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Captain's Blog - 28th October 2010

Was AP McCoy’s ride on Drill Sergeant yesterday a superb ride, the best you have ever seen? or was it a case of Drill Sergeant doing what he wanted? Just in case you did not see it McCoy set out to make all the running on this horse and was clear of the field when on passing the paddock area he decided to stop to a virtual standstill until the rest of the field joined him whence he decided to follow them. Thereafter he raced sweetly as McCoy worked him through the field to ultimately lead jumping the last and win under a hard drive.

AP McCoy

My take on the whole thing was that by and large McCoy was as ever persistent, relentless and skilled in getting this horse to win, but other jockeys would have won on him as well. As the Sergeant tried to pull himself up McCoy was powerless to keep him going and he only consented to carry on in the race when passed by the other horses. I have heard it said that McCoy performed a miracle in getting this horse to run again, this is nonsense, Drill Sergeant did what Drill Sergeant wanted to do and by and large throughout the incident McCoy was a passenger. The horse decided to run on again because horses are gregarious and like to be with the herd, if he had not wanted to carry on not even the remarkable McCoy could have made him move. To get him to win though was down to race riding and strength and AP must take the credit for that but in that moment when the Sergeant pulled himself up and the moment when he decided to run again it did not matter who was on board, at that time the Sergeant was in charge.

Palomar went in for us yesterday at 7/2 which was a much needed winner for us. Our other two selections were well beaten so it was something of a score draw yesterday. I am hoping for something a little better today and there is some decent racing at Lingfield to have a go at. Talking of All Weather action I enjoyed working with Richard Hoiles last night in the studio. We received a host of good e mails and the evening was very enjoyable. The Racing was not too bad and hopefully we managed to highlight a few punting pointers for the rest of the winter on the all weather. I am very much someone who looks at Pedigrees when it comes to my punting and Richard highlighted an interesting angle last night by telling us that Librettist may be a stallion to avoid when it comes to synthetic action. This is certainly something to keep an eye on.

I am not working today and am nursing a bit of a sore back form lifting weights the other day in the Gym, I may go back there today to try and do some easy exercise to stretch it out, thereafter I will be watching some Racing this afternoon and trying to win a few quid.

Enjoy your day.

Today's Selections

3:20 Stratford – Runshan (each way 9/2 Sky Bet)