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Hi everybody
My comeback needed something great to happen but now, here it is.
The whole occasion was what dreams are made of….
Peter O’Sullivan telling us all that Arkle would be 2/5 in a match against Best Mate
Jim Lewis p**s
ed out of his face telling DT he had talent
Then Best Mate showing us all that the Gold Cup was truly worth losing ones job for. (I got fired for wagging work today)
I am just so delighted to have been alive to watch such a magnificent showpiece of equine brilliance.
I couldn’t give a s**t
that I lost a months wages on a Baracouda Best Mate double.
If god was a racehorse…he would be Best Mate.
Thanks for that.
I’m still gutted that I lost so much on Baracouda (got some of it back on the big prices for BM), but this has made me laugh again.
Steve
The greatest racehorse of all time my arse. If he is the greatest racehorse of all time that doesn’t say much for racing. On paper he is a great horse one of the best of all time however if you actually read that price of paper you will see why he won 3 Gold Cups. Look what he beat, they are average racehorses nothing special, you have to beat a great horse to be a great horse he hasn’t done this. In my opinion the past 3 Gold Cups have been the weakest that I can remember. The luckiest horse of all time but not the greatest my friend.
Utter nonsense!
A great achievement to win 3 Gold Cups. But he has beaten nothing of note in all 3 of them. In fact, in another couple of strides Sir Rembrandt would have beaten him today.
Best Mate isn’t as good as Desert Orchid, let alone Arkle!
Hi everybody
I WILL put a thorough lecture as to why Best Mate is the best racehorse of all time (behind Jair Du Cochet) when my puny little brother gets off the internet. But for now, I will give three reasons why he isn’t racing inside a depleted generation
See More Business
Looks Like Trouble
Bachannal
And that’s just for starters.
Even if your head was full of acid, you wouldn’t for one second contemplate the idea that any of the aforementioned weren’t of the highest order
It is truly unfortunate that insignificants like yourself can’t appreciate that we are experiencing a true period of glory amongst equine breeds.
Peace out everybody
The only horse in the same *universe* as Arkle was the American flat horse, Secretariat.  They raced on tracks in a different dimension. They just *seemed* to be running against adversaries on the same track. Very confusing.
But you won’t get journos to stop comparing Best Mate with Arkle. They latch onto a cliche, however, ill-conceived, and just won’t let it go. It happens all the time in football; a filler, an excuse for not thinking imaginatively for themselves. Private Eye tries to satirise the press’s love of usually quite barmy cliches, but you can’t. It’s beyond satire.
Having said that, it was brilliant to see Best Mate win the Gold Cup again, and the utter joy of his connections. I got the impression that – surely very wisely – Henrietta Knight hoped that he would not be asked to try for a 4th. God forbid that the press should encourage his owner to do so, or Mr Lewis be otherwise tempted to.
It was reported that Tel was *required* by Henrietta to don his battered old trilby to watch the race, but I was disappointed that someone seems to have persuaded him that it might be more seemly if he put a neat dent in the crown. But what a joy to see his face crease up with laughter, when Leslie Graham said Best Mate was a national treasure – as indeed he was himself. And he lurched forward to give a her a smacker. (He probably didn’t lurch at all but I tend to want to guild the lily!!!, where Tel’s concerned). Incidentally, I’d love to see him Brian Blessed sparking off each, particuarly after a few drinks!
<br>
(Edited by Grimes at 6:35 pm on Mar. 18, 2004)
Quote: from Kotkijet on 6:16 pm on Mar. 18, 2004[br]Hi everybody
See More Business
Looks Like Trouble
<br>And that’s just for starters.
Even if your head was full of acid, you wouldn’t for one second contemplate the idea that any of the aforementioned weren’t of the highest order
Are you completely insane? You must have been asleep during the 2002 Gold cup because Best Mate did not beat Looks Like Trouble. Looks Like Trouble had a reoccurrence of his tendon injury and therefore it should not be said that Best Mate beat Looks Like Trouble. I would love to have seen Best Mate v Looks Like Trouble that would have been amazing. I have no doubt that LLT would have beaten BM he was a classy horse that was never given the credit he deserved. His performance at Down Royal was spectacular, the day they said he had injured his tendon I was very depressed indeed, we were denied seeing a true champion win 3 Gold Cups. As for you mentioning See More Business, he was way past his prime by the time BM got a chance to race him so again he doesn’t count. Put LLT SMB and BM in the same race when they were all at their best and I think it would be
1st LLT<br>2ed SMB<br>3rd BM
I suggest you actually research things before mentioning them.
For one day it would be nice not to listen to the incessant and unneeded Arkle comparisons. It was just an absolute joy to see Best Mate jump for fun and battle up the Cheltenham hill and win an historic 3rd Gold Cup. I wasn’t around for Arkle and it will be a while before another horse does this. The scenes afterwards depicted what racing is all about for me. :)
He can only beat whoever he’s up against. Today’s Gold Cup was a real stamina test – tacky ground, First Gold set a fast pace and Sir Rembrant and Harbour Pilot are decent staying horses. Best Mate has speed, stamina, guts, and is an excellent jumper.
OK not a vintage Gold Cup, but for heaven’s sake stop complaining and appreciate today for what it is.
Mesh, you are spot on and I agree with everything you say, Arkle is in the past and comparing the two is ridiculous, Best Mate is here and now and he deserves more credit than the Arkle lovers are giving him, he beats whatever is there to beat and that’s all you can ask, Istabraq got the same treatment on this forum so it doesn’t surprise me, this was a fantastic result today and it made my Cheltenham, I’d love to see him back next year to make it four but Iris’s Gift would be a huge danger IMO.
Let’s enjoy today Arkle is in the past, well done to Best Mate!
Let the horses do the talking.
If some people can’t appreciate a fabulous thing when it’s right in front of them, well it’s their loss.
Great for those of us with eyes and common sense, though!
Having seen the documentary on C4 racing comparing Best Mate and Arkle i must disagree with a lot of what people are saying with regards Best Mate being inferior.<br>He ran faster times than Arkle (equivalent to beating him 21 lengths).<br>They raced on near enough the same going Arkle (good), Best Mate (Good to soft).
Good horses are versatile?<br>Could somebody point out Arkles Grade 1 hurdles form please as i’m a bit confused. Arkle was a very big horse and very good – he could therefore carry weight, Best Mate is smaller and the horse has got a lot leaner since the 1960’s and his weight carrying ability will therefore be lesser than that of Arkle, however it doesn’t make him a lesser racehorse.
Martin
Rejoice at seeing BM on a racecourse. It’s the last glimse of him we will get until Dec 26, 2004 at Kempton.
To win three GCs is a great achievment. To win those three GCs during more ambicious campaigns would have been even better though. The stat isn’t as good as it sounds when you see that the horse has only run 9 times in three years, against average company.
I am with you all the way on this one KJ.<br>Those that disagree with us are a bunch of clueless feckers. :biggrin:
Quote: from jilly on 7:45 pm on Mar. 18, 2004[br]I am with you all the way on this one KJ.<br>Those that disagree with us are a bunch of clueless feckers. :biggrin:
I have to disagree with that childish comment on the basis that an opinion cannot be wrong or "clueless".
It’s the last glimse of him we will get until Dec 26, 2004 at Kempton.
Won’t we see him at Huntingdon before that?
He’s a superb horse, but to take today’s performance as evidence that he’s an all time great is to miss the fact that he was only a single length ahead of the second best staying chaser in Robert Alner’s yard.
That’s second best.
But I’m sure that’s not important to those with "common sense".
Steve
It’s wrong to compare Best Mate with Arkle, so I won’t bother.<br> I will say though that Best Mate is not as good as Mill House.
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