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Not sure how many of you have followed this or care for that matter but it was very interesting to me that they gave two awards to Irish based horses that were highly questionable…
Sizing Europe awarded Champion 2 mile hurdler – obviously he ran one great race this year and was going well in the CH before pulling up but the decision to give it to him seems wrong on the basis of a single run… clearly I think Katchit should’ve won it
the other shock for me was Jered winning novice hurdler of the year, seemingly again off the back of a single run whereas I don’t think anyone could argue that Binocular was not the most impressive 4yr old this year
if the awards are really about the highest rated performance rather than the horse of the year… why don’t they call it that and not have any subjectivity about it at all (other than the process of rating that is)
I could agree with the Sizing Europe decision, because that singular performance was probably the best singular hurdling performance of the jumps season, although Katchits at cheltenham was also very good. Although I was never on Sizing Europe for cheltenham (I backed Sublimity and Bobs Pride) and was never in the "Katchit cant win" camp either. Katchits performance at cheltenham was a heroic performance from the little horse but Sizing Europe (despite his flop at cheltenham later) won the Irish Champ hurdle with an air of absolute domination over his contempories, that wasnt really matched the rest of the season IMO.
Jered though, I totally disagreed with IMO he did nothing on a par with Captain Cee Bees cheltenham form, and dont think he matched Binoculars cheltenham or Aintree form. Jered easily won a race which he should have won easily on all known form, and I think they are just being a shade unrealistic in interpretting that form.
On a literal interpretation of Jered’s run at Punchestown, you could make a case for him on a line through Fiveforthree. However, it would mean accepting that Fiveforthree ran up to the best of his novice form in the race, which seems unlikely. I wouldn’t want to be underestimating that run though, and Jered would be pretty near the top of the list anyway, in my opinion.
I’m still of the belief that Sizing Europe’s AIG performance was over-rated, and I think Katchit’s Cheltenham win was worth maybe a lb or two more – say 163 (SE) versus 165 (K).
Would agree with Grass regarding the novices. A claim could be made for Jered, as through the useful Made In Taipan he’s got solid claims that he’s improved. I’d probably still have plumped for Fiveforthree overall however, if you look at what some of the horses behind him at Cheltenham had achieved over the season the form looks excellent.
The champion hurdle is a hard one to assess for me. IMO the two horses that would have given the form a very solid look- Sizing Europe & Sublimity- never fired for one reason or another. In the AIG, Lounaos is a bit of a fly in the ointment and could make the form vulnerable. However, given Al Eile’s consistent and respectable form throughout the season I’d feel giving the nod to Sizing Europe would be the safer bet.
The award Denman won – was it best 3m+ chaser, or best 3m chaser?
I ask because I thought that Kauto Star’s King George was the most impressive chase win of the season, bar Master Minded in the Champion Chase.
I think Denman won best 3m+ chaser along with Horse of the Year
The questions about individual performances though still beg the question what is the award for?
Denman is unbeaten and put up several impressive performances through the season… no question about his award for me
But if the awards are about the overall season and which horses deserve to be crowned the champion in their respective discipline it seems peculiar to award it to horses that have delivered top class performances only once when others have performed at the top level all season (Osana, for example was only beaten by Sizing Europe when giving weight, won the Bula and finished second in the CH… this for me is as great an achievement as SE this season…. but I still think Katchit should’ve won (but then I would)
The awards are based on ratings. As you would expect. As the Anglo Irish classifications judged Sizing Europe’s AIG win to be of greater merit than Katchit’s Champion Hurdle win, that is why he gets the award of Champion 2m hurdler.
Pity we didn’t get any quotes from Phil Smith about him back tracking about his Gold Cup rating being too high. Denman has since been pulled down to 182 from 185 without coming out of his box.
as I said on the Sizing Europe thread, if Katchit had fallen in October and then pulled up in the Champion Hurdle he might have won the award..I don’t really understand it, but then I don’t understand a lot of things!
Isn’t it just based on master ratings, with the exception of the subjective "Horse of The Year" (surely "of Season" would be better)? And master ratings are maximum of performance ratings, rather than mean, median, mode or whatever.
Denman has since been pulled down to 182 from 185 without coming out of his box.
I noticed that. Perhaps Phil Smith will use Kauto’s disappointment at Aintree as a front to correcting his over-excitement after the GC?
You have to say that a lot of Cheltenham marks this year have been overstated to say the least. We now have a 5-y-o better than Dessie ever was, Denman was deemed just 1lb lower (even after adjustment is still rated 2lbs better than Moscow Flyer), and Tidal Bay- as much as I’m a huge fan- is supposedly leaving novice company 5lbs better than Denman was this time last year.
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