Well that was better than I remember! First time I've actually seen it on TV as I was there for the Tuesday (got a great video of Davy celebrating just for me :highly_amused
I think
The Big Getaway got a really good ride - was clearly a plan to increase the tempo down the back and let his stamina come into play. Notably steady early on. I am pretty confident Mullins has said he'll be up in trip next year and even without hearing/reading that you'd be confident based on what we've seen that would be the case. Definitely one for the shortlist for the RSA and he's a slightly bigger price than I'd expected (although probably right at 25/1). Would need to 'improve for chasing' which I feel like I've said in every post in the last 48 hours, but he does look like the right sort to and a festival placed hurdler improving means he could well be in the mix in March 2021.
***While I'm thinking about the RSA, I'm surprised Asterion Forlonge isn't priced up for the RSA in the same ownership.
I was even more impressed by
Easywork though. He did so well considering how much he pulled. I've just gone back to look at his form which is where Asterion Forlonge popped back into my head from, making Easywork quite hard to weigh up. 33/1 for the RSA which I think is an interesting price. Shorter unanimously for the Marsh so that'll temper any enthusiasm I have towards a bet right now but he was good. The Ballymore looked good on paper before and he's a solid horse. Will watch with interest his chase debut as he could potentially slide under the radar compared to horses he beat....
Leading me on to
The Big Breakaway who plugged on into 4th after getting outpaced. For me that marks him down as an RSA candidate for sure in terms of target, and to be fair he's 33/1 as well which may look a good price during next season. He will "need to improve" for chasing too, but it's well documented that he's a future chaser, I think Tizzard shoe-horned it into every single sound bite he had about the horse.
I'm already tempted to start a book for the RSA now as the prices are just quite tempting. I suppose it's because the focus is on the Albert Bartlett. Prices shouldn't be moving anytime soon though :stupid:
Was really disappointed with
Sporting John. I don't like that they couldn't isolate why he was lame after the race.
Longhouse Poet also disappointed so both will have something to prove going forward to me, but I did like both beforehand so will be willing to strike a line through their runs during the season if the prices are right. Would be tough to back either for the festival though based on this.
Left
Envoi Allen until last but there is hardly anything to say that hasn't been said. He's head and shoulders clear of his peers as a novice hurdler. I believe he'd have won any distance this season and whilst it's always important to try and pick holes in horses, it's very hard to do with EA and it's fantastic to have a genuine potential superstar. If he improves over fences he'll be unbeatable. If he stays at the same level he's already shown, he may well still be unbeatable. As a horse with a P2P background, who was bought to be a chaser, it's hard to imagine him not taking to fences. It isn't my
style to build a festival around just one horse, but he's as close as I've ever been to doing that. I suppose if I
knew the target I perhaps would...