10th June 2015
Hi %%First Name%%,
I hope you all enjoyed the Derby even if you never backed the winner. Golden Horn was impressive and proved he got the trip under an excellent ride from Frankie.
It was great to see nine times Derby winning jockey Lester Piggott at the meeting and to hear his comments on the three best horses he has ever seen. They were Sea Bird, Ribot and Frankel ahead of anything he had ridden during his own riding career.
He also mentioned he would love to see a race between Golden Horn, French Derby victor New Bay and American Triple Crown champion American Pharoah oh and perhaps Arc winning filly Treve.
Lester also went on to say that the Epsom Derby in his opinion is still the greatest race on the planet and is the truest test for all race horses.
I wonder if any readers know who won the Derby back in 1915?
I know most will say there was no race as it was during the first World War however there was a race run over the full 12 furlongs but for British soldiers who were recuperating from injury.
The winner was a wounded soldier named Harry Wimblett who had the nickname Happy and he can go down in history as the only person to win the great race without a horse.
Today we have racing up and down the country and for Howies Hottie I'm off up to Beverly for the 3.0 a low grade handicap over the 5 furlongs.
Usually a low inside draw is an advantage and I'm hoping that Cadeaux Pearl can ping out from the one box and make all the running.
EYE-CATCHERS
FLAT
Elm Park trainer A.Balding - Now he finished down the field in the Derby after going off like a scalded cat and he is far better than that. When you consider he finished placed in the Dante behind Golden Horn and Jack Hobbs on his seasonal appearance you can see that wasn't his true running. I wouldn't mind betting on a different track with softer ground he would give the Derby first two plenty to think about.
Taaqah trainer J.Tate - Ran well at Chelmsford last week when making the frame and there is improvement to come.
Wildes trainer I.Williams - The gelding has taken time to reach peak fitness and ran a promising race despite finishing down the field.
Raddeh trainer Sir M.Stoute - Just touched off in a Doncaster handicap this late maturing type can improve further.
Canny Style trainer K.Ryan - After a slow start this juvenile made late headway and will know what is required next time out.
Back next Wednesday have a good week and be lucky.
Howard Davis-Shaw.
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This Weeks Golf News - Mickelson Aims to Win Back-to-Back in a Major Again
There’s an old saying in professional golf that you should never win a tournament in the week before a major. The better players try to peak in the four most important weeks of the year and most would swap ten FedEx St Jude Classics for one US Open. Phil Mickelson would probably exchange one hundred so on first glance his appearance in the tournament this week seems strange but he is the last player from both main tours to win a major championship in the week following a regular tournament win.
The TPC at Southwind has hosted this event since 1989. The tournament is played in very hot, humid conditions and there are usually thunder and lightning interruptions. The course is unusual in that the fairways are zoysia grass which means that the ball can be swept with players as a result taking only a small divot. Eleven years ago a number of fairway were recontoured and some narrowed. The greens were changed from bentgrass to Bermuda and the key skills became driving accuracy, greens in regulation and average putts per round.
The course provides a good test in the context of the second major of the season. The layout hasn’t changed much since 2004 so the demands are predictable which is what players like when preparing for a major championship. At 7,239 yards the course is below in average in length by modern standards and the two nines of 35 mirror the configuration at the US Open next week. Last year TPC Southwind was the hardest par-70 in a non-major for the second time in three years. With narrow fairways and undulating greens the track puts a premium on accuracy over distance.
Before 2013 the British Open was second on Mickelson’s wish list after the US version. In that summer he won the Scottish Open for a first success on a links course and his first win in Britain. A week later he was the Open champion and as he succinctly told his wife “Lets bring home the Jug.” The left hander never really took to links golf but realised to be classed amongst the greats he had to win the Open. His national championship is now the title he craves the most but age is counting against him.
Mickelson wants to join the giants of the game who have won a career Grand Slam and he just needs the US Open to complete the set. Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the only players to have won all four majors at least once. Nicklaus and Woods are the only players in that quintet to have won each major at least three times. Over 2000 and 2001 Tiger became the only player in history to hold all four Majors at the same time. So how are the mighty fallen because the second best player ever shot an 85 in the Memorial Tournament last week and had to play alone in his fourth round.
Phil Mick has finished second six times in the US Open. It’s ironic that the blue eyed boy of American golf has never won his country’s most important event. That could be something to do with the special demands of the tournament. It is the most mentally demanding week of the year when bogey avoidance is massively more important than birdie conversion. Next week’s host course at Chambers Bay is not a typical US Open course and its links nature could provide Mickelson with his best chance to win the championship in years.
Big Phil is the second favourite behind Dustin Johnson this week. At the end of last July Johnson announced he was missing the remainder of the season to seek professional help and address some challenges. It would be wrong to speculate but a failed drugs test was reported soon after but the PGA Tour indicated Johnson had not been banned and was not under suspension. This is the type of story the corporations who invest money in sponsorship do not want to hear especially after the lurid revelations about Tiger Woods’ personal life.
Johnson has redeemed himself somewhat on the course and has been honest about his problems which are apparently related to alcohol and not drugs. He won the WGC Cadillac Championship in March and finished in the top 10 in the US Masters in the other tournament that involved the race for second place behind Jordan Spieth. Johnson is a worthy favourite this week as he combines solid current form with excellent course form for a tournament he won in 2012. He is third on Tour for average putts per round and that stat alone makes him a leading contender this week.
Charles Howell has the best overall course form of the entire field over the last six years during which time the average winning score has been 12 under. In 2009 the champion played 72 holes in 18 under par but the leading player hit nine more shots in 2012. Howell has made the cut in the last five years but only got within five shots of the winner over that spell. He is a good thing to play over the weekend again but does not win enough times to take the title. He has won just two regular Tour events but makes a decent living without feeling the intensity of contending down the stretch.
Jason Bohn is a journeyman pro who joined the paid ranks in 1992. He has played 286 times on the US PGA Tour but only won two tournaments most recently in 2010. He has had 25 tops tens in that time so has had an average career but kept his playing privileges for the last ten seasons. He has the best skill’s profile in the field and the event ahead of a major is a good opportunity to add to his tally. However, Mickelson will be looking to repeat his achievements of July 2013 by winning in the week before a major and then winning the big one.
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