**St Leger Day Tipping Contest**

The St Leger takes place at Doncaster tomorrow.
For the final classic of the flat season I will run another tipping contest.

Please make selections for all the races at Doncaster tomorrow, plus as it is St Leger day in Ireland too for that particular race as well. I think 4 of the Doncaster races are on channel 4 as well as the Irish St Leger.

The rules:
1 horse selected per race
1st place = 40 points
2nd place = 20 points
3rd place = 10 points
you can select 1 NAP which will be worth double points.

ALL selections to be submitted by the time of the first race, including any non runners.

Good luck everyone!

Doncaster

2.05 - Entifaadha

2.35 - York Glory

3.10 - Blue Bunting (nap)

3.45 - Cry Fury

4.15 - Premio Loco

4.50 - Anjaz

5.25 - Sud Pacifique

Curragh
3.50 - Irish St. Leger - Duncan

Thanks Steveo

Doncaster
2.05 - Red Duke
2.35 - Zero Money
3.10 - Sea Moon (nap)
3.45 - Sooraah
4.15 - Dafeef
4.50 - Anjaz
5.25 - Midnight Oil

Curragh
3.50 - Fame & Glory

2.05 Trumpet Major
2.35 Rain Delayed
3.10 Sea Mon (nap)
3.45 Sorah
4.15 Duff
4.50 Amazing Storm
5.25 Swift Alhaarth

3.50 Duncan

Totally lost interest in the Flat but will give Steveos comp a lash,heres the ones that the pin stuck in for today!

2.05 RED DUKE
2.35 SWISS DREAM
3.10 SEVILLE
3.45 CRY FURY
4.15 PREMIO LOCO
4.50 ANJAZ
5.25 PICTURE EDITOR

3.50 FAME AND GLORY nap

2.05 Entifaadha (nap)
2.35 Zero Money
3.10 Census
3.45 Eton Forever
4.15 The Cheka
4.50 Repeater
5.25 Swift Alhaarth

3.50 Jukebox Jury

2.05 Entifaadha
2.35 York Glory
3.10 Sea Moon
3.45 Eton Forever
4.15 The Cheka
4.50 Amazing Storm
5.25 Swift Alhaarth

3.50 Fame & Glory NAP

good luck everyone!

Good luck Steveo and everybody else too!

2.05 Red Duke

rest to follow

2.35 Joe Packet
3.10 Blue Bunting
3.45 Eton Forever
4.15 Dafeef
4.50 Anjaz
5.25 Swift Alhaarth

3.50 Fame & Glory Nap

after a closely fought contest congratulations to Eyetoldyouso who narrowly held off Solerina and Linebreaker.

I had a bit of a shocker, a bit like the horse I napped!

1. EYETOLDYOUSO 140

2. Solerina 130
Linebreaker 130
4. Dass 120
5. Racingnut 100
Danny 100
7. Steveo 90

Well done Eyes and well done Steveo for putting a bit of interest back into,what has become for me anyway,a tiresome haul towards the real racing.Roll on the Charlie Hall.

Charlie Hall should be interesting looking forward to hopefully seeing Diamond Harry back on the track in almost a year.

What a fluke - I don't think I have ever won a tipping contest. Thanks for running this Steveo.
As for the future racing, some interesting results in the Arc trials yesterday although the ground was "sodden".
Personally, I can't wait to see the mighty Frankel on the track again. Excelebration, who Frankel has beaten twice this year, won the Prix du Moulin yesterday and the trainer fancies another crack at the monster.

Well done Eyetoldyouso.

Great name for a poster... and a horse!

Thanks Steveo for getting this up and running.

Racingnut I agree that the flat season may not have been quite as good as recent years but dont forget there has been Frankel!!

and yes the Charlie Hall next month, I can't wait. As someone who probably has enjoyed the flat racing more in recent years I really am looking forward to the jumps season this year, as I thought that last season (Grand National apart) finished really well.

i am sure it has been said before, but I think the main difference between jumps and flat is that the jumps builds up over a few months, leading to the championships at Chelteham, Aintree, maybe to an extent punchestown too. With the flat, the season starts in March and within 6-8 weeks the classics are all but done! I like the flat, but find the jumps season so much easier to get excited about nowadays. I am not that old, but even to me, racing seems very differernt to the 80's, early 90's.

Danny,

I think that is why Racing for Change have introduced a new Champions Day this year at the end of the flat season, which if it features Frankel should be pretty good. Add Arc day in Paris where pretty much the whole card is made up of group 1 races and the Breeders Cup in America and the flat season should end on a high.

actually one of the reasons why I have become more interested in the flat in recent years is that there are top quality festivals all summer - Ascot, Newmarket, Goodwood, York, Doncaster. One of the problems with the jumps is that increasingly everything is focused on Cheltenham and to a lesser extent, Aintree. What I have also noticed in recent years is that the top horses will now only run 2 or 3 times a year. That said I am still looking forward to the jumps season but I think the flat remains very good too.

Interesting points there Steveo. Appreciate that, yes, there are the flat festivals, (and they are great) but the fact the Derby/Oaks/Guineas have all been run already as championship races I think to a certain extent lessens the rest of the years races. The form doesn't always hold up, as many 3 year olds will only really be fully ready later in the season. (Sure you know what I am trying to say there, but not sure I explained it that well ) So do the best horses win the classics? Not always in my opinion. I think also with the Breeders cup, as good a spectacle it is, comes down to quite a bit of luck like will the horse take to travelling etc so dont really consider that a championship as such. Champions day at Newmarket could be interesting particularly for the 2 y olds. We can only hope it is a success. Arc day, agree is a quality card. To be fair your comment about the jumps top horse only racing a few times, at the moment it is only a minority. Hopefully it doesnt become the norm. Blimey I had an opinion 15 minutes ago Steveo, and you turning me around on the whole thing lol!! Having said all that, Frankel this year has made it all worthwhile anyway. Hope he does stay in training next year.

I certainly hope it doesnt become the norm about jumps horses too Danny.

it is just that I heard that Denman is only due to run twice this season I think and Long Run 3 times - a pity.

I can see your point about the classics. I am ok about the Derby/Oaks because they have good quality trial races. However I think that the Guineas is the problem. They are basically the first top quality races of the season - crazy.

How about run the Guineas meeting towards the end of the season? Would that maybe make more sense than this new Champions Day at Ascot? (champions day at Newmarket is now no more - there is just a 2 year old day taking place a week before Champions Day at Ascot)

It was watching Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard whilst sat on my dads knee that got me hooked on this sport,i used to love the Flat but it has suffered from massive overkill in the past few seasons.Eight meetings a day in the Summer is far too many for even the most ardent follower.Its almost impossible to keep a handle on the form,ive tried it on and off for the past six or seven seasons and i just turned it in,my head was in the shed.
The comments about the Clasics being too early are old hat,everyone with the slightest knowledge of training and preparing horses knows that the whole British racing fixture programme is four weeks in front of itself.To have four ultimate tests for the 3yo generation done and dusted by the first week in June is folly.Noel Murless quoted" the fittest horse wins the Guineas,the luckiest wins the Derby and the freshest wins the Leger",prophetic indeed.

racingnut wrote:The comments about the Clasics being too early are old hat,everyone with the slightest knowledge of training and preparing horses knows that the whole British racing fixture programme is four weeks in front of itself.To have four ultimate tests for the 3yo generation done and dusted by the first week in June is folly.Noel Murless quoted" the fittest horse wins the Guineas,the luckiest wins the Derby and the freshest wins the Leger",prophetic indeed.

Racingnut. You put it much better than I ever could. And the Noel Murless quote is just about right.

yes very good post racingnut.

i totally agree about the number of meetings - it is impossible to follow them all so I tend to just focus on the major festivals which seem to come around every 2/3 weeks, and that is why I have come to like the flat in recent years.

At this time of year the only main interest left on the flat is the Arc and seeing how the 2 year olds get on. A month away from the first meeting of the season at Cheltenham though

Must admit Steveo,the Arc and the new Champions Day are just about the only interests ive got left in this Flat season.As you might have guessed from some of my previous posts,i dont do two year old races in any shape or form with the exception of the Dewhurst and Racing Post Trophy,so the two year old day at HQ will pass me by im afraid.There was a time in the not too distant past where you could give me a horses name and i could give you some info on its breeding,trip and ground preference and sometimes even a hint of its recent form,i pick up the paper these days and theres horses running that ive never heard of,thats when you know its time to shut up shop.
Looking towards the winter game,i do think that the season just gone will take some beating,i thought it was truly vintage campaign from start to finish.If the season coming can give us half of what went before then it will be worth the wait.

A belated congratulations to Eyes!

Thanks to all those who entered......let's hope we get a few more entries next time.

Thanks for running the comp for us, Steveo