NTF 1 to follow from the weekend: Chasing the Next Exit…

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last ‘…to follow from the weekend’ post. Main reason being I’ve struggled to watch (and punt on) a serious amount of racing due to the house move! The house move is still trundling on but thankfully I was able to make space to watch a decent chunk of racing yesterday.

I must admit I was slightly thrown by the change of title and distance of the Summer National at Uttoxeter (now the Summer Cup and over 2f shorter) but the winner EMMASLEGEND clearly wasn’t bothered by such trivial matters and bounded round for a resounding 19 length victory. She is likely to be thumped in the weights for that but it was only her 5th chase start so there is the possibility of more still to come from the 7yo.

She isn’t, however, my 1 to follow from the weekend. My NTF 1 to follow from the weekend came from earlier on in the Uttoxeter card –

NEXT EXIT (T Vaughan) – Sunday– 2.25 Uttoxeter – 2nd in Div 1 of the 2m4f Maiden Hurdle

It is hard to say how strong this race was and it isn’t so much this actual performance that caught my eye but more the fact this 7yo looks every inch a chaser waiting to be unleashed. For all this was a good run the bare facts suggest that he was put in his place by a horse more suited to hurdling that hailed from an in-form and powerful yard (the winner, Brady, is trained by the all conquering Donald McCain). Despite NEXT EXIT looking a more than adequate hurdler the size and scope of the 7yo suggests his future rests over the larger obstacles. The shape he makes over his hurdles firmly suggests that a fence is what he is looking for and that looks to be his long-term aim. The offspring of his sire , Exit To Nowhere, often improve when making the transition from hurdles to fences and this one certainly looks to fit in that bracket.

NEXT EXIT already has winning Point to Point form from 2 starts in that sphere in Ireland and I imagine it can’t be long before trainer Tim Vaughan starts looking at some novice chase events as we draw closer to the start of the 2012/13 NH season proper.

There is no doubt a weak hurdle contest should be within his compass but he goes in my notebook as a novice chaser of the future.

National Hunt Backing System… 

As I have mentioned in a couple of places I will be highlighting a National Hunt system on the Blog that has been churning out small but consistent profits for me over the past couple of years.

As I’m currently ‘in-between addresses’ I’ll probably hold off for a couple of weeks before unleashing the system on here but take a look at the figures for the system for the year to date and also the past 2 months –

Full 2012 figures – 44/121 | 36% S/R | +£30.46 BFLSP

May results – 9/15 | 60% S/R | +£10.44 BFLSP

June results – 7/24 | 29% S/R | -£1.61 BFLSP

*Figures sourced from the excellent Proform database

Small loss in June but it has been a strange month weather wise and the small deficit is hardly damaging to the overall yearly total.

It’s a simple system, almost boring, but it churns out the results and ticks over at healthy rate each year.

Stay tuned…..

Ben – (NTF)