SD's Racing Ramble: Champions Day woes and three horses worth backing

Having amassed a loyal following on our Races Now YouTube channel thanks to a combination of outstanding tipping and forthright opinions, the unimitable 'SD' has now signed up for a weekly column right here on OddsNow.com! 

Today's latest edition features a damning post-mortem of Champions Day and three fancies for the week ahead.

Maybe I should start on a positive on British Champions Day reflections. Fashions change, but as sure as night follows day, James Fanshawe always has a good one.

James doesn’t have the ammunition that many others do, but boy can he do things with them. He’s twice won a Champion Hurdle, but his flat exploits are surfeit of that. Society Rock, The Tin Man, Frizzante, Soviet Song and now Kind of Blue are a joy to behold.

His consistency in producing top class animals for three decades, ably assisted by his lovely wife Jacko, should not be underestimated.

However, Champions Day itself was deeply unsatisfactory on so many other levels.

The fact that Swinley Bottom had been nicknamed Swanley Bottom for the last couple of months following the invasion of aquatic birds tells its own story. The switch to the inner track, with a lesser radii, creates its own issues.

The bends are tighter and as a result the traffic problems ensuing were worse than those wretched roadworks on the A1 near Doncaster. Time comparisons are virtually impossible to work out and the draw bias again, to put it politely, remained fluid.

Then we have the attendance made up of over 6,000 students and under 26s. My understanding is that these were made up of tickets at a substantial discount. Feedback from many was they were varying from boisterous to paralytic.

The direction of travel for the racegoer should not be down the “get pissed out of your tree” route. In trying to buy into this methodology racecourses need to remember not to alienate those who go for the racing. It is not backward to ask for a degree of decorum on a racecourse equitable to not having to tread through vomit.

None of the above is given any degree of scrutiny by racing’s media, who seem to treat the event as a roaring success whatever happens, given they congregate like a gang of wasps at the same place at the same time on an annual basis. How very snug.

Focusing back on the track, it’s great to see Aintree return to racing on Sunday for the Old Roan Chase Day.

It is noticeable that the handicap mark of Torn and Frayed is in free fall and he looks worth chancing in the veterans chase at 2.25pm.

Ten-year-olds have a fantastic record in this metier and the Nigel Twiston-Davies yard, as is usual for this time of year, is firing in winners with impressive regularity.

Should his stablemate Push The Button turn up in the following race, there is good reason to be sanguine about his prospects.

He does appear well weighted on his novice hurdle form and should be able to take this en route to better things . He will be a lovely chaser in time.

On Friday, Glorious Angel ran with plenty of promise after a layoff in the Catterick Dash last Saturday.

She is a remarkably tough filly and can reward each-way support in Doncaster's 3.18pm, under conditions which do appear optimal for her.

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