Resilience will certainly not be a surprise if he causes one under John ‘fifty-something’ Egan in an eleven-runner Novice Stakes over six furlongs of Wolverhampton tapeta this afternoon and from stall one appeals as a cracking each-way bet to enhance recent winnings from this column, providing readers/punters have stuck rigidly to our three selections in daily patents, best bets in town without any doubt.
My deliberation with two-year-olds races is as serious as it gets with your ‘ard earned money firmly in focus and the aptly-named Resilience is a ‘suitable case for treatment’ judged on his second outing on Kempton polytrack nineteen days ago when improving considerably on an encouraging ‘educational’ first-up run at Salisbury.
Silvester Kirk’s charge, mount of David Probert, an unconsidered 18/1 chance, ‘hit the gate’ superbly and travelled comfortably; two furlongs out this Aclaim gelding was bang in contention but Charles Hills-trained Golden Warrior, odds-on favourite, stormed through to win by one and three-quarter lengths. We thought the winner was nigh on ‘cert!’
Resilience owned by Jeff ‘Alcohol Free’ Smith, an outstanding contributor to our great ‘Sport Of Kings’ through decades, has a gilt-edged opportunity of going one better under Egan whose son, David, a champion apprentice, is now etched among the leading jockeys with a wonderful job at the vast Roger Varian complex in Newmarket. This season he’s enjoyed a fabulous association with Mishriff!
As this is being penned in the silent, warm early hours of Sunday morning I’m able to think back two days when I rang my old ‘guv’nor’ Barry Hills and asked if he’d any reason to dissuade me from napping Point Lynas at Newmarket, Saturday; ‘No, I’m happy with him’ was the typical old stock reply which he gave me so many times during our wonderful association over twelve years, which yielded more than twelve-hundred winners, taking his career-total to more than THREE THOUSAND, remarkable man!
Point Lynas made all the running in the seven furlongs under William Buick, my ‘trump card!’
Although he faces a monumental task to catch Oisin Murphy for the jockeys’ championship, which ends next weekend, I sincerely hope William achieves his long-held ambition; there isn’t a better front-running jockey in the world and Barry knows my feelings about his exceptional judgement of pace. I place tremendous emphasis on jockeyship and know full well ‘you can’t beat experience’, a reason why time-handicap selection Resilience is in good hands!
Stick with this column, and the daily patent/trixie only!
AND don’t bet ante-post or play Irish racing!
Selections, Yarmouth, 1.00 Brilliant Blue (e.w); Wolverhampton, 4.00 Resilience (e.w); 5.10 Lady Rockstar.
Jeffrey Ross, horse-racing correspondent for WMN since 1983 when winning the most prestigious racing journalist award, Sporting Life Naps Table, before winning it a record number of six times collectively in the Racing Post, the current ‘trade’ paper, including 2019