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Titus, i’d agree with pretty much all your thoughts
Twitter: Jackh1092
Hindsight is 20/20 so make the most of it!I’m definitely with you Joe on giving Bristol De Mai more time if it meant he would be better rested and more likely to win a Gold Cup, get the impression NTD not best trusted to do the right thing for the horse even though he thinks he is.
Great Posts from yourself and Titus, with good analysis of the other runners.
JacThings turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...@Jack
Racing Post stated on his form page that he had a wind surgery operation January 2018, he’s also had an operation for ulcers, around same time, I know he had a lot of trouble with them recurring and think those were the two operations you might be thinking of.
He must be feeling a million dollars now the way he was running.
JacThings turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Fascinating race, well done to all who kept the faith with BDM, especially you Joe, you took the blows and he came out fighting for you today, well pleased for you.
Interesting comments from Twister regards the horses fragility, he’s certainly a conundrum and he’s certainly top class on his day.
Thistlecrack ran a race full of promise and, I think he’s put himself right in The KG picture.
All 5 runners can play a big part in the rest of the campaign, it’s set up the rest of the season beautifully.
Jac, i think the card said yesterday “w2” beside his name, so maybe the other wind op was before declarations of WO’s needed to be done!
I’d agree that keeping him fresher would probably see him run better more often!
Twitter: Jackh1092
Hindsight is 20/20 so make the most of it!Jack i could well be wrong but i think W2 stands for his/hers 2nd run after wind surgery. I am sure someone will put me right and sorry if i have just confused matters
Reflecting on Thistlecrack, I think Mr Tizzard should’ve stuck to the Big Buck’s route. OK, he’s still good over fences but nowhere near like the unstoppable beast he was over hurdles. Shame really … could’ve been a hurdling legend.
Ach you can’t blame them for giving it a go. And he did win a King George. And those flashy big leaps as a novice were rather exciting to watch, even though they were unsustainable for grinding staying chases or long term soundness.
I suppose his hurdling career would have been longer and more successful, but his chasing career – for a short time- was spectacular, must-watch stuff.
Steeplechasing. NR will get beat in the KG, probably run in the Cotswold and hopefully get beat there too. Nice juicy price for the Gold Cup, which he wins. I think you might be labelling NR a touch, because BDM got beat after running in the Cotswold. NR is a totally different animal though. He does not have a lung bursting superstar performance in him like BDM does, but he has consistency, and takes his races rather well.
The overreaction to Might Bite’s performance is not as big as I thought it would be. The big fences on Sat were not meant for him. That’s why the two best jumpers BDM & NR came to the fore IMO. NR did not jump as well as he can, he did not like them fences either really (lots of extra strides put in). Hendo is on RP website now saying exactly the same regarding MB, he frightened himself at the 3rd. Let’s be honest, those fences were savage, they looked bigger than Aintree and the jockeys report they were as stiff as a board. Waiting Patiently wins the KG anyways.
They cost me in a later race big time, I had a big win double on Frys horse in the first televised race (who won at 6-1) going onto Nicholls horse in the last televised race. He looked the winner to me (I got very excited, it was a lot of money), till clipping the top of one. A lot of horses fell or made bad mistakes on sat. The form is not actually worth a…. IMO when it comes back too normal fences… And Haydock better get ready for two runner novice chases. Who’s going too send a nice novice chaser there now?
I think they’ll consider modifying those fences Naus but at least it slowed down the faint hearted and thankfully no horses were lost.
If they go too fast that’s when the horses can suffer serious injury misjudging the fence, like in the old Grand Nationals they would put the brakes on or run out but now I personally think they go too fast and even though I don’t like watching horses jump fences I think Might Bite looked after himself, that was too bad to be true..JacThings turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...I understand what you say totally about slowing them down, I hope they do modify them Trip. But I fear some damage for them may already be done. Henderson and Nicholls would have both left the course on Sat, cursing those fences a bit. Especially Hendo. People do not like being ‘had over’. It all seemed to be a massive shock for all concerned, those new fences at the weekend. Rolled out for a G1 meeting, and no one knew how big or stiff those fences were going too be. Haydock seem to be making a habit of ‘changing’ things around. The course chief executive was on live TV pretty much chirping about it. Well, it’s not really fair on the betting public, or the trainers IMO. So next big meeting at Ascot, are we going to see double height fences as the first race kicks off? I doubt it. How much money was bet on MB on Sat? None of them had a chance, because Haydock decided ‘to change things up’ I think the people who run Haydock pulled a massive rick at the weekend. Even if they modify them, the damage is already done, I doubt the horses will even be entered in the smaller races there now over fences. Might Bite will never run there again. The grand national is once a year, for Haydock to just decide willie nilly that they are going to roll out the biggest ‘normal’ fences I’ve ever seen too my eye, since first watching racing… It will make me think twice about even having a bet at Haydock over fences mate. Bet it makes some trainers think twice about even entering their horses there over fences too.
I wonder what Mullholland feels about it regarding Kalondra. Poor horse took a crashing fall last time out, last thing he needed was a trip over those new Haydock fences at the weekend. Hendos River Wylde looked a novice chaser to follow this season too my eyes. He might never be the chaser he could be because of Saturdays experience. I bet Hendo is absolutely spitting feathers about it all in private. Yes these horses could have been pulled out, but it’s a G1 day, horses were trained for these targets. Owners had arrived at the course, it would have been a very brave trainer who pulled their horses out. The blame does not lie with them, it falls squarely at Haycocks feet. Why not just tell everyone? At least then an informed decision could be made much earlier by all and sundry.
Imagine how they would have got on back in the day when they had the really big non portable fences – Haydock was always a huge jumping test back in those days and the Grand National Trial would always have the usual National suspects turning up because they were the nearest park fences came in size to the old National fences.
I think the softer fences at a lot of courses these days teach horses bad habits of being able to go through them instead of jumping over them (see River Wylde’s fall at the last where his fron feet went through 3/4 of the way up the fence, he would actually have got away with it but for stumbling when taking his first stride away from the fence).
I personally didn’t see what all the fuss was about, as it is called jump racing for a reason but then I am probably a bit out dated in my thinking as I prefer to see horses making a good shape over the fences rather than going through them.
LD73, I have no problem with anything you say there, at all. All good, IF WE KNOW. It’s the fact mate that it was done ‘blind side’. Where was the RP story telling everyone that the new fences at Haydock were from the 1950’s? The chief excec, seemed to want too announce that on live TV himself, long after millions of pounds had been placed on the chase races that day. It’s unfair on horses too ask them to jump one type of fence their whole life, then ask them too jump something far bigger and far stiffer. In the era you speak of, all of the fences were the same. That’s fair. Asking horses to run at great speed and jump in a certain way, over a certain type of fence, that they can flick through the top of… Then throwing double height, double stiff fences at them… Well, it’s just not right too my eyes, and is certainly not fair. They better learn quick eh! They are lucky three horses did not die at the weekend, and a couple of jockeys were seriously injured in my humble opinion. Great jumpers like Native River were thrown by them, asking a high class novice too tackle them, first time over fences, is a recipe for disaster too my mind. The sort of thing that might destroy a chasers confidence forever. If that happens, I wonder if River Wyldes owners will feel the same as you?
Colin Tizzard said that he wouldn’t fancy running a novice chaser over them when they interviewed him after the Betfair Chase.
Agree with the comments about the element of surprise.
And after my first posts on here Tonge today, I turned on the Sunday forum at 4.15 too see a couple of headlines, where Nico was calling the fences dangerous. I damn well agree with him too. That surprise element is just not on. I would not be at all surprised myself if some one from the jockey club, had a quiet word in the ear of Haydocks top brass. We live in 2018, IF a disaster had of happened on Saturday, the crap would have really hit the fan. It’s situations like this if it had of happened, which would lead to the actual banning of NH racing in this country. It’s not 1950 anymore, it’s 2018. We all love the sport, but we live in a very lilly liberal world these days… And monster stiff fences, thrown at G1 performers and novices alike, in total surprise too everyone, on live TV on a Saturday…. Makes incredibly bad viewing if it all goes horribly wrong. I very much doubt that a seventy year old, bumbling chief executive grinning like a cheshire cat, gave that a second thought on live TV. It’s these silly old codgers who will get our beloved sport banned.
There was a report that the building of the fences this year wasn’t any different to previous years (take that for what it is worth) but the one major difference was the much quicker ground which meant the horses were travelling a fair bit quicker into the fences than they would have been on the usual soft/heavy ground that they have had in recent years.
For me Might Bite & Native River have jumped round courses with much stiffer fences than those they faced at Haydock, MB according to Hendo frightened himself when making a mistake early on (that can happen at any fence on any course) and was more careful after that.
NR for the most part was simply meeting the fences on the wrong stride and thus had to shorten up and lost momentum (maybe as a result of him being in top gear from early on as Johnson stated) but when he met one on a good stride he was ok but it wasn’t often enough to keep his position without being chased along.
Interestingly Kempton is currently good all round but they are saying 13mm of rain is forecast for Tuesday – if the ground stays as good to Boxing Day, NR will have his work cut out to win but he will strip fitter for the run and hopefully that may make a difference in how he travels through the race.
Jac
Jac
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