LEE
I may be misinterpreting your reply to Mtoto, if so, I apologise; but if I am reading it correctly, it would suggest that Desert Hero's defeat, prior to his 20/1 triumph, was attributed to the weight he carried. Would I be correct in this assumption?

Saturday`s big Haydock h`cap looks a good race for anyone interested in to get there teeth into.

Ability ratings as follows ( rounded down ),

446 Bindaree
190 Katarino
161 Stormez
159 Mini Sensation
155 Supreme Glory
141 Iris Bleu
125 Shotgun Willy

How many form horses do we have in this lot ?

Fulham,
Sorry to hear your news.

Best Wishes

Graham

fulham,,sorry to hear about your news,,,thanks for your reply, about form horses..could i ask you some questions on your return.?.......grundy

John,

First of all the method that selected Desert Hero, Gaye Brief etc. was different to other methods that he used. It is similar to the Chase method, and like Guest pointed out with that one, the emphasis is on form, and it is here where the similarities are. Class, as always was important but not the driving factor. There was other criteria also; one of the 3 most consistent, and one of the top 3 on Split Second’s ratings were two of them.

In short, Desert hero had the best form going into the Imperial Cup – VDW wise, and met the other required criteria. His close 3rd whilst giving away such amounts of weight was a good performance when viewed relative to the rest of the field given the conditions that he now faced.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a long way from being as successful as VDW appeared to be with such priced horses as Desert Hero, but if there is one thing that I’m 100% positive about, it is that weight was a factor to consider where VDW was concerned, he said so many times, and more importantly it is evident in a great number of his examples.

Fulham,

Sorry to hear your news. All the best.

Fulham,

Rather insensitive of me not to offer my condolenses. Sincere apologies.

I would have to agree with Mike that the chap who wrote into Raceform Update certainly has not done the VDW methods any justice. A shame I feel as there are others out there I am sure, who could have done a better job. Maybe this latest letter will inspire them to write in !!!

Fulham,

I too would like to offer my condolences.I can appreciate how busy you must be at the moment so I really appreciate your recent posts.I look forward to discussing things with you at some future date.

All the best.

LEE
Many thanks for the reply, very helpful as usual.

FULHAM
Sorry to hear your sad news.
May the next 2 weeks pass quickly for you.

DETERMINED
You've certainly picked a heck of a race to start with. At least 3 of the horses listed will be running with Aintree in mind, and the fav is not even on the list.
This is my first impression, purely from the point of in form/out of form, and without any suggestion of finishing positions.

SHOTGUN WILLY
Definitely in form; best ever form, (IMO), lto.
Goes well fresh, reservations re trainers comments today.
MINI SENSATION
Definitely in form; His lto win was possibly not in as good a race as his previous win, but he had it won from a long way out.
IRIS ROYAL
In form; His run lto against a revitalised See More Business, off level weights, was no mean feat.
STORMEZ
Although he has won his last 3, the form, (IMO), is not as good as when he has been given a stiffer test. Out of form.
BINDAREE
Out of form; Although his last run was an insufficient test, he still should have performed better.
SUPREME GLORY
Out of form, for much the same reasons as Bindaree.
KATARINO
Out of form; should have run better than he did lto.

All the above is just my opinion, it would be interesting to see how others view it.

Johnd,

With regards in or out of form I totally agree on Mini Sensation, Iris Bleu, Supreme Glory and Katarino.

The others I`m still deliberating.

Cheers

Fulham,
May I join with everyone else in extending my condolences to you and your family in these troubled times.
Mike.

A couple of outsiders that i think are worth a bet on Friday are Last Theatre in the 4.10 at Doncaster and Mane Frame in the 4.25 at Newbury.

Has anyone looked at these races yet ? any comments ?

Fulham
I hope everthing works itself out,Take very good care of yourself and those close to you. And keep smiling

Johnd
Well you've certainly changed your tune i remember you once saying "i can showw people
another way,if only they'll open there mind" what an absolute load of rubbish that was 2/27 on the tipping challenge and - 40 pts your'e just picking brains my friend,I wish you the best of luck.

Why is it that so many of the VDW faithfull are unable to grasp the concept of the 'tipping challenge' thread? And does this explain why so few take part?

Epiglotis
that is not the point i'm trying to put across,johnd once boasted figures of 10 winners from 12 bets on this thread AFTER THE EVENTS,And he has the audacity to have a pop at certain posters,That to my mind is hypocritical,Not one person on here mentioned Jungle Jinks yesterday,maybe because they thought the price was to short but if you want 80% with vdw,This is where it will come.

incidently take a lok at AJAX'S THREAD every single horse odds on and yet you would have made 14 grand from july 2002 to date,Food for thought maybe.

Good question Epi. You could just as well have asked, "Why is this thread so humour free and is that why so many others think this is where the prats play".

Investor,

There is that much food for thought on this board that the wife has had to let out the waistband on my trousers.Never before have I dined so well.

Wot wus i sain aboot humer. Dohhhhhhhhh