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I’ve always thought it is unfair there is no G1 race in the UK over 7 furlongs for horses aged 3 and up.
York are apparently keen to have the City of York Stakes promoted to G1 status though it was only upgraded to G2 status in 2019. It would mean there would then be four G1 races at the Ebor meeting. The 3yo+ G2 7f candidates are:
Lennox Stakes – Goodwood July
Hungerford Stakes – Newbury August
City of York Stakes – York August
Park Stakes – Doncaster September
Challenge Stakes – Newmarket OctoberThe Challenge Stakes is pretty close to the Prix le la Foret (the only G1 7f race in Europe) and arguably so is the Park Stakes so out of the other three while some might object to it devaluing the Sussex I’d give it to Goodwood or maybe Newbury. What do others think?
I agree entirely that there should be a Group 1 over 7 furlongs in the UK. I remember a horse of Sir Henry’s back in the 80s called Salse. He was virtually unbeatable over 7f but never got his day in the sun. It just seemed manifestly unfair to me.
Sir Mark Prescotts’ Wizard King won a total 0 18 races, 16 of them over seven furlongs. Won quite a few contests over that trip in Ireland as well. He was good at alomst any track, but 7 furlongs was tailor-made for him.
He also won the Britannia Handicap as a three year old.I was told in confidence of one major bookmaking firm who have been interested in being the founding sponsor of just such a race.
The ****** Seven, they wanted to call it.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"
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Forgotten?
The current crop of 7F races is daft enough, with three Group 2 contests staged in less than a month, the last two on consecutive Saturdays.
With Newbury offering less than half the money put up by York, the Hungerford Stakes was a pale imitation of a proper Group 2. No horse ran in both races, a clear indication that the program is wrong.
The logical answer (not the one racing usually comes up with), would be to promote the York race to Group 1 and tell Newbury to move the Hungerford Stakes to one of their other meetings. Or just drop it completely before the Pattern Committee downgrade it anyway.
For sure racing is a funny old game.
On the Flat many bemoan the lack of a 7f Group 1 in and among the 6f and 1m Group 1s.
In NH many bemoan the very existence of a Grade 1 between 2m and 3m2f110yds – namely the 2m5f Ryanair! – and won’t countenance a similar championship contest over Hurdles!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"That’s true Ian
Also jumps bemoan Mullins avoiding his yard running against each other, want to see best running against each other whilst on the flat we get O’Brien runs too many in a race, team tactics, monolopy etcGaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Simples…
Scrap the awful Shergar Cup and replace it with a high quality racecard. The 7F Group 1 would be the main feature.
You know it makes sense!
Captain Robbo won’t like that
Seriously though, people have different tastes and some people might like the Shergar cup, not me as racing is a individual sporting event. Every jockey should be trying their best to get the best result for their mount. Okay that sometimes doesn’t happen.
You've got to accentuate the positive.
Eliminate the negative.
Latch on to the affirmative.
Don't mess with mister in between.I maintain the most fitting event to carry Shergar’s name would be the Classic Trial at Sandown Park which he won by TEN lengths in 1981.
As for the Ascot card, I shamelessly (and gigantic aftertimingly) confess a combination of backing Graphite (18/1) and Just Hubert (12/1) plus the good captain’s relentless infectious enthusiasm and running commentary plus standings on the day has won me over a bit.
Viewed simply as six intriguing Class 2 and 3 Handicaps, it’s a decent enough meeting.
But “Contrived (Team) Cup” Day would still be a better title!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Seriously though, how does tactics play out in the Shergar Cup. Does teammates sacrifice a winning chance to block other teams.
You've got to accentuate the positive.
Eliminate the negative.
Latch on to the affirmative.
Don't mess with mister in between.I have absolutely no idea.
But what I can say is that – in theory, at least! – there is an overriding rule of racing that every INDIVIDUAL horse must be ridden to obtain the best possible placing and that kinda puts the mockers on the team notion.
That said, where is racing going long term?
Team sport ethos could make eventually make individual non triers acceptable in certain circumstances and in the same way F1 has a constructors championship maybe one day all banned substances will be allowed in racinv and in the ensuing doping free for all a Chemists Championship will emerge?!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Team tactics should be acceptable for the one off Shergar cup. It would make it better to see the teams coming up with spoiler tactics for their rivals and purposefully blocking them in and so on. The jockeys need to take it more seriously next year.
The beauty of The Shergar cup as a punter is you study the card in a different way and it presents a great conundrum as to which team will come out on top over the six races. It’s a real challenge and a different mindset to the challenge of finding a winner of an individual race.
I can’t understand how anybody could not enjoy the day. The card itself is decent also. There may not be any pattern races but 6 x class 2 handicaps on a card is not a bad card at all.
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