Talking horses

Carlton House was sent off 5/4 favourite for the Irish Derby earlier today but The Queen's colt could only finish fourth, Aidan O'Brien training the first three home - Treasure Beach (7/2) beat stablemates Seville (5/1) and Memphis Tennessee (10/1) to give the Irish handler his ninth victory in the race. This evening Paddy Power bet on the Ladbrokes St Leger as follows: 3/1 Nathaniel, 5/1 Treasure Beach, 6/1 Brown Panther, 8/1 Sea Moon, 10/1 Memphis Tennessee, 12/1 Seville.

I was out and about Saturday lunchtime when I received a phone call from a fellow racegoer I see at the races once or twice a year. He'd had a word from one of the owners of Misty Conquest who was due to run in the listed Empress Stakes at Newmarket. 14 had been declared but at the time of the call one had been withdrawn; Tom Dascombe's filly had been priced up 5/1 second favourite in a couple of the morning papers. Six furlong sprints aren't my cup of tea and a few in the field looked well fancied, including Queen's Revenge and My Propeller, owned by Newcastle footballer Joey Barton; last time out this one had won a six furlong Pontefract madien by an astonishing 17 lengths. After some consideration I decided not to play. When Channel 4 showed the race preliminaries, another two had fallen by the wayside (including My Propeller) and Misty Conquest was priced at 10/1. In the event, she knew her job, broke well, led to half way, eventually coming home third; she had no answer to the strong challenge of Lily's Angel (6/1) who won a shade more cosily than the distances might suggest and looks a smart prospect.

The Jamie Snowden trained 11-year-old Knighton Combe took this afternoon renewal of Uttoxeter's English Summer National at odds of 16/1.

Martin Waller (Tempus) penned an interesting piece in Saturday's Times under the headline 'No such thing as a dead cert for investors in online gaming'. Betfair is shortly set to release its first set of annual figures since the company's flotation; shares issued at £13 last autumn were worth just £7.43 at close of business on Friday evening.

Finally Will Hayler's blog in Saturday's Guardian highlighted Channel 4 presenter Lesley Graham's attempt to generate more interest in her nine bedroom Newmarket mansion which she is looking to sell following the collapse of her marriage to Neil;  a piece appeared in the property section of Wednesday's London Evening Standard. Back in March A.P. McCoy's house was on the market for £2.5 million but unfortunately the property was sold before I could arrange a meeting with my mortgage adviser. By comparison Ms Graham's pad looks a snip at just £1.4 million but I won't bother trying to contact my adviser as I happen to know he's on holdiay for a fortnight...   

Northumberland Plate 2011

Prior to last year's running of the Northumberland Plate I wrote:

"Recently a number of long distance races on the Flat have gone the way of horses with form over the sticks - Mamlook took the Chester Cup in May, while Junior won the Ascot Stakes and Bergo the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot last week. The start of a trend? Probably not..."

Twelve months on, perhaps there is something of a trend.... Last year's Plate winner Overturn took this year's Chester Cup while Veiled won the Ascot Stakes and Swingkeel the Queen Alexandra Stakes, all horses with jumps form in the book. Digging a little deeper, I discovered that between the years 1994 and 2001, no winner of the Pitmen's Derby had previously run over the sticks; from 2002 onwards, five of the subsequent nine winners had National Hunt form (Bangalore 2002, Unleash 2003, Mirjan 2004, Arc Bleu 2008 and Overturn 2010).

Regular readers will know that this Flat term I'm trying to focus on horses with jumps form racing over more than one and a half miles; two Royal Ascot winners last week were supplemented by My Arch (8/1) taking the Pontefract Cup on Sunday while Kavaloti (11/10f) collected a class 6 handicap on the all-weather at Kempton on Wednesday evening.

The horses with jumps form declared for Newcastle's Northumberland Plate tomorrow are Overturn, Investissement, La Vecchia Scuola and first reserve Crackentorp who may yet line up as Her Majesty's horse, Tactitian, is rated doubtful this evening. Although this is a two mile race, a low draw is seen as important - in the past decade four winners have raced out of a stall numbered higher than nine, with Eddie Ahern performing miracles last year on Overturn who broke from stall 21. Donald McCain's charge missed last weeks' Queen Alexandra Stakes on account of the ground, has a plum draw in stall two but is rated thirteen pounds higher this year - Henry Brooke can claim five. It's worth noting that only one horse has carried more than 8-11 to victory in the last decade - Bangalore won with 9-5 in 2002. John Gosden's Investissement is another with a good draw (berth three) and looks interesting, having had this as his target for a while; previously with Evan Williams, the Singspiel gelding didn't take to hurdling, finishing tailed off in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. Jim Goldie trains bay mare La Vecchia Scuola who is another with a good draw (stall 4) but has been out of sorts since her second in last season's Cesarewitch at Newmarket; on her last run over hurdles she finished over 30 lengths behind Quevega in the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. My Arch took the Pontefract Cup on Sunday but is drawn widest of all in stall 22 while Tim Easterby's Crackentorp finished third behind the useful Storm Brig in a Newcastle novice hurdle last November.

Of the other runners, Activate's Haydock win last month catches the eye, with Swingkeel (sixth) and My Arch (seventh) both having won since - Deauville Flyer, another from Tim Easterby's yard, was fourth that day, suffering interference in running around two furlongs out, and probably represents that trainer's best chance.

Almost all layers offer a quarter the odds four places - in a very competitive affair I'll take an each-way interest in Investissement at around 9/1.

I haven't done any work on Sunday's cards but I'll look closely at my Epsom Derby selection Native Khan who goes in the Irish Derby. Writing in the Weekender Kieren Fallon rates him overpriced at 8/1 and 'the logical each-way pick', while Nick Mordin selects the same horse as he sees favourite Carlton House 'vulnerable off a quick return because he's still immature'.

On the same day but changing codes, 18 have been declared for the English Summer National run over three and half miles at Uttoxeter. I prefer a young horse for this one and will do some homework on Eoin Griffin's The Last Derby who was third in the Cork National last October and sixth in the Irish National at Fairyhouse in April.

Thoroughbred locomotives

As any self-respecting trainspotter of a certain age will tell you, eight of the 22 Class 55 Deltic locomotives that provided the horsepower on British Railways' East Coast main line service during the 60s and 70s were named after racehorses; apparently this practice continued a tradition originally started at Finsbury Park by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). The racehorse names chosen weren't those of platers that managed the odd win here and there in lowly Newton Abbot claimers - several were Derby winners. In time most of these railway workhorses were carted off to the knacker's yard but a couple of examples have been preserved and a number of nameplates survive.

Those nameplates appear to be worth a penny or two today, going by an article in the most recent edition of Railways Illustrated magazine (January 2011). Andrew Watts reports that at a recent auction in Hampshire, despite strong interest, Crepello (1954 Derby winner) failed to make its (rather ambitious?) reserve price of £24,000. The highest price obtained for any Deltic nameplate is £31,400 for The Duke of Wellington's Regiment in 2002; the most paid to date for a racehorse nameplate is £11,000 for Nimbus (1949 Derby winner) in 1998.

For the sake of completeness (and because, with the racing programme severely curtailed, I don't know what to do and desperately need to avoid Christmas shopping) here's a list of the eight racehorse Deltics:

9001 / 55001 St Paddy (1960 Derby winner)
9003 / 55003 Meld (1955 1000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger winner)
9007 / 55007 Pinza (1953 Derby winner)
9009 / 55009 Alycidon (1949 Ascot Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Doncaster Cup winner)
9012 / 55012 Crepello (1954 Derby winner)
9015 / 55015 Tulyar (1952 Derby winner)
9018 / 55018 Ballymoss (1957 Irish Derby winner)
9020 / 55020 Nimbus (1949 Derby winner)

Let's hope racing resumes soon - otherwise I'm likely to end up going off the rails.

Weekend notes

In a strongly-run Irish Derby earlier this afternoon, Fame And Glory gained some compensation for his Epsom defeat by beating stablemate Golden Sword five lengths.This was Aidan O'Brien's seventh Irish Derby and Johnny Murtagh's third. In post-race comments Murtagh identified the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown as a possible target for the winner. Riding in his first classic, the winning trainer's son, J P O'Brien, finished tenth of the eleven runners on 200/1 shot Byzantine.

Michael Owen's wife, Louise, has recently been gainfully employed promoting next Saturday's Coral Eclipse at Sandown. That race has been given an extra fillip with the news that Epsom Derby winner Sea The Stars now goes for that prize, having been withdrawn from the Irish Derby on account of the easy ground.

There were plenty of footballing links at Newcastle's meeting on Saturday, links Derek Thompson wasn't slow to point out. Before the Pitmen's Derby, former Magpies' player Peter Beardsley and Hull City manager Phil Brown tipped up Som Tala from the stable of ex-England international Mick Channon. The beast, a 16/1 shot, won with something in hand. Roker Park won the 2.35 and Horatio Carter the 3.45; both are owned by Sunderland fan Mr T Alderson. Roker Park was the ground Sunderland used to play at while Horati Stratton Carter, better known as Raich Carter, captained them to the league title and their first FA Cup final victory. By the way, just in case you missed it, Derek Thompson originates from these parts...

Following on from recent match-fixing posts, I'm grateful to the Wrexham Supporters Association Blog for bringing to my attention two links that add some detail to the circumstances surrounding the Histon v. Lewes game in September 2008. Cambridge News Online reported the Histon team were threatened by a gambling ring while in May 2009 the Daily Mail made reference to five non-league games that were under investigation. Of course, fixing is a worry in all sports - the first-round tie at this year's Wimbledon Championships between Jurgen Melzer and Wayne Odesnik has been been in the news and has been reported to the authorities. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) for its part has welcomed the recent announcement by Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe that he is to set up a Sports Betting Integrity Panel.

Mrs Tips and I were at Wimbledon on Thursday, having been allocated two Centre Court tickets through the public ballot system. The crowds were big, the weather hot - I found it all jolly tiring. I was left wondering whether the tennis product is better consumed through the medium of television. Mrs T. enjoyed it though, so I've asked her to file a report; she says she'll do that when she has fully recovered...

Irish Derby deliberations...

On Friday evening an injury scare came to light which has threatened Epsom Derby winner New Approach's participation in the Irish Derby at the Curragh. On Saturday evening the Racing Post reports that connections will make a decision early Sunday morning; the horse has heat in a foot and is said to be 'not totally comfortable' in his box.

The question I'm asking myself is this - provided New Approach is allowed to take his chance, what price about Tartan Bearer will offer value, given the concerns surrounding the favourite? I'll be tempted by anything bigger than 5/2...

Weekend action

Twenty go to post in the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle tomorrow; several in the field ran at Ascot last week and, generally, Ascot runners have a good record in this. Nonetheless a few appeared to have a hard race, including Bukit Tinggi who has been kept busy this season. The draw can play an important part even though the race is over two miles; I tend to favour low numbered runners as they can hold a handy position more easily. Two that catch my eye and should handle the likely cut in the ground are Highland Legacy and Tilt. Both come to this fresh having run in the Chester Cup where Tilt, finishing third at level weights, came out on top. I think the pair are closely matched again but take the view that Highland Legacy didn't quite see out the two miles two furlong trip and, drawn in stall two here, can reverse the form giving Tilt, less favourably drawn in berth eleven, two pounds.

On Sunday it would be easy to miss the English Summer National run over four miles at Uttoxeter. Grand National fifth Philson Run, no spring chicken at the age of twelve, would have been a sporting each-way bet had the ground come up on the slow side but the forecast going (good to firm) makes me think a few of these will have a bit too much pace for the old-timer.

The Irish Derby at the Curragh, also on Sunday, looks fascinating with several runners from the English version choosing to try their luck again. Dermot Weld, trainer of Casual Conquest, has said that he doesn't think his horse can now find the five lengths he was beaten last time when finishing third. The race would appear to be between the first two at Epsom, New Approach and Tartan Bearer, and, unsurprisingly, the official ratings confirm that view. I know a few commentators felt the race at Epsom developed into something of a sprint up the home straight; I'm not brave enough to oppose New Approach so will maintain a watching brief but for those who are, Tartan Bearer looks the value.