Wolverhampton – 7th March 2016 – Bet In Play At Coral Handicap

A winning debut run for BG Racing from The Way You Dance. A couple of months break since purchase and a minor wind operation meant that March came around before we were able to get The Way You Dance on to the track.

Wolverhampton was the venue, with the course and distance being the same as The Way You Dance’s two previous races where he had won and then finished a head second.

Most of the crowd at Wolverhampton on a Monday afternoon seem to be owners and trainers and there certainly are not many meetings where you can go out onto the viewing steps between races and find that you are literally the only person between the track and the grandstand!

The gate was boosted by a 10 strong BG Racing contingent of myself, Sarah, Tony, Susie, Ben, Nicola, Peter and guests. On arrival we collected our racecards and headed up to the owners and trainers bar which we used as our base for the afternoon, heading out to the steps to watch races and then returning into the warm before the next.

Our race was second to last on the card and we waited by the pre-parade ring until The Way You Dance came through having already been saddled in the racecourse stables. We followed him into the paddock. Soon we were joined by jockey Liam Keniry who had spoken to Neil and who was full of confidence about The Way You Dance’s chances. He was quickly up in the plate and heading out and we made our way round to the stands.

The race got underway and Liam quickly had TWYD settled exactly where he had said he wanted to be, just in behind the leaders. He travelled well throughout but came under pressure turning for home and for a few strides he looked to be stalling. As they came up the straight though he seemed to be oh so slowly pulling himself back upsides the leaders. Just as it looked as though the line would come to soon, he ground his way to the front and passed the post a neck up amid huge celebrations from the BG Racing contingent.

In the winners enclosure Liam reported that he had just been a bit flat at the top of the home run, but had stayed on really well at the end. His conclusion was that we should perhaps try a couple of furlongs further as this would save TWYD from being outspeeded.

Most of the BG Racing gang squeezed into the winners enclosure to get a photo with The Way You Dance and then it was onto the podium for a winners presentation. As the group headed into the winners room for champagne, sandwiches and a rerun of the race, I was stopped for a quick press interview which resulted in me being quoted n Tuesday’s Racing Post!

After the presentation the team headed back to owners and trainers to reply to texts and emails before going our separate ways.

A brilliant day was rounded off by spending most of the winnings (you don’t get much for a class 6 all weather win) on a Toby Carvery at Banbury where we were joined by Peter and his daughter Louise.

Once the dust had settled, I had a chance to review the race. The time was the closest to the “standard time” for the course and distance of all the races run that day except for the sprints. This means that arguably our race was comparatively the fastest of the day.

The Attheraces pace summary for the listed 5 who raced prominently and 7 who raced in rear. The Way You Dance was one of the 5 prominent racers, of the others Red Unico was 5^th and the other three were 10^th, 11^th and 12^th all beaten well over 10 lengths! This is a clear marker for what racing journalist Nick Mordin used to refer to as “pace collapse”. Essentially this means that the pace was too fast early on, leading to the front runners tiring and those sheltered in behind getting a benefit. Typically any horse that survives the pace collapse to remain at the front having been there throughout has run much better than the bare form suggests. This leads me to conclude that The Way You Dance’s performance was better than I first thought and gives us cause for optimism that he can follow up next time as long as the handicapper is kind!