Twist or stick?
January 21st, 2010 by Donn McCleanSo Twist Magic is up to his old tricks again, polarising opinion. There was the Twist Magic who was travelling like a dream in the Arkle when he and Don’t Push It got a perfect 6.0 from all the judges for synchronised falling at the second last, after which there was an enquiry into the second last, whether or not it should be the second last at all, or whether it should be razed to the ground and a picture of Edward Gillespie put there in its place.
It was the same Twist Magic who won the Maghull Chase at Aintree on his next start, the same one who won a graduation chase at Kempton on his debut the following season and who beat Voy Por Ustedes and Monet’s Garden in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown that December, usurping the former at the head of the ante post market for the Champion Chase.
It was a different Twist Magic that we saw next time, however, one who couldn’t get on terms with foot-to-the-boards-all-the-way Tamarinbleu in the Victor Chandler Chase on soft ground at Ascot on his next start. On Saturday, that will have been two years ago. Doesn’t seem like it, does it?
Lots has happened with Twist Magic in the interim. He has excelled at Sandown, disappointed at Cheltenham, and gone somewhere in between on the other courses on which he raced. There is a school of thought gathering momentum now, however, that what we are seeing these days is an all-new Twist Magic, fuelled, no doubt, by his trainer’s assertions that he is training him differently this year, and by a vote of confidence from the justifiably highly respected and strongly influencing Pricewise column in the Racing Post. As a result, he is no better than 8/1 for the Champion Chase.
Personally, I just don’t get it. Once a scorpion, always a scorpion, at least until you have concrete evidence that he won’t sting you. The evidence of a metamorphosis (if scorpions metamorphosise, which I’m sure they don’t) is scant, one run at Exeter when, in fairness to the horse, he did run a cracker to finish third behind Planet Of Sound and Cornas, giving them both lumps of weight (15lb and 20lb respectively) on ground that should have been too soft (good to soft) and over a distance that should have been too far (two miles and one and a half furlongs).
You can’t use his latest run in the Tingle Creek as evidence of a sea-change. He was good in the Tingle Creek, no question, but that was a funny race in which he was allowed his own way up front and in which his two main rivals under-performed to varying degrees. Also, crucially, it was at his beloved Sandown anyway. In four runs over two miles over fences at Sandown, he has won two Grade 1 contests and a Grade 2, and he has fallen at the second last when probably booked for second place behind an all-conquering Master Minded at the top of his game in the other. Also, the time that he clocked in completing the Tingle Creek course and distance that day was almost two seconds slower than the time that the novices clocked in the Henry VIII Chase over the same course and distance a half an hour earlier.
His three runs at Cheltenham read F6F. Central to Saturday’s bid to land the Victor Chandler Chase, his one run at Ascot reads 2, beaten pointless by a horse who was rated a stone his inferior. In theory, he has 8lb in hand over Petit Robin on Saturday, 10lb in hand over Well Chief, 17lb in hand over Fix The Rib and 21lb in hand over Cornas. Compelling figures. That’s why he is priced up at no better than 5/4.
If the race was at Sandown, I wouldn’t be taking him on, not even at 5/4, but the race isn’t at Sandown, and he is priced up as if it is.
I may live to regret it, but I’ll stick.
* For more of Donn’s thoughts, visit www.donnmcclean.com.
SIGN UP FOR €200 FREE BET TODAY WITH BET365
Categories: Horse racing Irish Racing
Comments (0)