A summer of end-to-end racing has taught me one thing - focus on the quality

General / Ian Dean / 20 August 2008 / Leave a Comment

Ian Dean can't wait for the night racing to end - this sport can take its toll after a while...

A recent discussion with some fellow racing enthusiasts made one thing abundantly clear - we are all gagging for the night racing to end.

It's a shame really. I've nothing against evening fixtures per se. They make obvious sense to the working man/woman for whom early afternoon isn't Pimm's o'clock. For the stay at home punter, too, a 2-y-o maiden squeezed in just before Dragon's Den seems more of a treat than the usual afternoon timeslot.

And good luck to any track that can double its attendance and treble its sale of booze by tagging a gig by T.Rextasy on to the end of a soggy night's action.

But the extra workload they bring with them can't be denied, and after four months of suffocating under a burgeoning formbook it's time to restore the work-life balance. Time to come blinking back into the light of the world outside racing. Time to read non-racing books other than during brief toilet breaks.

It was during one such recent, err, visit that I again picked up Moneyball by Michael Lewis, a book about a revolution in the appraisal of baseball statistics and infinitely more readable than that makes it sound.

There is plenty in Moneyball that resonates with horseracing. The statement that 'The human mind played tricks on itself when it relied exclusively on what it saw, and every trick it played was a financial opportunity for someone who saw through the illusion' will chime loudly with sectional timing devotees, for example.

Primarily, though, Moneyball hammers home the importance of continually examining our approach, challenging what we believe (are all Storm Cats really bobbins on soft ground?!), whilst noting the irrationalities of others, in our case the people we are betting against. Most are too immersed in the day-to-day battle to take such a step back. To do so may just give an edge.

So with the dust settling on another busy summer, what has been learnt? For me, that the day is too short to waste reading articles entitled 'Sanders may ride Look Here in home work', that there is a sufficient lull in terms of quality racing between the July Meeting and Glorious Goodwood to take a break without forsaking too many winners, and that to play some golf around that time might just stop me going nuts-a-cuckoo.

There is plenty of mileage left in the Flat season, of course, and with Simon back from his sunshine break at York's Ebor meeting next week I'll take this opportunity to put forward a few names to watch out for in Betfair's ante-post markets this autumn.

First up is Mastership, for whom trainer John Quinn may have had a prize like the Ayr Gold Cup in mind when handing over a pretty penny (67,000 guineas, to be precise) at the end of last season. Mastership's form tailed off in 2007, but an earlier effort from a mark at 100 at Newmarket's July meeting illustrated his class, the gelding first home on the wrong side in a warm contest.

Mastership has travelled well in the Bunbury Cup and Ascot's totesport International of late, both at seven furlongs, but a drop back to sprinting at Ayr will be ideal and a current mark of 95 can be exploited.

Trainer Andrew Balding and apprentice David Probert are entitled to be happier than most with their endeavours this term, and they have a live candidate for further glory in the 3-y-o Jedediah.

The son of Hernando was scuppered by the draw at Royal Ascot, but he needed no excuses in a heritage handicap at the July meeting three weeks later, scoring in smooth fashion.

The handicapper has stuck his oar in, and Probert has had his claim eroded somewhat since, but Goodwood wins for third Indian Days and fourth Love Galore give the form a concrete base and Jedediah will relish the end-to-end gallop of the Cambridgeshire.

In the anticipated absence of Montmartre, stable-companion Zarkava will have many supporters in the Prix de l'Arc De Triomphe. However, the unbeaten filly will have to display stamina to match her class, particularly if the heavens remain open, and in that eventuality Soldier Of Fortune may be best equipped.

Aidan O'Brien's mud-lover lacks the pace of a New Approach or Duke Of Marmalade, but it's quite possible the provision of pacemakers from Ballydoyle will ensure a good test and a light campaign counts in his favour.