King George 2015

Got a very sore throat from shouting; was never going to back Cue Card for fear of jinxing him. Haven’t felt this emotional about the race since the Dessie years.

On that performance, I don’t see Vautour staying the Gold Cup even on good ground – he perhaps was a little bit keener in the early stages of the race than ideal and Ruby asked him at the last and I think tiredness was the reason he put down on him, had he pinged it he may have held on but Cue Card also missed the last as well so that is just nit picking

I can see Vautour winning a good ground King George but I think 3m is as far as he wants to go, so the Ryanair should be his target (afterall connections have the almost forgotten about 6 yr old Djakadam who is being aimed at the Cotswold Chase) and maybe the Betfred Bowl at Aintree as the ground there is usually pretty quick.

Don Cossack for me wasn’t fluent enough at any stage with his jumping (similar to his runs in the RSA and Ryanair) to keep a position (also noted him in running getting into a little argy bargy match with Cue Card) – it was a tired looking fall and to me he was booked for third anyway. It kind of validates what I thought about his rating from his Aintree win in beating the pre op Cue Card, he will win his G1s against weaker rivals or if the main rivals have an off day but on days like this when the big guns bring their ‘A’ games he is (and has been) found wanting.

Finally, a shout out to Al Ferof who ran on well to get third place for a third year – will probably now have to call him the Youmzain of NH.

Wow and Frankel didn’t stay the mile in the St James Palace stakes

With all those negatives about Vautour before the race that you highlighted ginge does Cue Card really deserve to shorten up for the Gold Cup after only just touching him off?

Nathan Hughes wrote:

With all those negatives about Vautour before the race that you highlighted ginge does Cue Card really deserve to shorten up for the Gold Cup after only just touching him off?

Too right he does.
Before today Timeform had Cue Card on 179, that’s 1 lb off being rated a “Great”. Ratings-wise well up to winning an average Gold Cup (although this might not be an average Gold Cup).
When you look at the distance back to the rest, imo it is very probable Cue Card ran to at least that rating.
Despite all the negatives Vautour probably put up his best performance yet. Just watch out for him at 2m4f!
However, the reason why I think the shortening of Cue Card is deserved is more because never looked more like a stayer than today. He’s a changed horse, as well as the trapped epiglottis op, he’s learnt to settle over the last year. No longer the tear away and now with a real chance of staying the extra distance.

We are truly in a vintage season for chasers.

I don’t think Ruby could have ridden a much better race today – Brennan also said that in that finish he did get to the bottom of Cue Card today but he kept finding just enough to nick it.

I have always said I wasn’t sure that Cue Card stayed 3m (in hindsight the breathing issues were the cause of that) but I think what has also helped is that they have given up the front running tactics and now drop him in to save energy. Who knows whether going a further 2f will suit Cue Card or not but one thing is for sure, with no Coneygree in the race it will not be as brutally a run race as last year and that will aid him in getting the trip.

Although he wasn’t bang on the speed until the second half of the race I defy anyone to say that at the home turn they didn’t think that when Ruby finally asked Vautour he would pull away and win by several lengths – when he did ask him between the 2nd & 3rd last and he didn’t put any more distance between himself and Cue Card that was when the warning bells started to ring for me. Both lost momentum by missing the last which pulls on your stamina reserves even more as you have to pick up and go again.

For me Vautour gave everything he had today but in the last 25 yards he was running on way past empty and this was 3m on a flat track – an additional 2f up and down hills at Cheltenham will see him stop in a similar vein as One Man used to do when turning for home – if Mullins & Ricci win the GC, it will be with Djakadam who fully gets the trip and impressed me no end on his debut over a trip I thought would catch him out big time.

For those taking a price on Vautour for the QM, you better hope Un De Sceaux misses the race as I can’t see them both lining up against each other – especially as they have the same front running game plan.

I am sure that I heard on RUK that Djakadam misses the Lexus and will wait until the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham – most people under rate him but after today, in a Gold Cup I would happily take him over Vautour.

At best the Gold Cup will be run on ground not to dissimilar to today’s race (they won’t allow it to be much quicker) and there are more than just stamina doubts about Vautour over 3m 2f – my personal opinion is that he would travel like the winner jumping 3rd last but off the home turn he will come off the bridle and then fall into a hole after jumping 2nd last a la One Man.

Don Poli impressed me at Aintree as I didn’t think the track would suit plus the problem he had with a slipping saddle but he was up against a National winner – with him I just wonder whether he will get outpaced at a crucial stage as I am not sure he has the tactical speed but if he is in touch coming to the last he will find all the way up the hill, probably would appreciate a proper soft ground GC.

Just watched the race again and, recalling the way Vautour finished at Ascot, I suspect that, like many superb travellers, he simply doesn’t find much under pressure. There’s a big difference between that and not staying.

Well done to all Cue Card backers!

Was a real gut wrencher for me to watch because I’m even more convinced afterwards that Coneygree would have led that field a merry dance and would not have been for passing…easy for me to say I suppose…
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Breaking the race down afterwards did we earn anything new, looking at all the pre-race major players…

Don Cossack – Ddin’t jump the best, or travel as well as he can…at one point went from 3rd to 6th or 7th in a matter of strides for no apparent reason….I said before hand when firmly in the Coneygree camp that his record in England is poor and if Coneygree had been pouring it on in front he’s lost races in the past when coming under pressure…..strangely enough, I still think it would have been real interesting had he not come down because we know he stays and he wasn’t far behind Cue Card when he came to grief, even though he’d been off the bridle for quite a way….suppose we’ll never know though and jumping is the name of the game and he wasn’t up to it…

Smad Place – Once again has fallen short at the top level….on reflection and with the benefit of hindsight it seems he left a lot behind at Newbury in a race that kind of fell into his lap? I was surprised pre-race at the amount of people saying he was a front runner and would lead the field….at Newbury everything seemed to drop right for him and jumped himself to the front a long way out…he was able to get into a nice rythmn and was never asked a question or put under pressure…looking back to last years Hennessy & Gold Cup he was soundly beaten in both when ridden held up…when he was asked the question there was nothing there, again I think Newbury took a lot out of him…

Silviniaco Conti – Was a major player for me pre race and he set off exactly how I thought taking the field along….there is 100% something not right with this horse at present though because his race had been run by about half way and that was way too early to suggest he’d given anything like his proper running! It was one of the reasons why I doubted the Cue Card form from Haydock, suspecting SC wasn’t the same horse….after today I’m convinced there is a major problem with him as everything was right for him today…he got the lead, he goes well at the course and conditions were near on exactly the same as last year…he jumped really well for the amount of time he was competitive and as far as I can recall didn’t clout a fence or anything that made him stop quickly? So a real disappointment and a horse that needs looking at closely…

Al Ferof – Changed yards…..looked impressive first time out as always and has done just about the same as he’s done the previous two years finishing 3rd….beaten 14 and a half lengths in 2013….9 and a half lengths last year and just over 13 this year so no better or worse really, just given his true running and found a couple too good…

The others didn’t look good enough before the race and so it proved, so that brings us to the two who fought out the finish…

Vautour – Probably ran a fair bit better than I expected. I don’t think he jumped the best in the main, again to the left at plenty but he jumped and pulled his way to the front probably a bit earlier than ideal, he was just tanking though and coming to about two out I thought he would go on and win decisively and live up to all the pre race hype from those who firmly believed in him….a bit like at Ascot last time though he appeared to be throwing out the distress signals and just gave way right at the death. I’m not sure what to make of the stamina debate because if there was no problem with it like Walsh has said before, stating he would get 4 miles, then surely he would have seen his last two races out far better than he has….It would be concerning for me for the Gold Cup in March being just 6, but as I said, he surprised me a little and I’m not so sure the Gold Cup dream is a dead one…me personally though would leave it another year. We saw Djakadam run the race of his life as a six year old this year and I think back to the moment in the weighing room after and the disbelief on Ruby’s face at his mount giving it absolutely everything but it not being enough….I just wonder looking at Vautour this year whether that will be in the back of their minds and they give him another year….with having Djakadam for this year do they really need to risk Vautour aswell at this stage of his career?

And finally

Cue Card – Another I didn’t have the faith in and couldn’t see any reason how he could put three failures in this race behind him and win at the 4th attempt….as previously said, I strongly doubted the form of the Betfair Chase and in effect the beating of one rival, a rival who doesn’t look the same horse….we were told the breathing op from last year had made the difference and so it has proved today. Using Al Ferof as the marker as he has ran basically to what he has the last three runnings of this then it’s blatantly clear that Cue Card has improved from last year when he finished behind Al Ferof…..he finished about 8 lengths in front of him in 2013….about 3 lengths behind last year and about 13 lengths in front this year so it’s there in black and white…

So congratulations to team Tizzard, a trainer I really like and Paddy Brennan a jockey I really like and who I thought gave him a cracking ride. I wish them the very best of luck in their quest for the million pound bonus and glory at Cheltenham but still have that nagging doubt, again after today, that he will find one or two too strong in the staying stakes over a couple of extra furlongs at Cheltenham…

Probably a bit cheeky of me to say but as good as the performance was I feel there was a few strokes of luck as looking at the race a fortnight ago, the three horses who looked genuine stayers who would have really tested the stamina of the front two, Coneygree, Don Cossack and Silviniaco Conti all didn’t get to make it the real stamina test I thought it would be for one reason or another….