Stat of the Day, 23rd December 2012

Stat of the Day 23/12/12

Stat of the Day, 23rd December 2012

Racing at Haydock yesterday was best described as attritional and even the shortest 2-mile races became very hard work for horse and jockeys alike. It was also another blank day for SotD, despite being close to a payout. Our mount attracted plenty of attention and was backed from our advised 12/1 into an SP of just 7/1.

We never looked like troubling the two market leaders who eventually filled the top two positions, but third place seemed to be ours approaching the last. Unfortunately a poor jump to the left and a near collision with another horse knocked the momentum from him and we had to settle for fourth!

The lack of UK racing until Boxing Day means it’s Hobson’s Choice for us today and a trip across the Irish Sea. Our chosen race is a Mares’ Maiden Hurdle over two miles on soft to heavy ground for the.…

2.00 Thurles

To be honest, there wasn’t a great deal jumping out at me today, but our trainer today is in relatively decent form and the horse is a consistent sort with knowledge of the track.

Trainer Kevin O’Donnell is very rarely represented here at Thurles: four horses in 2000-01 and one in November 2010, before suddenly having four entries here since 8th November this year. He sent two runners out that day and was rewarded with two place finishes (a 2nd and a 3rd) and he subsequently sent two more to the track three weeks later on 30th November recording another 2nd place finish and one unplaced runner.

The three placed horses all competed over today’s trip, whilst the unplaced horse ran at 2m6f, all competed on ground soft or heavy. He has just one runner today and that horse ran on both those dates in November, finishing second on both occasions.

The yard itself is in decent nick, with seven of its last ten runners making the frame in total, although it has to be pointed out that six of those were also attributable to today’s selection: Dubh Go Leir.

As this is a maiden contest, Dubh Go Leir hasn’t actually won any of her seven contests to date but a form line of  3226222 suggests a high level of consistency and a perfect candidate for an E/W bet.  Not only has she demonstrated consistency, there’s also a great deal of versatility there too. She has been placed on 6 out of 7 races at four different tracks at three different distances from today’s 2m up to 2m 4f via 2m 2f. She has also been placed on track conditions varying from Good all the way through to Heavy.

She has finished twice on her last two runs, which were her two only previous outings att his track and in total she is 36222 at today’s trip.

Dubh Go Leir does often (invariably!) find one too good for her, but that won’t concern us as we’ll take an E/W bet today.

A check on the markets at 0900 showed the best price to be 8/1 BOG with Bet365 so the obvious play today is a 0.5pt E/W bet on Dubh Go Leir, but you can, of course, always…

Click here for the latest betting on the 2.00 Thurles