Flat Racing - Wednesday 27th June 2012

[Edberg]

3.30 Carlisle BARWICK 4pts win @ 5/1 bog (Paddy Power and many more) Barwick is a 4yo gelding trained by Mark H Tompkins. This son of Beat Hollow had shown nothing special on his first two starts in 2010 but upped in distance had finished 2nd over 1m in another maiden for 2yos at Chester beaten just 1.75L by Captain Bertie (now rated 93). He's had his problems and ran just thrice (always over 1m2f) also during his 3yo season with his handicap mark that dropped from 78 to 73 and he proved better than his 73 OR on his winning seasonal debut at Yarmouth (9 Apr 2012) winning a class 5 handicap over 1m on good to soft. His second start of the season was at Sandown again over 1m on heavy ground this time in a tougher class 4 handicap off 76 but Barwick ran very well once again to finish 2nd of 12 beaten 4L by the well handicapped Silken Thoughts but he had the 3rd Snow Trooper (who has won off a 1lb lower mark and has gone very close off his new mark (7lb higher) since) that finished 5L behind him, the 4th Spa's Dancer (who's finished 2nd, 1st and 2nd on his next/last three starts winning off 1lb higher mark and going very close off a 7lb higher mark last time out) that finished 8.5L behind and even the ones tailed off that day as the 7th of that race Cocohatchee, beaten 44L by Barwick that day, has collected 1 win, 1 second, 1 third and 1 fourth on his next/last four starts, the 8th Whitby Jet, beaten 51L that day, has finished twice close second on his next/last two starts, and the 10th Mafi, beaten 121L behind Barwick that day, has finished second and third on two of his next/last three starts. That's a very strong form for this level and it was over 1m and above all on heavy ground which is very important since the official ground at Carlisle is soft today and could get even worse if more rain would come during the day. 22 day ago Barwick ran again (his third and so far last race of the year) again over 1m back at Yarmouth but this time on totally different ground (good to firm) and again off his new mark of 76 as for the Sandown's race. He won in very good style after his classic smooth headway 3f out and staying on very well inside the last furlong (even if he was edging left that day). So he's in the form of his life and is still so lightly raced (just 8 starts on the turf so far and 9 overall) that there is probably plenty room for improvements. The way he travels would easily back up that suggestion and the new mark of 82 shouldn't be a problem at all for this talented miler. This Carlisle Bell has been the plan since his last easy win and the rain has surely come to help his chances. This is the feature race of the day and of course there are 16 tough opponents to beat but I can't see any other runner with his progressive talented profile which could appreciate more the testing conditions. Mark H Tompkins's yard have been in good form all the year (10 winners, 10% winning strike rate, 52% of runners in the money) and in the last two weeks Tompkins saddled 2 winners, 2 seconds and 2 thirds from 14 runners and Barwick is the star of the stable together with Rayvin Black and Star Commander.

[richard-westwood]

Re: Flat Racing - Wednesday 27th June 2012 7.10 bath quite an open race with woolston ferry installed as fav but his lto win was very weak so looks opposable and there must be a bit of value elsewhere ..........the one that the computer has flagged is CALL ME APRIL who ran a decent time lto recording a 77 on good ground and now carries a race weight some 1 stone lower !! still a maiden is negative but undoubtably nicely weighted on last run so 12/1 pricetag looks huge call me april 5pts e.w 12/1 bet365bog 8.40 bath COURTLAND AVENUE recorded anice 77 lto first time up and should be able to build on that now and that makes him very dangerous today especially given weakish opposition ,9/2 price looks fair value ...has a nice racing weight and hcap mark so should run well courtland avenue 5pts win 9/2 bet365 5pts win double both