Masaccio pays for the Easter expenses when winning in style at Ayr

They say that seeing is believing but sometimes you walk away from a sporting event convinced that you need to go to Specsavers as there can be no way that your eyes have given you a correct interpretation of what you have just witnessed.

Remarkably, such an occurrence happened twice to me last week, Firstly, on Tuesday I stood at The Emirates dumbstruck as my beloved Arsenal tore apart Real Madrid, the best team in Champions League history, and yesterday I was speechless watching from Newbury as our very own Masaccio drifted in the betting like a barge up the Thames before winning the novices handicap chase up at Ayr at the very generous odds of 10-1.

Alan had left me in no doubt when previewing the race that he thought Masaccio had a great chance now that he was stepping back up to three miles, and I even suggested in this column here on Saturday that he was “the likely favourite”.

Granted, Masaccio did have to carry top weight, but he had finished an excellent third in the 20-runner Plate at last month’s Cheltenham Festival, and he did now have only six opponents. So how did he go off at a double-figure price ?

Not that I am complaining, and I hope that you all won enough to at least pay for this week’s Easter eggs and Hot Cross Buns. Masaccio has been placed in all his four races since making a winning chasing debut at Newbury in November, so this success was not unexpected.

However, Masaccio invariably hits a flat spot in his races, and Tom Cannon had to roust him long six fences from home when he started running lazily on a course which Alan had predicted would be sharp enough for him.

Nevertheless, from four out Masaccio looked to be relishing the duel with 3-1 favourite Eyed, and when Tom asked him to put the race to bed after the final fence the response was immediate and he powered up the run-in for a well-deserved victory.

Max McNeill, who owns Masaccio together with Niall Farrell, was overjoyed, and he also reverted to football with his post-race analogy. He said:”Masaccio is a lovely horse, but he is not Graded material, He is Premier League class, not Champions League.

“Tom got off and said that from two out he was never going to get beat, and, as Alan has intimated in the past, he could be one to have a go at the Coral Cup (formerly the Hennessy) at Newbury in November.”

Finally, I have to give Lola Moon a big shout for his promising debut at Newbury. Home-bred by the Apple Tree Stud, Lola Moon belied his odds of 33-1 when running a cracker to finish a close fifth in what looked a decent maiden, as it proved to be last year when it was won by subsequent Irish Champion Stakes winner Economics.

Now I am not suggesting that Lola Moon will rise to those sort of heights, but he was only half a length short of being the runner-up. It was a highly encouraging debut, and Choc Thornton, Alan and the team were justifiably delighted.