race that isn't working out at all well at Ffos Las LTO while the latter ran ok for a way but I'm not convinced a drastic drop in trip is what is needed for him.

The two from Taunton - Delta Borget & Swallows Delight will appreciate this two miles as should Can Mestret who has a decent jockey up.

Martin
 
7/4 about Pearlysteps tomorrow is a gift (16:25T) - a cut above these with the second best horse in the race (VDM) having a moderate jockey up.

Martin
 
My tuppence worth-at the start of the week I was enquiring about the deBromhead stable and I was told that Jamie said Aupcharlie won't be beaten.
I'm not a big hunter chase fan but It Came to Pass caught my eye at Limerick over Christmas-on bottomless ground he came from a mile back to win a race -next time out he ran at Leopardstown on Gold Cup Day -ran a very respectable race.
I was surprised to see him declared for this race but he is related to Lord Windermere and he could have serious improvement on the ground.Powers were significantly shortest today and I take that as a positive.
I thought On the Fringe was shocking at Leopardstown and honestly believe it would be twice the price if it wasn't owned by JP.
So how do I play the race-for starters lumpy place lay of On The Fringe.Secondly back to lay Aupcharlie.Third Back It Came To Pass pre race and in running.
 
Go watch that Leopardstown race again and then tell me how many times Jamie Codd hit him. In fact I'll save you the bother, it was zero.

I'm not saying he's unbeatable but I certainly wouldn't be place laying him.
 
Cheers all - Darran's preview is very good as always.

Had doubts about Aupcharlie on the ground to be honest and the same is true of Marito for me, On The Fringe not touched the last day and remains the best horse in this. Think that It Came To Pass has plenty of potential and is second best of the Irish raiders given he was runner-up in the big race at Leopardstown but experience isn't in his favour, definitely the horse with the most potential.

Think that Mr Mercurial is worth a bet @ 25/1 here with 4 places, they've found the key to him now with the tactics and he's looked very decent since they started employing those and with Paddy Gerety up too. The horse made a successful return at Horseheath (the same track the yards Cappa Bleu ran at prior to his victory in the race) when beating Glint Of Steel who was previously unbeaten in the UK. Decent ground should suit and he won the big Novices race at the Hunter Chase meeting last year so should go well in this.

Would love to see Impact Area win/go well for a small trainer with a friend of mine replacing Louis Muspratt who's been stood down due to concussion. He certainly won't lack for assistance from the saddle.

Martin
 
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