Rossa Ryan Flying Now…

I was working at Goodwood for three days and did not manage to update the blog on Friday night, for which I apologise.

In fact you were spared some inaccurate thoughts regarding Saturday’s racing, when Titus Secret failed to live up to expectations at Salisbury, Harroob could manage only fourth in the seven-furlong handicap at Goodwood and Soie D’Leau, agonisingly, was done by two horses right on the line at York and finished fifth as opposed to third.

The most painful one was Titus Secret because I know how highly Malcolm Saunders regarded him. The horse became well and truly stirred up on the way to Nottingham but was calm enough before the Salisbury race, his modest third indicating that we should probably play once more – at Bath, I suspect — on a retrieval mission but there will be no more major punts.

The analysis in the RP on Sunday following Harroob’s effort was simply wrong. He was not overly inconvenienced by the wide draw and David Egan had him close enough three furlongs out but the horse merely kept on steadily in fourth off 7st 8lb! Clearly, Roger Varian did well to place him to advantage on the AW because I doubt there is much more to come on turf. Using Egan freed up Andrea Atzeni to ride the eventual winner Sutter County, a typical Mark Johnston galloper. The trainer’s horses remain hard to find on the right day but this was not a great handicap for the money and Sutter County had performed creditably in competitive events.

As for Soie D’Leau, he gave everything and there will be a sprint handicap for him at some stage this season but you cannot come down a few pounds when involved in a blanket finish like that.

There are some very good 7lb claimers around at the moment. Pierre-Louis Jamin, with experience in Martinique and Guadeloupe, rode a very cool race on 25/1 shot Joe Packet on Saturday, while Egan remains as good as any and will surely make it to the top bracket; Harroob’s moderate effort was not down to him.

Also, former Irish pony racing champion Rossa Ryan is adding a good finish to his other skills and is well placed with Richard Hannon. At Goodwood on Thursday he was drawn wide on Danecase in a sprint handicap, stayed close up and only got serious well inside the final furlong, just nudging out to get the verdict in the last few strides. DANECASE is unpenalised for that (but has gone up 2lb) and I believe he has a very good chance of following up at Windsor on Monday with Rossa in the saddle once again. The price will contract if King Of Spin comes out so it may be best to snap up some 5/1 and put up with a Rule 4. Mind you, if I’m as accurate as I was on Saturday, it’s somewhat academic….