Towcester Placepot 29/1/09

[The Grim Reaper]

As we all know , Towcester is a track with very strange results - mainly because certain horses dont act here at all , and others relish the place - I remember many big priced winners here ,and many favourites running appalingly , only to run elsewhere next time and resume top form . These facts are borne out even more so in heavy ground . So ive decided to have a bit of fun today and do a placepot at Towcester ,using horses that have proven form here ,and where there is none ,form in heavy . All the favs will probably bolt in now , but you just never know !! 1:30 3 horse affair this accoriding to the betting ,with Carrickboy, Neil Harvey and Quentin Collonges,30/1 bar the 3 . Neil Harvey has to be the selection having winning form here last time out at Towcester,and running well in very deep ground the time before at Plumpton. Couldnt knock this out the places with an atom bomb , and 1 of the other top 3 might run badly in the bermuda triangle that is Towcester where millions of horses have missing over the years ! 2:00 Wide open handicap with 6/1 the field - theres a few outsiders with firm here , Elgar and Auditor , but theyre out of form and cant be relied on. The 2 with realsitic chances and Kinkeel and Glimmer Of Light. Kinkeel appears to be in the form of his life just now , and has run well here a good few times over the years ,and also loves the heavy . Glimmer Of Light ran 2nd here behind an unexposed Henderson favourite ,and shows he acts here ,which is more than can be said about the majority of this field . Im not ultra confident on this 1 ,but he does have 1 or 2 plus points ,and could well plug on for a place ,and i dont fancy banking on Kinkeel. 2:30 Another wide open handicap , and theres 3 in this with decent form around here , Ramvaswani, Faversham,and Decree Nisi. Ramvaswani ran a good 2nd here last time on soft , Faversham ran well here when 5th (beaten just 1.5L) ,and Decree Nisi ran 3rd here a few runs back (beaten under 2L) staying on stoutly at the death. 3:00 This race is the killer ,as all 7 runners have form round here on soft/heavy ,but most are out of form. There`s a false fav i think ,as Woodlands Genpower won an awful race last time ,mainly through the fact that the front 2 in the betting didnt want to win . This is made easier to believe when you look at his previous form here , all awful , tailed off , pulled up etc etc - this 1 has to be left out imvho. Add to that , thats he 4/5 in the RP ,makes mug money make him a banker , which he surely isnt . Plum Pudding won here on his 2nd chase start , staying on dourly , and with more improvement to come looks sure to go well .He jumped and travelled well , and ran on when asked .With only 7 runners i feel i could need a backup , but theyre hard to split and are all basically out of form ,so I`ll bank on my selection and hope one of the dogs gets ahead of Woodlands for the remaining place . 3:30 A no brainer , a very poor race bar the top 2 ,the 2nd fav hasnt run over hurdles ,and the selection has to be Silk Affair, who ran 5th against Starluck at Kempton , then ran a good 2nd at Folkestone on heavy ,staying on stoutly . Should win this , but could actully fall and still place imo . 4:00 Im going for a result here to top things off . The fav Mark The Book hasnt run for 400 days and fell on his debut last year . He could well tire ,and when tired, horses fall , he could be eased if headed 2 out etc etc - If he gets round and jumps well he will probably win , but its a big if , and theres sure to be plenty mug money aboard . The 2nd fav Sandhurst is bang out of form ,and hasnt run for 300 days either . This is a pipe opener for the 4m chase at Cheltenham in march and he wont be given a hard time if he cant win . This leaves me with my 3 in this race , Mister Potter , Sir Peter,and Durante . Mister Potter ran 2nd here a few years ago , but at least goes on the track , dropped down 2f after tiring over 3m in recent runs , could well run into a place. Sir Peter fell here at the 1st last time out here , but he was well fancied in the betting and hes another dropped 2f after tiring over 3m recently on his chase debut . Its interesting that the return here ,even after that fall last time , and he won here over hurdles on heavy last year , so we know he goes through the ground , could win if jumping ok. And Durante has run well here previously , had a recent pipe opener over hurdles ,his 1st run for 12 months ,and is upped in trip here after staying on steadily over shorter in the past .Jim Old loves Towcester , and i fancy this to go ok at nearly 20/1 . 8 10,11 5,9,10 1 8 2,5,7 18 bets @ £1 Cheers all Grim :ok

[Jonesy Knows]

Re: Towcester Placepot 29/1/09 Hi Grim Reaper, I had Mark The Book down as my strongest fancy of the day! It's entered in 2 races at the Cheltenham Festival one being the Royal SunAlliance. Good luck with your placepot :hope