On a weekend which featured predominantly weak racing of Maidens and lowly handicaps, two performances stood out. Both were at Kenilworth on ground softened by recent rains, with True Words (speed score 92) and Do It Again (s/s 91) impressing.
True Words had shown flickers of ability, yet tended to over-race, so needed to relax properly to do himself justice. The grey son of Byword got a perfect set up in the 1200m Kenilworth sprint, tracking strong pace-setter, Seventh Rule. When Anton Marcus got busy, True Words drew away by a convincing margin and can win decent races based on this speed score recorded as an early three year old.
The same Joe Ramsden/Marcus partnership also sent out Rommel (s/s 87), a popular Pick 6 banker to amble in and win Race 4. He looks a decent sort, but the most eye-catching performance was delivered by Do It Again in the last. Positioned far off a torrid pace set by Pergola, the son of Twice Over swiftly weaved through virtually the entire field to score cosily. His closing sectional was really sharp, suggesting that Do It Again is worth following against tougher opposition.
Talking about “tough” – that was the experience for many punters dabbling in the Scottsville card on Sunday. A succession of bewildering outsiders arrived boosting exotic dividends. The day started off predictably when Zen Arcade (s/s 80) justified odds on to land the opener – but that was the calm before the storm. Amor Ardiente (s/s 82), Putchini, Wynkelder (s/s 85) and Succesfilly were the long shot bombs to turn most tickets to litter. Imaginative, contrary or just plain lucky punters were massively rewarded, but the majority of horseplayers got battered by the weird results – nobody said this is an easy game!
Finally, hearty congrats to Kevin Anderson for making such a deep run into the final at the US Open tennis champs. Predictably, he got taken out like a sore tooth by Rafa Nadal who was playing in his 23rd Major final, yet it was a tremendous achievement for Anderson to get as far as he did, given the incredibly competitive nature of pro tennis. Anderson used a huge serve, punishing forehand and an upbeat, assertive mental approach to maximise a gap in the draw and achieve his career best performance. Sports fans can check out his interesting website reallifetennis.com for some neat on and off court insights.
