Dancing Cows, A "good thing" in the Bumper and my Grand National Tale of Woe

Howdy folks,

I'll start today's fairly short post with a mention for a horse running this afternoon in the rescheduled meeting at Newbury.

The Henderson/Geraghty pairing have Ericht running in the bumper at 3.35pm and the word from the stable is that this one has improved in leaps and bounds from his last run and is confidently expected to win and win well. He's not the most exciting selection at a current price  of 7/4 with Paddy Power and Betfred but I could see him going off considerably shorter than that. I've had a hefty wager at that price and I'll be taking an even bigger swing at any bookmaker foolish enough to offer 2/1 about his chances.

The other horse that I like the look of today and that I have heard very good reports for is Tante Sissi in the 4.50pm at Fakenham. I have had a small interest at 5/2 and stuck this one in an each way double with Ericht which looks like a free bet to me.

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Returning to the events at Newbury on Saturday, after my last post I received an interesting email from a reader of the blog, John, who before his retirment was a vet in general practice for more than 40 years. I was rather pessimistic about the future health of any of the horses who had received a shock in the parade ring but John recalled an event  he had witnessed that seems a little more hopeful. I've reproduced the email below with his kind permission:

Dear Kieran,

Re the dreadful Newbury disaster – before retirement I was in general practice as a
veterinary surgeon for some 40 years. I remember one day being called to attend a
dead cow (all suddenly dead livestock have by law to be checked for Anthrax).  This
cow was lying at the base of an electricity pylon near the bottom of a sloping
field.  All the other cows in the field had gathered around, as is usual in such
circumstances, and they were all DANCING.  There is no other word to describe it.  I
thought of asking that pretty young heifer for the next waltz but decided it would
be more prudent to get the MEB to come and switch off the power first.  I don’t
think any of them suffered long term effects, but then, they don’t have to exert
themselves like a racehorse. Obviously there had been a short and the low lying wet
ground had become live. 

Regards,
John

I certainly hope John's experience with the cows indicates that Kid Cassidy will suffer no long lasting ill effects from what happened but only time and further racing will tell I guess.

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The weights for the Grand National were announced this week and the interesting one for me is Backstage. I know he has a hard task if you judge him on some of the trends but there has been some good money for him in recent days and in Gordon Elliot he has a trainer who really knows the time of day at Aintree. He was going well when very unlucky in last years race and I would give him every chance this year. I took a little of the 33/1 a few weeks ago and I will have a bit more of the 20/1 generally available now.  I have to admit to a certain amount of partisan feeling for both Backstage and any other horse trained by Gordon Elliott. He is  based in Trim,  Co. Meath, the town where all my late father's family are from and a place I grew to love during many childhood visits. I was very tempted to buy a piece of Backstage last year when some shares became available but the price proved just a little too steep for me.That being said, nothing would make me happier come Aintree in April if my decision not to buy proves a very shortsighted one!

A word of warning though to anybody thinking of following me in on this bet. Last year, I was very bullish about the chances of King John's Castle.  Having backed him at all prices from 200/1 down to 40/1 I stood to win better than 30k if he triumphed. On the dayI settled down in front of the telly, safe in my conviction that he was absolutely nailed on for a place and  was pleased even more to see him backed into 28/1 just before the off.

Smiling contentedly, at least at first, I then watched in horror as he stubbornly refused to jump off  and took no part in the race at all. I dread to think how connections felt about it because I was just about ready to put my head in the oven!

That's all for today. I hope everybody has a great weekend and finds lots of winners!

Kieran