BBOTD - Thursday 31st of January

[robertob]

19.50 Wolverhampton: Armada Bay @ 5/1 Bet365 This lightly raced 3yo gelding makes plenty of appeal on his first try over 9f. He ran a huge race here at Wolverhampton just 10 days ago on a day that saw front-runners and prominent ridden horses being favoured by the conditions on the All-Weather track which made it very difficult for horses not ridden close to the pace to quicken and to make some ground from behind. Armada Bay was ridden in mid-field here in her last race, a race where the leader set a rather slow gallop. Armada Bay tried to make some ground on the outside from 3f out then and did so indeed but was outpaced turning for home when the front-runner kicked on and the pace increased substantially. He stayed in touch with the main group of the field and appeared to go strongly then again, though he found himself a clear run denied over 1f out and had to be switched to the outside by his jockey. He found soon back the balance and finished super strongly to land the 2nd place eventually. This performance indicated that a step up in trip could be the right move which is backed up by his pedigree as his sire was a top class miler and there is some stamina on the dam side with her being placed in Group 3 company over 10f. So the step up to 9f tomorrow looks definitely the right thing and could bring out further improvement. A mark of 54 is pretty workable as well and it doesn't take too much to win this race anyway I feel.

[Smarty72]

Re: BBOTD - Thursday 31st of January 14.10 Wincanton - Tenor Nivernais - WIN @ 5\4 PP BOG Class 4 novice chase over 2m 5f on expected heavy ground. Fourth of five runners last time at Newbury on heavy ground but looked as if he was staying on well at the end and the winner that day won comfortably today (Module). Time before that won at Bangor beating Malt Master (won since). Has had 3 career chase runs in total. Ground will be no issue, looks as if will stay the distance and jockey has had previous rides and wins (1 chase and 2 hurdles) on the horse.