15th September

Something will run in the 3.30 at Haydock tomorrow. It is not a strong race for the grade but the going is Heavy and Something is unlikely to be able to do himself justice on going like this. There are three front runners in the race, Invincible Force, Methaaly and Something, so there will probably be no hanging about despite the testing conditions. I expect Something to drop away from 2f out, and then take his chance in the Ayr Silver Cup.

12th September

The coming week could see Something running twice, after a short break which has followed the poor run in the Steward’s Cup. Because of overwatering followed by rain the going was too loose for him at Goodwood, and he was also on a slower strip of ground in the final three furlongs. I wrote to the Clerk of the Course, Seamus Buckley (who is becoming notorious for overwatering) expressing my disgust with his watering of the course on the Friday evening. Knowing that rain was on the way and the ground already had plenty of juice in it, watering was a declaration of war against the fast ground horses. He is under the misapprehension that watered “Good” going is safer for horses than Good/Firm. An opinion that is hard to justify on any objective basis. Research carried out by the Jockey Club (see below) into injuries sustained racing shows little difference between Good/Firm, Good and Good/Soft going on the flat. Anecdotal evidence from trainers suggests that loose ground is worse. Whatever, there was no justification for watering, and it was contrary to BHA guidelines.



As a prep run for the Ayr Silver Cup Something has an entry at Haydock on Tuesday. This is a 0-90 Classified Stakes. The going is currently Heavy and is unlikely to dry out sufficiently for him by Tuesday. Whether he runs or not he should be in the lineup for the Ayr Silver Cup, though again the going is most unlikely to be in his favour.


1st August

More than a mini-gamble. Something is now best priced at 20/1, and with Ladbrokes went from 25/1 > 20/1 > 12/1 in two hours this afternoon.

1st August

There seems to be a mini Something gamble going on today. Ten bookmakers have cut his odds from a best 33/1. Four have him at 25/1 and four at 16/1, with the others in between. On RUK yesterday David Nicholls mentioned Something as his best chance of winning this year’s Steward’s Cup, but anyone who knows Dandy at all would not be backing a horse on the basis of a TV interview. Sure IF Something leapt back to top form he would have a great chance off 96, but there is a big if in there. The possibility of getting true Good/Firm going is improving. Kidnapping Clerk of the Course Seamus Buckley for a day might improve the chances further.


31st July

He is in the field for the Steward’s Cup, which is the 3.50 at Goodwood on Saturday. Jimmy Quinn rides and he is drawn in the middle in 15.

26th July

Adele Rothery rides today claiming 7lb. Her career highlight will have been the win on Masta Plasta at York, and not far behind the two wins at Pontefract on Turnkey. Her normal riding style is patient and somewhere at the back, though Masta Plasta blasts from the front.

Something needs to show some form today if he is to justify his place in the Steward’s Cup. He is running off a mark of only 92 this afternoon. With the stalls on the far side the draw in 1 is good, if he is able to just cruise along the rail in his own time..

21st July

Something is not going to run in the Hong Kong Sprint. After last Saturday I doubt if he will be raced again at 5f for some while.
Instead he has been entered in a 7f Class 3 handicap, the 3.25 at Newcastle on Saturday.
His season gets curiouser and curiouser. The sequence of distances will then go 6.5f, 5f, 7f, 6f, 5f, 7f.
Meanwhile the handicapper is doing what a handicapper has to do and Something’s mark is now down to 92.


13th July

At Ascot on Saturday Something showed speed for three furlongs but then dropped right out. I doubt that he is a 5f horse. They were always going a stride too fast for him in the conditions. Silvestre was inclined to blame the going afterwards. Ascot had 8mm of rain overnight and a shower during the afternoon, and perhaps the ground was both too dead and loose on top in the end. If there are valid excuses they would be the ones. The handicapper will probably not get fully to grips with Crimson Fern, Strike Up The Band or Siren’s Gift. They pulled well clear of the others and are worth looking out for in future handicaps.

Something has been entered in the Scottish Steward’s Cup a 6f Heritage Handicap to be run at 8.00pm at Hamilton on Friday evening. It is the race Blackheath won in 2004.


10th July

Something has been declared to run in the 4.35 at Ascot on Saturday. He is drawn 1 of 10 and Silvestre is due to ride. In the next stall is stablemate and front-runner Strike Up The Band with Dettori aboard. David Nicholls won this race with Brave Burt and has had two seconds.

I guess that the likely favourites will be the two fillies, Crimson Fern and Siren’s Gift.

Presently the going is described as Good/Soft but the Ascot straight drains so quickly that I would expect it to be on the fast side of Good unless there are some heavy showers.

7th July

An entry has been made in the 4.35 at Ascot on Saturday. This is a five furlong Class 2 Handicap. It is nicely scheduled to fit in with the Hong Kong Sprint. In fact Pivotal Point won this race, following up with a near miss in the Hong Kong Sprint and success in the Steward’s Cup in 2004. The thinking is that Something is showing more speed now and will be better suited by a 5f/6f programme than the original idea which was to go for the Bunbury Cup again. He has not been entered in the Bunbury Cup.

3rd July

Neither Buachaill Dona nor Something have been declared for the Haydock race.

30th June

Something is entered in the 4.10 at Haydock on Saturday. The race is a 6 furlong Conditions Stakes.

27th June - Wokingham Handicap - Saturday 21st June - Royal Ascot

There can be various reasons for holding a horse up at the back of the field. To get cover to settle and relax a horse that pulls
hard. To get shelter and conserve energy, the peleton effect. To run at a more even pace in a fast run race. Once the decision is made the only thing to do is make the most of it. To sit at the back, relax and look for horses going well to follow through. Having given away five lengths in the first 100yds, the worst thing to do is to try to make it up again in midrace when the field are going at their fastest. That is just suicide in a race like the Wokingham. However that is what happened to Something on Saturday.

To his credit Something made up those five lengths down the stand rail, on the bridle. The BBC reverse angle view shows him front rank by halfway, then fighting for the lead of the stand side group with Lipocco until the inevitable happened and he started to fade out of it from the two furlong marker. So he was spat out the back finishing 21st. Perhaps he would have lasted a bit longer but by late Saturday the watered and rained on turf was loose on top, which from his Yarmouth run we know does not suit him.

The Handicapper has dropped him only 1lb for the run, after dropping him 4lb last time. I guess that is an indication of how the Handicapper rated his run at Beverley.

As well as the Steward’s Cup (2nd August) Something has been entered in the Hong Kong Sprint Stakes, a 5 furlong Heritage Handicap to be run at Ascot on Sunday 27th July. From the pace shown at Beverley and in the Wokingham I expect that he will be effective at 5f, but his three wins, and arguably his best run in the Bunbury Cup, were all over 7f. Six furlongs or an easy 7f still looks the likely optimum to me.











Something’s lass won the best turned out prize. Again.

19th June

Dane O’Neill rides in the Wokingham. A good booking. Dane knows Something from when he rode him in the narrow defeat at Windsor behind Assertive and Borderlescott. Also positive news is the draw in 3. Whilst I do not think there is a draw advantage at present, in terms of the state of the going, a position near the stand rails looks to be at least as good as anywhere else. Possibly because it is more sheltered from headwinds? More to the point is that the best early pace is drawn low and the stand side should be ahead of the centre runners and probably well ahead of the far side. David Nicholls also has Indian Trail (Dettori), Northern Fling (Gibbons), and Machinist (Fanning) in the race.

The only blot on the horizon is the mass of rain waiting to come in late Friday and Saturday. Last year there was a torrential downpour an hour before the race, perhaps an inch of rain, yet the going only deteriorated to Good/Soft. Ascot has to be the best draining track around and Something handled it OK last year. The problem is that the used and opened up ground becomes the slowest. So if there is appreciable rain the centre may become the best place, and the stand rail the worst. For Something’s chance the least rain the better imo

He has been entered in the Steward’s Cup. The Bunbury Cup is not an early closer, and I expect him to run there as well, if all goes well.

16th June

Something is safely amongst the 5-day entries for the Wokingham. 23rd on the list with a Safety Limit of 28. Currently he is 20/1 with most of the bookies, which has been the situation from the moment the Ante Post market was formed.

Dandy’s jockey bookings in big handicaps are often worth watching. I have no idea what the intentions are. Johnny Murtagh rode him in the three big handicaps last year, but Aidan O’Brien still has Abraham Lincoln in this.

3rd June

The York race had it’s purposes because Something has been dropped another 3lb in the handicap. Now down to 97.
Considering that he was placed in the Wokingham and Bunbury Cup off 102 and 104 respectively he is starting to look very well handicapped. The plan looks like being Wokingham (21st June) > Bunbury Cup (11th July) > Steward’s Cup (2nd August).