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Those One Man stats mean absolutely nothing.
3 of those 8 Mar/Apr runs were 3m+ at Cheltenham (!) and one was the 1998 Melling Chase where he got killed!
Maybe One Man also went through life with an undiagnosed breathing problem. Since Nicky Richards is probably one of the least proactive and adventurous trainers around (“no, we’ll skip Cheltenham for a nice little race at Ayr”), you’d doubt that his dad ever considered poking around inside the horse’s mouth.
I don’t agree with Steeplechasing very often, but I’m with Joe on the Cue Card breathing op theory. His dam Wicked Craic was about as dour as stayers come – 4m+ no trouble at all. Everything else makes sense too. The contrasting King George finishes pre/post op are the obvious point , but check out the headcarriage too. Cue Card used to be so gawky with his head very proud and a little sideways under pressure. Since he’s perfectly genuine, that old trait was probably a sign of a horse gasping for air.
In the case of One Man, is there an argument to be made that he wasn’t the same horse in the spring as he was in the winter months?
We currently have Vautour who seems to be the opposite…struggles for form around Christmas time but a different horse in March.
One man won 12/16 in the months of Nov/Dec yet was 1/8 in Mar/Apr and that sole win coming at Cheltenham..
Cue Card would have got the trip no problem for me..
Why do you believe Vautour was below form in the King George Zam?
Look at the form, not what the trainer says. Vautour was in A1 condition at Christmas.
Trainers always believe (or want others to believe) their horses don’t run to their best when unsuccessful.Value Is EverythingIt sounds like I’m sitting on the fence, perhaps I am, but I can see the arguments from both the
Cue Card and Don Cossack camps. The bottom line is that neither can be as sure, IMO, as the more
adamant fans from both sides would suggest. It’s a great pity Cue Card didn’t stay on his feet,
it would have made for a fitting finish.I think it’s reasonable to say that Cue card has a turn of foot that would in all likelihood have got
him past Don Cossack after the 3rd last had he not crumpled. I don’t buy it that he wouldn’t have got
the distance of the Gold Cup, I think he would have seen the race out. The thing for me, is that Don
Cossack, whilst not having the same turn of foot, is a horse that keeps finding.Whether Cue Card would have found enough to hold off Don Cossack in the last furlong is the 64 Million
Dollar question. I think it would have been very close, if I had to sway one way I’d give it to
Don Cossack, but not by much.I loved being there and watching the race, but I would have loved seeing the pair fighting it out
at the death. We simply will never know
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