MY LUCK'S TURNED-FOR NOW AT LEAST!

Ben Morgan came out on the right side of a final-fence faller for once in a broadly successful month

- Ben Morgan

It was only last month when I was bemoaning my luck when it comes to final flight fallers as it felt like I only ever suffered from them and very rarely benefited from such an event. I'll leave it to the mathematicians to work out what the chances should be for suffering/benefiting from such a situation but it certainly felt like the percentages weren't working in my favour.

This was until Homme Public gained victory in a weak Arkle Trial at the expense of JPR One at Cheltenham's Paddy Power meeting. A £10 each way wager at 6/1 was merely a skeptical punt and I was happy enough with the place money which it looked like I was booked for. JPR One then hit the deck at the back of the last which left Henry Brooke in front aboard Oliver Greennall's charge and he just about held off a late rattle from Petit Tonnerre to bring home a welcome profit.

I headed into the weekend surprisingly in front and was keen to add to that in the opener as I was confident Burdett Road was the superior juvenile but opened up at 11/4. I placed a £20 win bet which looking back was a bit conservative but I'm not one to get carried away with juveniles usually. Harry Cobden couldn't have had any money on (as he shouldn't) because if he did he would have surely have put the race to bed a lot earlier than he did. Sat way off the leaders turning for home I was close to shouting a tirade of abuse at my TV screen as he gave James Owen's Royal Ascot winner plenty to do but as the TV angle switched it looked like he was making serious gains. He was indeed doing just that and ended up powering up the hill hard on the bridle to win easily.

It was just as well I built up some tidy profit before the big race of the weekend as The Real Whacker (£20 e/w at 8/1) ended up being a big disappointment in the Paddy Power Gold Cup. He faded very quickly and it was no surprise to hear he was struck into as he stopped too quickly for it to be tiredness alone.