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I think punters who bet in prep races probably need their heads examining Steve! I know I do after last weekend. I won’t be betting on French races again in a hurry. What with the stewards and the draw and my own crass misjudgement it was a disastrous weekend all told.
It always makes me scratch my head when people would rather focus on the negatives rather than the fact that she won the worlds premier middle distance race for a second time and is the first to do since 1978. In my book that is some achievement by both trainer and horse.
CH only followed the programme laid out long before the season started. It was always their intention to go for the POW and she needed a prep run before that. The Ganay was the obvious first target and she got her favoured soft ground. She started 3-10 to beat a horse who had just had a tough race in Meydan. We all know what a champion CDA is but it was still a surprise he beat her. She lost nothing in defeat however.
I was at Royal Ascot for the POW and she looked magnificent in the paddock but terrible on the way down to the start. She was clearly not happy on that ground but only hindsight tells us this. Her previous form on fast ground was impeccable; witness her win in Chantilly where the winning time was 4 seconds quicker than standard. They had every right to run her and it was the perfect race for a champion. She was then due to go for the KG but obviously her injury prevented that and CH slowly nursed her back. Her run in the Vermeilles shows a filly quickening and then tiring and CH told us herself that she would come on a lot for the run.
How much she would come on was what few people, myself included, could not believe. I wouldn’t have picked her if I had had 10 bets but I still stood and applauded an amazing filly and an amazing feat of training. Only professionals really know how hard it is to bring a horse to peak fitness for the one big race, especially one with injury problems.
So once again we learn that, with the exception of Frankel, horses are not machines.
Well done Treve and well done CH for doing something that hasn’t been done for 36 years and may not be done for at least another 36. She is a true great if not the greatest.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
I think punters who bet in prep races probably need their heads examining Steve!
I wouldn’t have had a bet, certainly not at short odds but, even a bit below her best, Treve should have been capable of taking care of John Gosden’s Pomology, for example.
No doubt one of the form gurus can tell us how many pounds better her Arc run was than the effort in the Vermeille.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
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