First Lieutenant was announced a non-runner for the Hennessy Gold Cup two weeks ago and Paddy Power didn't have him in their ante post list whereas Blue Square kept him in and so were rewarded with a somewhat questioning e-mail from me (that they duly ignored). Now it looks as if the Irish-raider will raid and the 10/1 I took then will still at least get a run. If he runs, I'll owe Blue Square an apology but if he wins they'll owe me a few quid. And that's fair enough.
Pictured here with a big favourite of mine, Bobsworth, the two reoppose tomorrow with First Lieutenant in receipt of a pound for a two and a half length beating there. I'm reasonably happy enough to desert Bobsworth tomorrow even if it could be his real 'coming of age' day, not only because he has drifted in the last couple of days from 100/30 to 9/2 but because, even if First Lieutenant is a Cheltenham specialist, the 10/1 is better value and he looks very solid each way here for the faint-hearted. A.P. on Teaforthree for Rebecca Curtis at 16/1 is another that you could give a chance.
The Novice Hurdle at Newbury is interesting but tricky; the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, so often an early Champion Hurdle trial, has cut up so badly that even if Newcastle goes ahead there won't be a fifth of any description in it this year although if you really can get 5/6 Cinders and Ashes, then, yes, one would have thought so.
And so although, on the face of it, it looks like yet another of those exciting Saturdays of autumn jump racing, there might not be quite as many options to choose from and I'm going to stick with First Lieutenant, officially each way for the purposes of judging the success of this project, but in real life I'm happy to forego the reduced returns of a placed each way bet if I can at other times collect better returns on outright winners.
