Worth A Bob Or Two!

I thought that Bobs Worth looked an interesting winner at Kempton yesterday afternoon.  The time was 7.5 seconds quicker than the handicap later on the card, and take it from me a horse can travel a long way in 7.5 seconds!  Barry Geraghty only had to nudge the five year old out with hands and heels to win by nine lengths and he looks to be a novice to follow.  There was an eventful novices' chase on the same card won by Dee Ee Williams who was the sole runner to complete the course - as such he netted all of the prize money for his owner Give Every Man His Due.  He must have had strange parents to call him that!

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I see that Paul Nicholls "couldn't be happier" with Denman ahead of this weekend's Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.  Have you ever noticed how all trainers seem to think that their horses have never been better or worked as well?  Surely they can't all be right?  I can't think of the last time that I heard a trainer say that a horse had been disappointing at home...still I don't suppose the owners want to hear that.

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A punter has complained about the price of admission to the races at Kempton on Friday.  He says that £18 is too expensive, especially when you consider that there was no-one there!  On the same day, Ascot were only charging £11 to go in and they had a decent crowd...so what does that tell you?  Perhaps racecourses should take the hint and drop admission charges especially during midweek.  Surely it would be better to have people on the track spending money than not going racing at all, or is that too simple a solution?  I wouldn't be at all surprised if their answer to the problem was to put prices up to make up the shortfall!

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Below I have a couple of pictures from the gallops of Dream Esteem and Chartreux, as well as recent Cheltenham runner-up Dynaste who was working upsides Hunterview.

  
Above left: (l-r) Dream Esteem and Chartreux, and right: Dynaste and Hunterview on the gallops