Jeez, Stilvi. You were looking at the same race as me, right?
Spot on FF.
I’d originally backed Charyn with a saver on Nostrum. But change of plan…
Flight Plan was a non-runner and I was expecting him to mix it with Nostrum and Pogo up front. So with no Flight Plan and with Pogo more a 7f horse than a miler I thought Nostrum might get a fairly soft lead as he’d raced from the front or raced prominently in all his races previously … So in the last 5 minutes before the off I switched to have Nostrum as the main bet and Charyn the saver… Only for Ryan to hold Nostrum up.
However, it soon became apparent why. Suspect he’d either been a bit too free to post or just found he was too free at home and needed something to settle behind. Therefore they tried holding him up. It didn’t work and he was far too free and even collided with the rail… What’s more, he displayed an awkward head carriage and hung right handed in the straight. An impossible ride. Running as though either temperament or a physical problem. Maybe had he raced from the front he would not have pulled so hard, but I think that’s unlikely. Probably have been even worse.
Nostrum had also got beat at odds-on in his two previous starts. Finishing lame on his last start in the Strensall at York and looking like an easy winner in the Thouroughbrd Stakes at Goodwood… Only to fold tamely inside the final furlong.
Reading his form beforehand, he’d been impressive on his first two starts at two before disappointing… And won impressively on reappearance at three, in the Sir Henry Cecil… before disappointing. So I thought the time to be with Nostrum might be first time out and then leave well alone… But this time his physical problems / temperament has got the better of him earlier than previous years.
These things happen.
To answer your points one by one:
“The sort of ride that does nothing for the image of racing”.
You’d rather a horse with a probable physical problem be more strongly handled by Moore. Now that would do nothing for the image of racing.
“What was the difference between that ride and a non-trier”?
Do you really need to ask?
“Apparently, the horse was ‘awkward’ so that means it’s fine for Moore to down tools”?
It wasn’t Moore who downed tools it was the horse. Or at least a physical problem made him unridable.
“This guy appears to operate by his own rule book. He decides how much effort he needs to make, not the Stewards”.
No, just you seeing things that don’t exist.
“The write up says the horse ‘weakened’. Yes, it’s going to look like that when a jock has given up, and is just going through the motions”.
I backed the horse and am glad Moore gave up; the horse has a physical or mental problem or both.
“If you allow this kind of ride you almost encourage the worst aspects of racing – horses deliberately not running on their merits. What’s to stop them easing horses – when there is nothing physically wrong – and just saying the horse was ‘awkward’”?
Everyone (well almost everyone) can see when a horse pulls, when a horse hangs, and when a horse is unridable. Any steward would be able to see the difference when a horse is deliberately not allowed to run on its merits.
Instead of accusing Ryan Moore of stopping a horse, you should be thanking him for looking after his mount in exactly the right way.
Learn to race read for ef sake. 