Kick on Charlie - Day 2 of the July meeting
Mea Culpa. I made a huge error yesterday in my thinking, viz, Charlie Appleby had something wrong in the yard - witness just one Godolphone winner at Ascot. The stable hasn’t run much, and when it has, it has been pretty average. Two minutes digging in the database - RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH - would have told me that his strike rate always improves in July and that this year, especially, he is now running 25% better in Actual vs Expected terms. Thus, I was stupid to lay REBELS ROMANCE and never even glanced at his 18/1 winner! The word from the stables was that they arrived at Ascot under-prepared, possibly thanks to the first heat wave, who knows. We still came out ahead - but we had so many disappointing seconds and thirds it was like dinner with The Pudding Club.
There comes a point in the life of every established sport when someone from a totally different background. kicks the door in, and tells everyone that they have been doing it wrong for the last hundred years.
