Anyone 4 seconds as Mickael Barzalona foils three

Mickael Barzalona denied The Actuary Horse Racing Tips no fewer than three winners on last night’s Kempton Park card. After Richard Hughes had bought what looked like the banker of the meeting Blank Czech home in second with La Belle Doyenne snapping at his collar in third.

Tarbawi and Barzalona just fail to hold on

The first of Barzalona’s rides, Speed and Class selection Tarbawi (7-4) was just caught on the line in the tightest of photo-finishes.

Barzalona and Lilac Tree hold off 2 point selection Swift Bounty

Next came 2 point selection ‘The Actuary’ and ‘Trip Handicap’ Swift Bounty (4-1) ridden by Robert Winston, caught flat footed as the Barzalona ridden Lilac Tree got the jump on our selection who closed all the way to the line to be beaten by ¾ length.

Barzalona and Spring Of Fame run down stablemate and 'On The Money' selection Modun

To add insult to injury the reversal happens with our next selection Modun (11-4) for ‘On The Money’ where Barzalona runs down Modun in the closing stages to give us our fourth second place!

Guess who wont be getting a Christmas card from me this year :(

      

Horse Racing Tips: Pace and Going highlights for Wednesday 7th November 2012

The Actuary Horse Racing Tips had only the one luckless ‘Pace and Going’ highlight yesterday, but we have a handful on today's Kempton Park evening meeting.

Tarbawi  KEMP 5:25

Swift Bounty KEMP 5:55

Modun \ Viking Storm KEMP 6:55

Terdaad KEMP 7:25

Nowdoro KEMP 7:55

As a Super Yankee (Canadian) we will be heavily reliant on the latter pair to at minimum make the frame to give the bet some substance.

Good Luck

      

Who Ya Gonna Call? Not James Millman on Icebuster

We know that experience on the surface plays a big part in the winner finding process at Southwell but yesterday 50% of winners having had no previous and with the exception of Nurse Dominatrix gave no clues to their potential based on breeding.


Dazzlin Bluebell (6-1) was my only top rated winner but did not make it through to becoming a selection and I felt a little hard done by as I watched La Estrella first give a hefty bump and then lean all over 2 point selection Pendragon for the best part of the trip up the straight. While everybody eulogised over La Estrella’s 13^th win on the surface I was listening out for the klaxon of the stewards, but nothing!

La Estrella (nose band) bumps and leans all over Pendragon but no stewards enquiry

I had two interests in Wolverhampton’s card the rest would be talent spotting and you could be forgiving for thinking we were still at Southwell as horses yet to be raced on the surface filled the first four places in the first race. I didn’t get to see the preamble to the 17:00 but understand that selection Al Udeid was at minimum, extremely unruly at the start to the point where it drifted like a barge. Having watched the race you would also be aware, to be polite, that it was carrying a little bit of condition.


Having backed Icebuster at 7-1 yesterday afternoon in the 18:30 and seeing an SP of 3-1 did the reverse of filling me with confidence for the race. Sat out the back alongside one of the two subsequent winners, Icebuster was never put under a drive and never found the gaps at the right time. Call me a skeptic but whether this was intentional by James Millman I will leave to your imagination.

The rest of the meeting struck the familiar recent pattern of bigger the gamble, bigger the failure as Fergus Cameron plays with the surface with reckless abandon in his effort to see how wide a variation he can get from one day to the next.

      

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The Actuary Horse Racing Tips has always advocated the use of BOG bookmakers so here is some good news.

With the All Weather season getting in to gear it is nice to know we now have a couple more ‘Best Odds Guarantee’ options available for those running out of bookmakers!

Both Coral and Stan James have joined the ranks of BOG Bookmakers and offer £40 in free bets for new customers. £30 Coral and £10 Stan James.

You can sign up using the links below or from the newly install links in the right hand column on The Actuary Horse Racing Tips blog HERE

      

Horse Racing Tips: Wolverhampton and Southwell 'Pace and Going' highlights for Tuesday 6th November 2012

With only

Al Udeid 5:00 Wolverhampton

qualifying as the sole ‘Pace and Going’ highlight for today I thought I would bring to your attention the two performances that stood out for me on yesterday’s Wolverhampton card that may be worth closer scrutiny and are likely to be understated by ratings and race readers.

The first was in the 1:45 and Powerful Pierre. Most horses getting the passage that Powerful Pierre had to take would have fallen away tamely in the closing stages but living up to its name finished powerfully.

The second is Admirals Walk in the 15:20. When delivering its challenge was dramatically switched and then was caught on heels late in the straight. Once a clear path was available Admirals Walk was able to keep pace with the leaders with little effort from the saddle after its chance was gone.

The most uncomfortable sight when reviewing the race was the broken down Rainestorm crossing the line.

Good Luck :)

'The Actuary' and 'Speed and Class' selection Alaskan Bullet (13-8) shoots in!

On a card that offered few opportunities I was pleased that ‘The Actuary’ and ‘Speed and Class’ selection Alaskan Bullet (13-8) won so convincingly and the 2 point bet guaranteed a profit for the day with only one other race of interest. Whether I would be so pleased or even made the bet at the SP of 4-6 is debatable.

George Baker and Alaskan Bullet made easy work of heading long time leader Powerful Presence

Our other selections for the day appeared in Wolverhampton’s 4:25 and both disappointed in some style finishing 5^th and 8^th.

The ‘Pace and Going’ highlights were also a complete flop with Just Breathe taking up the running turning for home only to fade dramatically. Kirsty ensuring the pace was put in to the race to assist Hayley possibly!

Graham Lee fell asleep coming out of the stalls on Partner and was never put in the race. If I was the owner I wouldn't even pay him for the ride and no money for Barney Curleys Pindar before the off guarantee this was not going to be ridden to its merits.

Horse Racing Tips: Wolverhampton's 'Pace and Going' highlights for Monday 5th November 2012

Being the superstitious type, a change in fortunes stopped me from continuing to post the days ‘Pace and Going’ selections. As soon as I stopped off we went again with a glut of winners. Perhaps I will have to show a little more fortitude this time!

Not likely to see any fireworks on this card but for tomorrow we have:

Just Breathe WOLV 2:15

Partner WOLV 4:55 (5-1 Lad)

We have two qualifiers in the 5:25 so a split decision between

Mesariya \ Pindar WOLV 5:25

Although the above are the only true qualifiers, for those that would like to do a couple of Yankees

Maun Vrat WOLV 4:25

wouldn’t be a bad selection if you can forgive the single poor performance at Kempton back in September.

Good luck

Heads You Lose........Twice!

Speed and Class selection Aye Aye Skipper 7-1 (rule 4) ensured we had a profit for the day as we found another non-runner a non-trier and a non-event as Archina is forced into evasive action.

Archina and Father Ted caught on heels as his ground is taken

Having made the statement that no two days are the same it may seem like I was going against the grain with a Canadian covering today's five ‘Pace and Going’ highlights. The opening salvos look like vindicating that decision!

8-15 Correspondent was not such an appetising price but 7-1 (Rule 4) Aye Aye Skipper (7-2) put some meat on the bones. That’s where the wheels fell off, but not in a way which left me reaching for a stiff drink.

Heads I lose as both Modem Lady and Annelko go down by a head. I did say this was a Canadian so you may be thinking there was some hope for me yet!

     

But no, unfortunately Stylistikhill was a non-runner! A small profit which promised so much more but that’s racing and we get to play again on Monday.

Good luck for those following 'The Breeder Cup'

      

16-1, 11-2 and 5-1 winners for The Actuary Pace and Going ratings

We can confirm that no two days are the same after drawing blanks and non runners yesterday. Looking through the ratings we ended the day with ‘*’ seconds at 14-1, 7-4 and thirds at 16-1, 14-1, 11-2, 9-2 across the two meetings with only top rated Quintilian 11-2, Circuitous 3-1 and Tartary 11-4 passing the post first.

Where we did see positive signs were with the much under used resource ‘Pace and Going’ charts which take little investigation as all the hard work is done for you and selections marked in red each day.

14-1 Royal Etiquette paves the path into November

As we say goodbye to what was a testing October yesterdays results would suggest we have a bright November ahead as we rush headlong in to the All Weather season proper.

After a glut of second placed selection there had been some signs that the tide was turning with a run of days making small profits with the 25^th returning a profit of 2.5 points. A further 5 points profit was made on the 27^th and 3 points on the 30^th. Yesterday double header started with three disappointments with Ziefhd, Barachiel and Daliance all failing to raise our heart beats.

‘On The Money’ selection Ehtedaam was our next up and first winner of the day. Having taken 7-2 early morning put us marginally up for the day and started what was going to be a glorious couple of hours.

We went in to Kempton’s 4:35 double handed with Bert The Alert (5-2) a ‘Speed and Class’ selection and Royal Etiquette (14-1) ‘The Actuary’ selection. In the early stages it looked like Bert The Alert would be our best hope, leading and attempting to skip away from the field while Royal Etiquette was out with the washing. The picture changed dramatically as they turned for home and Royal Etiquette cruised with ease wide of the field giving me that warm confident feeling you get when you know you are on the winner.

Our next and 2 point selection came with a bonus having taken 4-1 Ouzinkie ‘On The Money’ and ‘The Actuary’ overnight, to have it returned at 5-1 was testament to backing with BOG bookmakers.

Unfortunately our remaining three selections did little to excite with the exception of Dashing David (7-1) ‘Speed and Class’ living up to his name dashing from the back of the field to close on the subsequent winner Secretinthepark all the way to the line to fail by ½ length under Jimmy Fortune.

A long overdue 18.5 points haul for the day to end the month. I can only hope that this is a sign of things to come for November .