Review of the weekend (Apr 23rd)

The final day of what has been a challenging season, and I was hoping I might be able to go out with a bang.

However, the fields weren’t really there to be attacked - and finding bets wasn’t easy.

I ended up with just the one Best bet - and it ran in the very last race of the season.


The race itself had a decent betting shape - as I was able to rule out half the runners and was prepared to take on the 2 market leaders.

I ended up with 3 against the field - and made one of them, Call me Lord, the days Best bet.

And he ran well, travelling nicely throughout - before taking up the running at the second last.
However, the 2 others on my short-list - Kamaxos and Samarrive - travelled just as nicely, and they quickened past him, approaching the final flight.

Ultimately, it was Samarrive who proved best, staying on strongly up the hill, for a convincing win.

For whatever reason (and I’d struggle to justify it), I chose to leave him out of the Matrix - but covered Kamaxos.

So somehow, I managed to short-list the first 3 home - but turned it into a losing race (it reminded me of the Pertemps final at Cheltenham, where I did similar - if a little more spectacularly !).

The days other bets were all for the Matrix - and it was a case of close, but no cigar…

In the opener, I sided with Doctor Parnassus and Alto Alto, in what appeared to be a very trappy contest.
However, the betting suggested it wasn’t that trappy, as Knappers Hill was backed at the exclusion of almost everything else - and did indeed prove a class apart.
Alto Alto ran well to finish third - but Doctor Parnassus finished well beaten, looking as if he’d had enough for the season.
In the big race of the day (the B365 Gold Cup), I took 4 against the field - but didn’t manage to find the winner.
It was a slightly strange race, in that very few of the runners ever had a chance of winning.
Step Back led from the start until the third last - at which point, Hewick took over, and that was that !
Musical Slave stayed on for an honourable second - but never looked like catching the winner; and whist Enrillo ran well to a point - he weakened out of things, in the final half mile.
Streets of Doyen didn’t jump well enough: whilst El Paso Wood simply wasn’t good enough.
Nelson River was the only other Matrix bet on the day - but he ended up a little frustrating.
I sided with him, as I felt that his race might fall apart (due to an abundance of front runners) - and that he may be able to take advantage .
And I’d read the race right, as the pace was overly strong and the front runners didn’t get home.
Unfortunately however, he was one of the horses forcing the pace !
He weakened out of things after the fourth last, enabling the pair who had been held up to fight out the finish…

And so ended the 2021-22 season.

It seemed an appropriate finish, with me managing to show rare skill, to dodge winners and side with horses that found a variety of different ways to get beaten !

The situation with the final race really did seem to encapsulate the entire season…


I’ll now get working on the End of season report - which I’ll look to get out before next weekend.

The numbers won’t make for pleasant reading - but I’ll try to find some positives to take out of the past 6 months…

TVB