It`s been a frustrating couple of months for those of us involved with Romeo.
There were the thunderstorms at Carlisle, the floods at Market Rasen on 3rd Dec which caused the meeting to be abandoned while Romeo and the others were walking round the parade ring ready to race.
Sue Smith has been frustrated with her string of horses and her worst ever start to a season, thus our decision to race at Aintree on the 3rd December wasn`t exactly unanimous.
So bearing this in mind, the betting industry, not surprisingly, were offering odds of 66/1 in places….and with the yard out of form, Romeo way down at the bottom of the handicap, and some very decent horses above him, who could blame them.
Consequently by the time race day came, yours truly had managed to drag himself so far down Pessimism Road, he decided he wouldn`t, unlike the rest of my gang, be bothered to have a bet.
What a plonker !!! 50/1 for goodness sake…haven`t had a proper nights sleep since. !! though the prize money has eased the pain somewhat.
The race was breathtaking to watch, as Romeo, head high, ears pricked and hurdling superbly throughout, together with Thomas Willmott in total control, by rationing Romeos energy beautifully to make sure his partner had just enough in the tank to stay on and beat both the well backed 7/2 shot Benson, and champion jockey Brian Hughes, by just under a length.
A truly magnificent performance from both horse and jockey by any standard, which prompted the quote of the season from Thomas “that was truly amazing..what a tough little b*****r he is….what a star”
Thanks to everyone for their complimentary phone calls and messages, mainly asking where are we going from here..? when will he go 3ml chasing ? are you aiming to go to Cheltenham?…and “how can I get involved with this beautiful horse”?
For now, let`s just continue to enjoy the moment, and keep our feet firmly on the ground.
Sue Smith, still in cuckoo land after Romeos win, as well as two more at Wetherby, phoned the morning after the race to say Romeo was “bright as a button” and “in good nick”…and so was she. !!
Richard
1 thought on “ROMEO`S BACK …AND HOW !!!”
Yet another great day out with McGoldrick Racing and well looked after by the hospitality at Aintree. I must confess I was one of the doubters in the syndicate about the suitability of the race for Romeo but I should have remembered how versatile a horse Romeo is.
All credit to Sue Smith and her team who have improved Romeo over the past eighteen months from a lowly 100 rated horse to potentially 130+ after the handicapper has delivered his verdict on Saturday’s race. Special mention also to Thomas Wilmot, our young jockey, who has developed such a wonderful relationship with Romeo and rides him to perfection.
Romeo himself has developed into such a slick hurdler, so brave and I was also very impressed in the way he scooted around the tight bends at Aintree on Saturday.
I doubt we will see 50/1 starting price again.
What I certain of though is that our ‘A Team’ of Romeo, Thomas & Sue will provide us with many more exciting days out during the rest of the season.