Beauly is fancied to make a winning debut in an ‘aged’ Maiden Fillies’ Stakes over an extended mile of Wolverhampton Tapeta today; a seven-race programme kicks off another week of all-weather racing which has really come to the fore these last two years especially.
Desperate, sustained, rainfall(s) have nigh on saturated this United Kingdom and jumping has suffered adversely; so many meetings have been lost due to waterlogging and yet only a handful of AWR fixtures abandoned, mainly due to travel problems, getting to racetracks.
In this fiercely over-populated country travelling is indeed extremely difficult, as a consequence attendances at all-weather venues are poor by comparison to NH racing which, due to the aforementioned problems, is nigh on guesswork.
Given my brief is to find winners (for readers, more than myself!) it makes sense to ‘specialise’ on races at polytrack and fibresand not to mention Tapeta which, according to several experienced jockeys, rides fastest and possesses a touch of jar for the equine athletes.
Those with preference for firm-ish ground are advantaged.
That’s interesting, obviously somewhat against big, heavy, lumbering thoroughbreds; there again I’ve always maintained big horses, big problems; majority of horses we owned were neat types, sometimes small with covering strides.
Apparently Beauly is a well-balanced sort, she has ‘caught the eye’ on Faringdon gallops under the watchful eyes of trainer Charles Hills and, more importantly, his legendary father, Barry, who trained more than 3000 winners from 1969-2012.
Twice in the last six years Hills senior has cheated death due to desperate cancer conditions; last week he looked marvellous and though he struggles conveying through a voice box, it’s wonderful to talk to the 78-year-old ‘legand’ and help in any way possible. He fancies Beauly!
Incidentally Barry still ‘wouldn’t go over the road to watch all-weather racing!
Preference is for ‘the greatest racecourse in the world’, Newmarket, where he trained more than THREE-HUNDRED WINNERS; why hasn’t he been knighted!
Good, recent TH marks very much bring both course winners, Pancake Day and Tatting, into equation for two ‘aged’ handicaps; three places are available.