Frustration, Frustration, Frustration.

Saturday was an enjoyable day. Although I won very little money, 4 winners was good for the confidence but more importantly, the return of the national hunt season was the highlight. Oh how I missed it! Its return rekindled that fire that is put on the back burner throughout the summer. Although I enjoy the flat racing season, jump racing is where the heart lies!

Jump Racing Returned To Chepstow Last Weekend

However the satisfied feeling I had on Saturday night, whilst sitting in the Chinese restaurant tucking into some aromatic duck pancakes was swiftly replaced with the overriding feeling of outright frustration on Sunday evening. I had written down two horses that I really wanted to back, but I could only justify backing one of them, so I only had the solitary bet. When some of you readers have asked me to single out one horse to follow this season, I have consistently responded : 'Teelin Star, with out a doubt.' So when I saw the horse entered at Limerick yesterday I couldn't help myself. I had to back him, even at 4/6. What would my readers think of me if I hadn't backed the one horse I had advised them to follow? Especially if it had won. Or even worse, it had won and they had backed it? So I backed him, I blame peer pressure. He was taking a fair tug on his way down to the first and clearly wasn't on a stride, so he belted it half way up unseating Barry Geraghty in the process. It was always on the cards. Bollocks!

You can guess what at happened next! The other horse I wrote down romped home, accelerating away from his rivals like a really good horse. Even more eye catching was his sublime leap at the first fence, reminiscent of a gazelle! Very unlike Teelin Star. The horse I'm talking about is Argocat from the Tom Taafe stable, he quickened up effortlessly in the testing ground to saunter past the highly rated Johannisberger to record a 7 length victory at 4-1. I had taken a liking to him when he was third on the 31st December 2011 at Punchestown, he ran a good race to finish 3rd behind quality horses Shadow Catcher and Darroun. I quietly fancied him for the Fred Winter at the Cheltenham Festival, the general trend is the highest rated flat horses normally come off best in the 2 mile 1 furlong contest. This lad was rated 88 on the flat and I heard a little rumour Taafe liked him for the race. Anyway, it wasn't to be as he finished 9th beaten 13 lengths. I swore to myself I would keep an eye on him though for the future, I clearly didn't! This horse looked something pretty special yesterday though so I would keep an eye out!

Argocat (Far Side) wins on the flat under Frankie Dettori in October 2010

That brought the curtain down on what was an up and down weekend. I can't complain though I selected 10 horses across the two days and 5 of them won. I will take a 50% win percentage for the rest of the season! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, roll on Cheltenham on Friday!!!

Any questions or comments? Contact me through Twitter: @JoshRWDown