Success is relative (usually your cousin)

I'm writing th-hic-this from the pub.

Obe Royal got beaten by a 66/1 outsider in the claimer, only just regaining 2nd close home by a nose. Compton Star ran a stinker in a selling race won effortlessly by a horse with even worse past form than him. Such are selling races, I suppose. They were all in that race for the very good reason that they are not very good.

Those who know TowerForm well will have been surprised I included a seller in my post yesterday. But when you desert your principles it is fitting that your derriere receives a good kicking. So I deserved that.

But success can never be judged on a couple of results. The dutching races ( 4 and 5 graded races - for explanation of these please go HERE ) were as successful as expected - if you ignore the All Weather races, dagnabbit!

There were six NH dutching races and six NH winning dutches. All three All Weather dutches failed, including the Obe Royal dutch bet I unfortunately recommended. But that's the All Weather for you. On site I refer to All Weather results like so: "Tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon." I said in my first posting that the All Weather is "a surface that can throw up many wierd and bewildering results." Today was no different.

I have an inbuilt dislike of artificial surfaces. They are okay, I suppose, to supplement small stable's income but they are no good for punters at all. No horse likes the surfaces, most run with the choke in, and many absolutely detest the kickback. All this talk about horses liking the tracks is nonsense. The tracks are simply suited to some of their racing styles and physiques. Most of the horses are "turf rejects", i.e. horses that show little or no promise of a turf win. If you doubt that assertion just try an experiment. Go to the Racing Post website on any All Weather racing day. Check the form of All Weather winners. If you click on the "Statistics" tab you can easily see all the horse's past form at every track it has raced on. Now, compare its All Weather form to its turf form. Answers on a postcard, please (but don't quote the likes of Young Mick - there are exceptions to every rule).

All Weather surfaces are ideal for getting a horse fit to race. In fact, more and more trainers are using them on the gallops. It provides a consistent surface that yields to a horses hoof and has minimal maintenance. Unlike turf, artificial surfaces can be used when there is no rain (hard turf surface) and when there has been too much rain (making turf bottomless or waterlogged). So it is easy to see why trainers are beginning to prefer an artificial galloping surface. But it doesn't follow that the trainers like All Weather racing. Small trainers do. The predominantly low grade racing is a godsend for trainers of moderate horses. Good for them. Bad for us.

The very best trainers use the All Weather sparingly; and here I'm talking about the Stoute's, Gosden's and Jarvis's. When they do run horses on these surfaces it is for extra racing experience or for one of the reasons I noted earlier. Mark Johnston uses the All Weather a lot more than other big trainers, but in the main his best horses don't go near the stuff.

Those are my views, like them, hate them, love them, or bewilder at them. I ain't gonna change my views.

To Tuesday, if I dare..........

Peter Pole, Presque Prendre and Bajan Tryst are a good treble if you are short of coppers to buy a packet of crisps - crinkle cut if any of them drift to 4/7. But singles on Sparrow Hills (3-40 Southwell) and Gilded Youth (5-10 Southwell) should buy you a can of Coke to wash the crisps down