Mick Channon knows his horses and I can imagine Devilish Guest has taken after its name. He's certainly been akin to betting on the devil a few times with horrifying results. This son of Dark Angel was the talk of the town on debut at Haydock over 5f and made 5/4f. This grey colt never looked happy and finished last. Owner John Guest Racing paid 180,000G for this horse at the yearling sales. He's a good-looking type but unless he can start to show some ability will be a very expensive loser on all fronts.
He was 6/1 when making his second start at Chepstow over 6f. To be fair that was a decent race for the course but once again he ran horrendously. It makes me cringe just thinking I had a small bet on him that day. It was poor as hell. The Devil [as I will call him] was nowhere to be seen after showing some pace for a furlong or two.
Last time out most punters had given up the ghost and either gone into therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder or knocking on the door of Betty Ford. Surprisingly, Devilish Guest came 5th at 66/1. It would seem this colt has started to show a little bit of form, improvement, hope...
Don't hold your breath.
In truth, I imagine things haven't gone to plan. Things have gone terribly wrong. It makes me wonder if someone has been tipping by proxy of an ouija board. Clearly, the dark side is never going to give you an easy winner.
Horses don't always run their race and it's possible Devilish Guest has been unlucky and just had three poor attempts but he's found himself on a very handy mark if he's been hiding his light under a bushel. With an official rating of just 70 and stepping up a furlong it could be the answer. It is intriguing that Channon has even sent this colt here because if he wasn't in some way hopeful I doubt they would make an appearance at Goodwood.
Perhaps this is another devilish plan to burn your betting slip. I mean spontaneously.
At odds of 16/1 Devilish Guest may finally surprise a few punters in a positive manner. He certainly needs to start to pay back some of the collapse yearling price.
Devilish Guest @ 16/1 EW Poor - Very little ability...