RTP Syndicate Horses: The Soldier and The Cowboy…

The weather all but gubbed the weekend National Hunt cards this side of the Irish Sea…

Had it not been for Lingfield’s Winter Millions card on Sunday then it would have been a completely blank weekend…

Thankfully the Lingfield card did pass it’s two inspections… and whilst there where some quality performances and eye-catching efforts on show, it’s not really enough for me to warrant pulling together my usual ‘3 to follow from the weekend’ Tuesday post…

But fear not… I won’t leave you all out in the cold with nothing to tuck into… instead I’ll use the weather interrupted period to properly introduce the two horses I recently acquired a share in…

BLAZING SOLDIER (Mark Walford)

and

DIXIE COWBOY (Sam England)

Both horses, of course, who are part of the excellent Racing To Profit (RTP) syndicate

Josh (Wright, one of the guys behind the Racing To Profit syndicate) had been at me for a long time to grab a share in one of the RTP syndicate horses… I had been tempted a few times… but personal circumstances over the past few years dictated that I was unlikely to get out and about to see any horse I owned a share in…

And that’s part of the fun after all… being on track with the other owners and cheering your horse home… then celebrating/commiserating with a few drinks afterwards in the owners and trainers bar… it’s one of the best feelings in the world, watching a horse you own a share in romp to victory… to be fair just watching a horse you own/own a share in run in a race is a big enough thrill… the win is just an added cherry on top…

So how did Josh finally hook me in?

After a drinking session of course!!  😂😂

I met up with Josh and few other guys the middle of December down in London… had a few drinks… then a few more… and woke up owning a share in two of his horses!!!

Nah… only kidding… we were out drinking down in London town… we did have a good long chat about his horses… he told me he had/was in the process of having two trained in the North… and that is ultimately what made me take the plunge (a few days later once I was back home and had recovered from the drinking session!)…

One (BLAZING SOLDIER) is trained in Sheriff Hutton, just north of York and the other (DIXIE COWBOY) is trained in Guiseley, just north of Leeds… meaning that should I so wish to I could easily visit both horses at their yards… something I hope I’ll manage sooner rather than later (meaning I’ll be able to give a bit of an exclusive update here on the blog… once I’ve update the other syndicate owners first of course 😁)…

The fact they are trained local(ish) to myself also means there’s a decent chance they will ply plenty of their trade at some of the tracks local to me… so again, nice and easy for me to get there and watch them strut their stuff on the racetrack…

And speaking of the horses… here’s a few bits and bobs about the pair… starting with the ‘already a legend in his own right’ BLAZING SOLDIER…

.

BLAZING SOLDIER

Sire: Soldier of Fortune

Dam: Blazing Belle (Presenting) 

Trainer: Mark Walford

The picture at the top of this page is Blazing Soldier in the winners enclosure at Newcastle (6th of Jan)… he’s had one run… he WON that run! Go on The Soldier!! 🥳🥳🥳

I’m not in that picture as I wasn’t at the track that day… instead I was back in Scotland visiting family… in fact when Blazing Soldier was winning at Newcastle I was getting ready to go to watch Elgin City V Stranraer with my uncle… my uncle who was not best pleased when I told him a horse I have a share in had just won… and I had forgot to tell him a horse I had a share in was running that day 😬😬 (it’s cool, I bought him a couple of spicy and coke’s to smooth things over!)…

What I first have to say about the RTP syndicate is that the communication is absolutely first class 👌 before, during and after (and since!) Blazing Soldier’s debut run at Newcastle all syndicate members were kept fully up to date with plans, how he was, clips from him on the gallops, thoughts from the trainer before and after the race… as I said already, I wasn’t there on the day but I didn’t feel I missed out, such was the level of communication from the RTP guys… absolutely brilliant stuff 👌👌👌

And the good news is that, all being well, Blazing Soldier will be out on the track next week… with a 2m4f Novice Hurdle at Newcastle on Tuesday the 30th January penciled in as his next assignment…

He’ll be carrying a penalty after his debut win but all the signs are that he’s come out of that debut win well and, by all accounts, has taken a step forward, which is what you’d hope for, naturally…

As I’m sure most of you know I’m very much a stats orientated punter (mainly, anyway…) as is Josh (from RTP)… indeed part of the reason he has sent Blazing Soldier and Dixie Cowboy to the trainers he has is because the stats were guiding him… he did a bit of digging… the stats backed up what he was seeing with his eyes… the figures pleased him… and the horses went to Mark Walford and Sam England…

So I’ve did a bit of stats digging myself… in this case I wanted to have a look to see how Mark Walford does with his horses that won last time out… as that is exactly what Blazing Soldier is… a Last Time Out Winner (LTOW) 🥳🥳🥳

Here’s what I uncovered…

M Walford | C3 or less Hurdles | 5yo-8yo Geldings | WON LTO

16/53 | 30% S/R | +£28.15 BFLSP – W&P 26/53 | 49% S/R

19% above expectation

Nice… I like it… tells me that Mark Walford knows how to keep a LTOW ticking and also knows where to place them to best effect next time out…

Whilst I was at it I added in one additional filter… that being ‘won at same track last time out (LTO)‘… as that is what Blazing Soldier will be doing (Newcastle to Newcastle)…

…and those figures read…

M Walford | C3 or less Hurdles | 5yo-8yo Geldings | WON LTO at SAME track

7/12 | 58% S/R | +£8.69 BFLSP – W&P 8/12 | 67% S/R

63% above expectation

Lesser figures to work with of course… but pleasing figures all the same… it gives us owners plenty of confidence going into Blazing Soldier’s second start…

The stats don’t, of course, tell us who the opposition will be… how the ground will be riding… how the pace of the race will play out… etc… but on a pure stats basis I think we can be confident he will run a decent race…

Ultimately he’s a chaser in the making… and it’s very much the old chestnut of ‘whatever he does over hurdles is a bonus‘… and he may have already delivered us his bonus with that debut win… but what’s the point in being an owner if you can’t have unyielding optimism!!!

Like the rest of the Blazing Soldier gang I’ll be hoping he bangs in back to back Newcastle wins next Tuesday and boosts those tasty looking LTOW figures of Mark Walford even further 🤞🤞🤞

There are currently no shares available in Blazing Soldier… he’s all full up… but what do you expect when he goes and knocks it out the park on racecourse debut 😁😁😁

There are still, I believe, a couple of shares left in the other of the horses I own a small part of…

Introducing…

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DIXIE COWBOY

Sire: Westerner

Dam: Dixie Chick (Be My Native) 

Trainer: Sam England

It was actually ‘The Cowboy’ that I was mainly interested in grabbing a share in… Sam England trains close to me and I liked the breeding (Westerner out of a Be My Native mare)… but you won’t here me moaning that I also ended up with a share in Blazing Soldier 😁😁😁

Dixie Cowboy is yet to make his racecourse debut and he is more of a long-term project than Blazing Soldier… in that he’ll likely show his best when he is sent chasing next season (or maybe season after, depending on how he develops)… mind you the same was probably though about Blazing Soldier (likely show his best when sent chasing) and look what happened there!!! 

Dixie Cowboy only just arrived at the Sam England yard in the past couple of weeks but all being well he will be out on the track mid-February… ideally it will be over hurdles but there is also the option of starting him off in a bumper… 

Now I know the reason Josh chose Sam England for Dixie Cowboy was her excellent record with Chasers, especially her record with Chasers in the North…

Sam England | Chases at Scotland, Yorkshire, NE & NW England tracks

65/345 | 19% S/R | +£82.80 BFLSP – W&P 152/345 | 44% S/R

9% above expectation

Sam England actually has the joint-3rd best WIN record with chasers for those yards that are based in the north (and have had 100+ runners) and is joint-top on Win and Place strike-rate (Josh has done his homework here, I’m telling you!)…

If you dig a little bit deeper (as I always love to do!) then there are some even more promising stats to bolster the thinking that Josh has made an excellent choice about sending Dixie Cowboy to the England’s… take a look at the following…

Sam England | Novice Handicap Chases at Scotland, Yorkshire, NE & NW England tracks | 6yo-9yo GB or IRE bred geldings

16/40 | 40% S/R | +£79.50 BFLSP – W&P 23/40 | 58% S/R

107% above expectation

I like those stats… I like those stats a lot!

It tells me that Sam England knows how to prime one for going over fences and is able to bring them to their peak for going over the larger obstacles… which is the likeliest plan for DIXIE COWBOY… again though, should he ‘do a Blazing’ and win over Hurdles, you certainly won’t hear any of us owners having a moan!! 😁😆

I’ll have more on DIXIE COWBOY as his first run approaches and I also hope to get myself up to the Sam England yard and have a bit of a closer look at the boy, maybe get to see him do a bit of work as well… like Josh, I am a fan of Sam England, the yard is very much on the up, as horses such as NO CRUISE YET and KINONDO KWETU have shown on the track in recent seasons… hopefully Dixie Cowboy will add to her impressive chase stats in the future (and maybe even to the yards Hurdling stats as well 😀)…

The last time I spoke to Josh he did say that the Dixie Cowboy shares were almost all gone… so if he sounds like a horse you want to be part of then you better move quick!!

There’s a bit more info on him on the following page…

Join the Dixie Cowboy Syndicate here>>>

Josh is someone I know very well… I’ve been to the races with him a few times… I’ve been out drinking with him a good few times… hell, he’s even come on a dog walk with the NTF hounds and myself!! 

He’s a great guy and he runs a fantastic syndicate… one I’m delighted to (eventually) be a part of 😎🏇

I’ll keep you all updated as we move through the year, on the ups and downs of ‘The Soldier’ and ‘The Cowboy’…

Cheers – Ben (NTF)

p.s. as it’s Cheltenham Trials Weekend I’ll be opening up the doors for the next ‘Week Ticket’ to the NTF Members Area on Wednesday (24th Jan)… so keep your eyes on your inboxes for the sign-up links (it’s now live and you can see what is on offer HERE>>>)… if you are not yet on the NTF Free List then get that done HERE>>>

You can get all previous FREE NTF Blog posts HERE>>>