- This topic has 498 replies, 85 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I like the look of Quito De La Roque, he runs very well on a hard ground and it will be interesting to see what he runs like on something a bit softer. Will also likely be ridden by Davy Russell who I like around Cheltenham.
If anyone coming up/down for this one needs a room or two I have these available…
Double Room 2-4 (2 persons for £80 per person per night, 4 persons at £50 per person per night) Single Room £65 per person per night
Comfy Beds (Double room includes double bed and double air bed)
1x Toilet 2x Showers
Wardrobe Space
Coffee, Tea, Hot Chocolate and Biscuits
Full English Breakfast/Cereal
Racing Post Daily
Wi-fi
TV (for DVD’s in Double room only)
Washing Machine
Payment in cash on arrival
Living with up to four other clean and hospitable residents, on high street, 15 minute walk to racecourse or 5-10 minutes on bus.
Contact 07933240104 for more details
Call me crazy but I think Riverside Theatre has all the potential to be a Gold Cup horse. Highly progressive last season, a good 2nd to Long Run in the King George, and a comfortable win in the Ascot Chase to nab his first Group One.
Clearly has something to find with the absolute cream of the crop, but he won’t want for stamina, has a good jockey onboard and might be able to find the extra few pounds of improvement.
Real classy horse- people forget that he was 3rd in the Irish Supreme Novices, just 7L nehind Hurricane Fly.
Looks the right age and the right sort of progression to make his mark on the big races.
If he comes back from injury OK I agree he has to be a contender – I had a couple of quid last year at a silly price in the hope he would take the GC route:
grey dolphin
Sat Feb 19, 2011 6:53 pm
Great shame about Pride of Dulcote. Never know how good he might have been now.
I wish they would supplement Riverside Theatre for Gold Cup. This is a perfect example of how the Ryanair has provided options that seriously weaken the big one – although before anyone else says so, he would have been eligible for the Cathcart but that race didn’t have the prestige.
Every so often a horse comes along and shouts Gold Cup at you.
No prizes for guessing I’m a Time For Rupert man.
You can forget his RSA run he wasn’t right that day and clearly he is much better than that.
What you see is whet you get with him. He’s a straight forward genuine horse who travels like a dream and stays forever.
He’ll never have the charisma of Kauto Star or the daunting presence of Denman but he’s a solid high class animal who you wouldn’t want to have a head to head with on the run to the line in a Gold Cup.
He’s my Idea of the 2012 Gold Cup winner
You have to respect Captain Chris there was no fluke about his defeat of Finnegan’s Rainbow and it has to be said he’s no 2 miler.
My worry with him is the trip at Cheltenham may be beyond him. His trainer has made it perfectly clear his main target is the King George and putting 2 and 2 together 3 miles round Kempton may be perfect for him.
Time For Rupert – Obviously a high class animal, rate him myself but small worry that run in the RSA will have left a mark. Never really travelling, bustled along for a long way and in hindsight it may have been better if he had been pulled up instead of struggling into 6th.
Bleeding during a hard race will have taken a fair bit out him so lets hope there are no ill effects this season…..
Plans for Long Run – trainer interview
I fancy Quito de la roque has been progressing well and could mount a good challenge if he takes to the course.
Posted yesterday on my blog: http://wp.me/p1o7dN-BU
Long Run
might be the superstar many think he is, but I believe he still has quite a bit to prove to merit his 9/4 ante-post Gold Cup price for 2012. The 6-year-old beat Riverside Theatre in the King George with an arguably past-it Kauto Star not running to form, Albertas Run pulling up suspected lame (sound on inspection) with the rest a relatively poor bunch.
Impressive as he was in the Gold Cup, filling the places were Kauto and Denman, almost twice Long Run’s age. Remember that the 2nd fav, Imperial Commander pulled up and was found to be lame as well as bleeding from a broken vessel.
So there has to be value somewhere in the Gold Cup market, but where is it? RSA winner Boston’s Angel, though game and consistent, doesn’t seem up to Gold Cup class (trainer reportedly thought him a Midlands National horse prior to Cheltenham).
Arkle winner Captain Chris’s owner commented after Cheltenham that the horse probably wanted two and a half miles but a crack at the King George would be on the agenda. A fine jumper but his stamina would need to be taken very much on trust.
Wishfull Thinking is in the same ownership as Captain Chris. Despite defeat in the Jewson at the festival, he went on to win at Aintree and Punchestown, showing he’d found his niche with front-running. His trainer says he has bags of pace and he is another likely King George contender.
Plenty pace and good jumping are admirable qualities but a stayer’s what you want for the Gold Cup. The first two in todays’ Bet365 Charlie Hall, have plenty stamina and with 16s and 20s available, you can try and narrow it to the best value, or have a bet on each of them.
William Hill pushed Time For Rupert out to 16s after today’s defeat. He was very fresh in the race, I thought, and ran with the choke out for much of the way. He’s also a big, gross horse who who should improve markedly for the outing.
It’s the first time he has led pretty much throughout. I suspect it was more by accident than design and jockey Will Kennedy decided to let him stride on rather than fight him, but it led to him taking too much out of himself and he’ll do much better held up off the pace in future.
He jumped cleanly throughout apart from a tired effort at the last, though he lugged noticeably left at a few fences and gave Weird Al a bit of a bump two out. Weird Al was giving him 3lbs so on paper it’s hard to argue that TFR can beat him in the Gold Cup, especially as Weird Al is relatively inexperienced and entitled to improve too.
On his record, the ground seems key to Weird Al – Wetherby rode much slower than the official ’good’ ground, and most of his racing’s been on soft. He’s also one of those frustrating horses with lots of talent but little luck. A fracture kept him out of the 2010 RSA. In this year’s Gold Cup he broke a blood vessel. After an early hurdles victory, he needed oxygen.
The one disappointing run he seemed to have no excuse for was last year’s Hennessy, 8th of 18 beaten 42L. That was far and away the biggest field he’d faced over fences and I wonder if that might be a weakness? Having said that, if Long Run does not blot his copybook, he might scare a few Gold Cup prospects away, leaving a comparatively small field.
After today, Weird Al’s rider Timmy Murphy said he’d barely been off the bridle and idled towards the end. I’ll back Weird Al and Time For Rupert at 20s and 16s respectively. If you want just one bet, Weird Al is probably the better value.
Good luck.
Hi Steeplechasing
You need to wake up and smell the coffee.
Just what does Long Run need to do before you can accept he is a superstar?
Still only 6 and has already won £1.1 million in prize money
Won the King George and The Gold Cup before his 6th birthday
A model of consistency 18 runs, won 12,2nd 3 times 3rd 3 times
Never ever failed to get round
Still improving
The highest rated chaser in the worldYou crib the fact that he only beat Denman & Kauto in the Gold Cup, funny but I thought they were 2 of the top 10 chasers in history.
9/4 is a very generous price
I don’t think anyone would argue that long run is a very good horse but 2 gold cups in a row is a tall order for any great horse. I think Quito de la roque depending everything goes to plan is a great price but no doubting he’ll have to be at the very top of his game to run down long run, as for the gold cup i think it could be very close as a lot of new names will be entering this year, until most of them have a run this year it ll be hard to pick one out.
What about Grands Crus? Big Bucks was thought to be a potential Gold Cup winner. Grands Crus is almost as good as BB. Therefore Grands Crus has a chance if he takes to fences.
Agreed it’s a long shot but worth considering above 50-1.
Hi Steeplechasing
You need to wake up and smell the coffee.
Just what does Long Run need to do before you can accept he is a superstar?
Still only 6 and has already won £1.1 million in prize money
Won the King George and The Gold Cup before his 6th birthday
A model of consistency 18 runs, won 12,2nd 3 times 3rd 3 times
Never ever failed to get round
Still improving
The highest rated chaser in the worldYou crib the fact that he only beat Denman & Kauto in the Gold Cup, funny but I thought they were 2 of the top 10 chasers in history.
9/4 is a very generous price
Hi Sea Pigeon,
Am not saying LR isn’t a superstar – just that his form does not yet merit where some have placed him. It’s all about opinions but 9/4 is poor value on his jumping flaws alone imo.
I fancy Quito de la roque has been progressing well and could mount a good challenge if he takes to the course.
Got on at 20’s today mate!
With the age demise of Denman, Kauto and Imperial Commander it is up to Long Run and TFR to fly the flag and put up the challenge to all and sundry.
Again, for me, this is a watch the trials and see how horses progress. I have 6s Long Run but am not at all confident. Yes, the horse should progress and reports say he has greatly but will TFR put his disappointment of the RSA behind him (virus or not) and who are the new kids on the block?
Thought Grands Crus was very impressive. The mistake appeared to have no affect on his jumping. Initially, I thought the RSA was the obvious target but given that he may well be the second most talented jumper in training the Gold Cup may not be aiming too high. I backed him for both the RSA and Gold Cup (small amount at 50/1 doubt that will last).
Take out Long Run who beat two two horses on the decline and with Weapons Amnesty out there probably isn’t that much around. Personally, I would look for another novice at Cheltenham (big bonus of form on the track) and then give him a run in the ‘Gold Cup trial’ at the end of January. The two factors against are obviously the lack of experience and whether he shows a little too much speed to get home.
At the very least he is well worth an entry.
Im sweet on Grand Crus – seems to jump well and has a hell of an engine. If it came up soft then it might suit more than others. Plenty of staying chases to go before we get there – but how many better novices are there ?
Despite the negative comments on the RSA thread 50/1 for Grands Crus was remarkable value. I think he is still relatively big at 16/1. What price would Big Bucks be – challenging for favouritism I suspect and although Grands Crus was no match for BB he has already shown a greater aptitude for the bigger obstacles.
For me Long Run is far too short and still has plenty to prove. In the Gold Cup he beat two former champions who whatever the sentimentalists might say were well past their best, What A Friend eleven lengths and Mignight Chase who was basically beaten with a circuit to run, twenty lengths. Plenty of hype at the time about the new kid on the block but the bare form doesn’t indicate a vintage renewal. Two other Cheltenham defeats don’t give any encouragement that he has a particular liking for the track and he is almost certainly much better at Kempton. Yes, he is only six, but with 18 runs already he is not short on experience so how much he will actually improve is open to question.
The Betfair might have come too soon in relation to his chase debut but even off the back of only one chase run I would still fancy Grands Crus to have too much ability for Long Run if they met at Cheltenham. It isn’t as if Long Run is a spectacular jumper who would expose any chink in that department.
I can see why those who have taken a view on Long Run winning again would want Grands Crus in the RSA. Of course it might not happen but bet aside it would definitely add some much needed interest to a Gold Cup market where they are betting 16/1 bar one.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.