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I like him an awful lot and have been trying to work out his problems. When he began jumping to his right, it was when he was too close to a fence and seemed an adjustment rather than an aberration. When he launches himself, not touching a twig, he’s a shade too far away from the best take off point. When he takes off from the correct point, he jumps superbly. There’s nothing wrong with his technique, he just seems to want his own way, and Derek Fox usually goes along with that. There are signs now that jumping right is becoming a habit more than a correction.
And yet, in his chase debut at Carlisle, he was close to copybook – arrow-straight at almost every fence (a touch right at first 2, but nothing you’d remark on) and jumping with high confidence. But that unseat two out when he was tiring had him doing some pretty severe stretching with his off fore trying to keep his balance. I wonder if that has stayed with him mentally, or something physical got tweaked that has never shown up in tests?
He moves his head and neck quite a lot, often carrying his head to the right. I’ve no idea what causes that, (my mind goes back to his Carlisle acrobatics and wonders) but he is surely using a fair bit of energy. Another energy burner are the jumps to the right: they break rhythm and momentum.
Hindsight, I know, but I believe he would have won the Brown Advisory with a more aggressive ride. Leading from flagfall, he went right at the first 6. L’Homme Presse joined him on the outside at 7, the open ditch, where Ahoy Senor didn’t jump to his right, but was not fluent. He jumped 8 upsides, going straight. 9 & 10 he jumped straight, but after each, Fox took a pull. Going to 11, Fox moved out so L’Homme Presse was on his inside – and he jumped right there again.
Fox stayed on the outside all the way down the back, (no head on so cannot tell if he was going right) losing a length or so at 14, the open ditch. He was restrained all the way; perhaps Fox did not want him jumping upsides L’Homme Presse, or maybe he was trying to half-length him, but he was travelling very well until 3 out where he left his hind legs in the birch, costing him a place just as the taps were being turned on. From there he stayed on bravely, hanging left noticeably after the last.
He’s a stayer with no turn of foot. Had he been ridden from the off at 2m5f pace, I think he’d have had everything in trouble turning in. Instead he was held up for a significant part of the race, when what he needs is to have his races won before jumping the last.
His half brother Snuff Box won over 3m5f. From 3m2f to 3.3.5f his sire’s progeny record is 8 from 22 (UK&Ireland): a 36.3% strike rate. Stamina ought to be his forte.
Scu said after the Many Clouds that maybe they hadn’t been racing him enough, and he may well be spot on. Just 23 days after finishing second at the Festival, he ran away from everything at Aintree like a fresh horse.
On last season in general, I believe there’s an argument for him to have finished it unbeaten in completed races. Five weeks before the Festival he won the Towton easily, giving 5lbs to Noble Yeats and Ashdown Lad. Just before that, Fox played right into the hands of Bravemansgame in the Kauto Star with another very conservative ride. I doubt that running right handed there caused him any trouble, given his precision and exuberance at Carlisle. And his Newbury win was a treat to watch.
Derek Fox is a good jockey, but maybe Ahoy Senor would benefit from a new rider. Tom Scu comes to mind as a fine front-running jock; he has a good clock in his head.
Anyway, this is a top class horse. If he gets what he needs, before March, it would be folly to write him off as a Gold Cup contender. If his jumping continues to let him down, perhaps the Stayers Hurdle is the best option.
As a Point-to-Point fan of 40 plus years standing, I have to like Ahoy Senor too.
Though he unseated rider at tough Didmarton on his racecourse debut, he was very impressive at Kimble.
He’s a talented horse, but even at his best I don’t share the view he is ever quite going to be Cheltenham Gold Cup material.
He only fetched £50,000 at the Sales for a reason – he’s not THAT imposing an individual IMO and, again IMO, he doesn’t possess the limitless scope that many seem to attribute to him, possibly based on his Point “store” profile (he never saw a racecourse until he was five).
Tbh, I think his latest run is as good as he is – and the Charlie Hall illustrated he cannot always be relied upon to run up to even that.
With a less ambitious campaign, he could have got into races like the Rowland Meyrick off a winning mark – that’s his level IMO.
Maybe he could be a future Scottish National prospect if they stop exposing him in Pattern Chases so his mark can drop a bit?
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"The problem is his jumping is getting worse with time, not better.
The first 5 fences of the Many Clouds were an absolute horrorshow and judging by the shape he made over the first couple he thought he was playing Twister.
He’s either not smart enough or not nimble enough to sort himself out when he gets in tight to one
I don’t see that changing anytime soon
“He only fetched £50,000 at the sales.”
That is a real argument against him. £50,000 is nothing for a pointer nowadays.
If buyers genuinely thought he was top class, wouldn’t he have sold for about six times as much and be in training with one of the big stables?
Exactly that, CAS – 100% agree.
I was at Larkhill recently and Matchadam and Mount Etna fought out the opening Maiden, pulling seven lengths clear of the rest.
Matchadam, despite being hobdayed, fetched £50,000 at the Sandown Park Tingle Creek Sale and Mount Etna fetched £90,000.
Earlier this year, Salt Rock made £205,000 after winning at Charlton Horethorne.
Impressive Irish Point winners generally make more but the above trio were all UK Pointers.
Yet Ahoy Senor made just £50,000, half the amount, incidentally, a fourth UK Pointer, Man Of My Dreams – beaten in both his Points so far! – fetched the other day.
Ahoy Senor is a talented animal, but onlookers at the Sales clearly took the same view as me – he’s not THAT much to look at, he’s not imposing physically and he lacks scope.
He’s done really well to win the races he has – anything else he does in his career is a bonus.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"NH horses shouldn’t cost more 100-150k after only winning a point or just being prepared for the sale. But, 50k is quite cheap imo. That’s how much a syndicate horse with Kim Bailey would cost….
Apart from his G1 hurdles win at Aintree where he was quite breathtaking, his chasing form is quite deceiving. He likes it when there are no more than 3-4 other horses in the race and despite being a wide-margin winner of the Worcester Novices’ Chase, this turned out to be quite a poor race. The runner-up no wins in two starts after that, now with WPM. Flash Collonges no wins in four starts and Ashtown Lad finally a winner in a handicap over the National fences. He (Ahoy Senor) beat nothing that day, with the opposition rated only between 135-142.
His win in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase was surrounded by question marks about his opposition. No explanations for Bravemannsgame poor outing, L’Homme Presse bounced after winning the “old” RSA and the runner-up is not a G1 horse.
I think he’ll definitely be a GN horse one day, but a jockey change should be next on the agenda.
Ah senor over the National fences …. that would be good for your nerves
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Has a talented horse that jumps markedly to one hand or other ever straightened up enough to win an open G1 chase, whether going the right way round or not? Yorkhill didn’t, Gloria Victis sadly didn’t, Asterion Forlonge probably won’t (unless he’s still sound and they train him for next year’s race at Down Royal in November, and even then it would likely have to be an even weaker renewal than normal).
Fair play to the OP for sticking his neck out over Ahoy Senor by creating this very interesting thread.
This isn’t some 2/1 favourite he’s bigging up or defending – Ahoy Senor is 40/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup and 33/1 for the Stayers’ Hurdle, so it’s an interesting line of speculation.
But for reasons already stated, he wouldn’t be for me for either.
Some say the Mildmay course takes more jumping at Aintree nowadays than the Grand National course but, regardless of whether that’s true or not, I wouldn’t have Ahoy Senor in my mind for a Grand National either.
As stated, he’s useful on his day and I’d have fancied him for the Rowland Meyrick but for the fact that, last time I checked the way they’ve campaigned him means he will probably be running off 161, that’s absolutely as good as he is, and he’d need to be 7lb lower to be in off a winning mark in races like that.
I do think he could stay extreme distances though and getting beaten in a few races like the Wetherby contest could get him down to a workable mark for a Scottish National one day.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"GG Yorkhill chose not to jump straight , Mullins couldn’t persuade him to so off he went to Sandy who persuaded him to win a rehearsal chase giving a round of excellent straight jumping … Is Lucinda going to maximize Ah Senor … if he was mine is be trying to find a nice winnable race and get his confidence back
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Ahoy Senor should be a 156/157 rated horse now at best. Is the handicapper a fan living in hope?, not lowering him after being beaten nearly 40 lengths and then failing to beat a horse rated 158 who is still 158. He’s won chases with just 4 runners in it so far so may end up ‘another Mister Fisher’ i.e. best chance in small fields to try and boss.
“GG Yorkhill chose not to jump straight , Mullins couldn’t persuade him to so off he went to Sandy who persuaded him to win a rehearsal chase giving a round of excellent straight jumping”
Yes I know. It was lovely to watch him jumping well and enjoying himself that day. But my question was not “has a very talented horse who jumps markedly to one hand straightened enough to win a handicap off a mark a stone and a half lower than his best, handed an uncontested lead and a nice position on the rail going his preferred way round at a comfortable pace, against a pack of other old has beens and never-weres who barely put him under any pressure and some of whom conveniently fell”? But rather “has such a horse won an open grade 1 over fences”?
It was a good training performance- like every else who left the 66s alone I had thought, after his absymal effort for his new stable in the Old Roan for which he was dropped 6lb, that he was a write off. Still, I expect if he had stayed sound enough to race again, if he had been put back into decent graded company or a more competitive handicap where he was under pressure, or possibly even if he had to race right handed without the rail, his jumping would have gone fallen to bits again. Who knows.
I agree with Mike’s post about Ahoy Senor and also Moyenne Corniche. That hideous corkscrewing motion can’t be good for his back and I can’t see him ever winning a grade 1 or the likes of the Grand National or Hennessey-that-was.
In fairness to the horse, he has corkscrewed only once. There is nothing wrong with his jumping technique as such, it’s his take off points that determine how he will jump. If the yard can sort that out, he’ll be fine. And to be fair to the yard as well, they’ll have tried everything they know at home to fix his confidence at a fence. They seem to have decided the horse is best left alone to make his mind up. I don’t think he’s ben sent to Breisner, and wonder if they’ve considered that.
If you have a minute, take a look at his fencing debut at Carlisle; you won’t see many novices jump with such elan, until his error when tiring. Watch the error too: he didn’t go full sprawl, but the mistake could have caused, at the very least, a fair degree of pain and at worst, an injury that has never been picked up. Only since then has he frequently gone right at his jumps.
As to only winning in small fields, replay the Brown Advisory and concentrate on him, especially at the two in the straight first time round. You’ll see Fox take a pull in 2nd after jumping both, on the inside of L’Homme Presse (he jumps straight). For some reason Fox goes to the 11th and moves outside again and with nothing on his outer, Ahoy Senor starts jumping right again. Fox keeps a hold all the way down the back, where he should really have tanked on to make it a test. Mistakes 4 out and 3 out, losing positions each time, would have finished many a horse, but he battles back from 4th and stays on to be second. He deserves a try with another jock.
I think he’s an absolute machine, ever since his Aintree novice hurdle job. To be getting as close to them as he’s been doing over fences is a monumental achievement because he can’t jump them to save his life. If he was mine I’d be sticking him over hurdles for the rest of his career. Seems a tremendous waste to continue persisting at a discipline he shows little aptitude for.
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