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As for John Magnier; do you really believe he is responsible for the hiring and firing of Roach,Kinane,Fallon,Spencer,Murtagh? Champions all.What need to go looking for a new jockey? What exactly does Magnier want? A man who has watched the greatest jockeys in the world riding for Ballydoyle now want an overweight son of a close friend to ride in those colors? It boggles the mind.
As far as we all know magnier is the boss and has the final say on all matters coolmore. He has shown in the past that he will fire jockeys if he feels the need to but getting someone who can handle the pressure of being no 1 at coolmore is different to getting Moore to ride when available. All the top jockeys have retainers and the rest won’t be any better than young Joseph. Getting rid of Joseph though would be a lot more tricky than say Fallon previously although if push came to shove Joseph would stand aside instead of waiting for the bullet I suspect. Maybe magnier is being too loyal but unless he can get someone willing to move to Ireland and handle all the Job entails he won’t change jockeys.
So tell me why did Johnny leave? Or was he shown the door? If the good jockeys can’t stand the pressure,there must be more pressure than any other riding assignment.If so why? I have watched the Ballydoyle horses going down to the start in the BC races.Aidan is following every horse on to the track.Aidan puts presssure on everyone.Both Fallon and Murtagh had no problem with pressure.In fact that was what turned them on.They were better with pressure.Murtagh is a wonderful example of a person who handles pressure.He was champion rider at Ascot even after he left Ballydoyle.So what is the problem with Aidan?
Steeplechasing
"He wasn’t consciously held up, nor nursed along, or cunningly slipped through a gap, or delivered right on the line as perhaps an extreme idler would have been. He went as fast as he could throughout and that happened to be good enough on the day…imo, of course"
I agree ,however sadly that was good enough on the day, that was all that was needed to beat the best horse without a proper jockey.I think JOB gave a pretty frank interview on Sunday and ‘it won’t happen again’ was an admission that he knew he’d made a serious mistake. No doubt that behind the scenes there would have been some pretty direct conversation with a horse such as Australia involved. Magnier would have been looking over the top of his glasses at that one.
Weight is not on his side and I wouldn’t be surprised to see at the end of this, or very latest next, season Joseph announce that he no longer feels able to place the necessary mental and physical demands on himself and retire gracefully to either assist his Dad or maybe do a few years over the jumps.
As for who next, I see a few rounds of jockey-go-round the next few years as the dust settles with all the new Arab-based owner retainers and who can say where they’ll all end up.
Regarding Aidan. It is family first for him but I am sure Magnier will handle that situation in such a way that Aidan feels able to continue in his role. Magnier will be careful not to kill the goose.
With the changes going on with Godolphin and the arrival of the Qatar money we are finding out that there are quite a few trainers who know how to do the job.There are trainers in Ireland who would fill the O’Brien role, given the horses.
I think the anti obrien hysteria on here is getting as bad as reactions to Murray and Rowling speaking on independence. As I’ve said many times already john magnier is loyal to a fault but if he feels he needs a change he will. He recognises though that there is no better trainer than aiden and until that is the case he will be at ballydoyle. Aiden is the only top class trainer who trains as instructed by the owners and the stoutes hannon sand Cecil’s of this world did not or do not have that pressure.as the trainer,as in Frankels handling has the final say. Murtagh and Fallon were both effectively fired by magnier as they weren’t doing the business for whatever reason. A lot of stuff on here is jealousy of coolmore but they bought into Northern dancer,then got sailers wells and then Galileo. Now with the likes of fastnet rock,war front and the joker in the pack mastercraftsman, theywill be very successful for many years to come. Even although Australia got beaten it was by a horse sired by a coolmore stallion. Leave cool more to the lads and aiden as we can only dream of what they have got and the pressure that goes with it. Btw by the way his offspring behave aiden is obviously a good person so can we please leave out some of the ott stuff on here about him.
… top class trainer who trains as instructed…
You do realise that this is contradictory, I hope.
Hysteria? Hardly. It is mostly dear old Andyod and we all know he has always had it in for young Joseph. Large pinch of salt I’d say.
I personally didn’t think the ride was THAT bad just like I didn’t think the ride Ryan gave was THAT good. My guess is there is not much between the two colts – hopefully we’ll have one more chance to test that theory.
As for Aidan – his results speak for themselves. I think it is actually incredibly brave to put your son up as No 1 jockey and can only add to the pressure. The "lads" would not put up with it unless they believed he was the right person for the job (which doesn’t mean just the best jockey but also the one most able to deal with the baggage that goes with it.)
Aidan still makes mistakes (Tapestry in the Matron?!!!) but I like the fact he accepts them and moves on.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
Aidan still makes mistakes (Tapestry in the Matron?!!!) but I like the fact he accepts them and moves on.
I think mistakes such as the one you mention are often a result of Coolmore’s efforts to support the Irish Group 1’s with high class runners, even if that means running a horse in less than ideal conditions. Camelot in the Irish Derby and Magician in the Tattersalls Gold Cup other recent examples.
While my post received four pages of response it was nice to be referred to as dear old(80+)andyod.Yes I was the first to make the band wagon available now I am patiently waiting for Joseph to grow into a fine young jockey.Which will happen first,my departure or Joseph’s bloom remains in the hands of the gods.
Aidan still makes mistakes (Tapestry in the Matron?!!!) but I like the fact he accepts them and moves on.
I think mistakes such as the one you mention are often a result of Coolmore’s efforts to support the Irish Group 1’s with high class runners, even if that means running a horse in less than ideal conditions. Camelot in the Irish Derby and Magician in the Tattersalls Gold Cup other recent examples.
Absolutely agree THM. Not the right thing for the horse but the right thing for Irish G 1’s. Can you imagine if they DIDN’T support those G 1’s? They would look like Listed races at best.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
The problem Irish racing has is that it relays too heavily on coolmore for the big Irish group ones if the English or French trainers don’t send a few group one horses over to support the races. I doubt very much aiden suggested running tapestry in the matron after her brilliant win in the Yorkshire oaks. I’m sure he would have given her a break and then run on champions day at ascot or the breeders cup. She will probably now go to the breeders cup. I hope she stays in training as she could be a superb 4yo mare. The running of tapestry illustrates perfectly the dilemma aiden has in that the lads decide where the top horses go. Adelaide forvinstance looks to be improving rapidly so is shipped off to Australia. Again I doubt aiden had much say in that.its all part of the pressure of training for cool more and it is a great credit to aiden and his family handle it so well. Yes aiden is a bit of a control freak but when your handling horses with potentially worth tens of millions of pounds you would be too. Aiden to me is one of the top four trainers of my lifetime with Vincent obrien,sir Henry and Noel murless. Keep on knocking him by all means but I’m sure aiden and family will keep producing top class horses for coolmore. Btw aiden has already broken his prize money record won in Ireland and is likely to win over £8 to 9m in prize money miles ahead as the top European trainer yet again and that is when he has had a few of his top horses injured and the cough for six weeks early in the season.Im sure one of his top 2yo will no doubt be a champion 3yo next year as well. Hopefully we will see him training at the top for many years to come.
But baby’s porridge was just right!
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
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