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Lucinda Russell getting upset with the stewards. Do me a favour. The rain was falling all day. Other connections took their horses out when it was obvious what the ground was like, so why couldn’t she?
Perhaps she should count herself lucky that the stewards on duty at Aintree didn’t ask her a few more questions.
There is no way Ahoy Senor is going to revert to hurdles. Connections seem completely set against it and he wouldn’t beat an on form Teahupoo anyway.
Don’t think she got upset with them. Just that when explaining the PU she has said “that’s heavy not soft” in more diplomatic wording.
Agree she’s got eyes, ears and feet to know what the ground is doing.
But I suppose where else is he going to run? Not got a prayer in the King George even though it’s shaping to be poor. If he goes to Leopardstown he’ll get battered. Won’t win the Coral as his mark is too high.
If they wanted to win a G1 they should’ve targeted him at Down Royal, it’s the only open 3m G1 that is worse than the Betfair and almost always takes place on better ground.“Agree she’s got eyes, ears and feet to know what the ground is doing.”
Yes, if she was upset about the ground it begs the question: did either she or Derek Fox walk the course? That would have told them the ground was heavy. Hewick’s connections declaring him a non runner might have been a clue as well.
With rain falling all day at Haydock on ground that was already on the soft side, it didn’t take a genius to figure out it was going to be heavy by about 3.30pm.
I agree with Russell that misleading going reports are an issue and source of frustration – for punters as well as trainers. But she is an experienced trainer who has had lots of runners at Haydock before. She should have realised the ground there was going to be heavy after that amount of rain.
Did they not see the 3m hurdle before the Betfair where half the field was pulled up.
The more I know the less I understand.
The race was on after 3 oclock; enough races beforehand to see what the going was.
It is Haydock, after all; plenty of rain quickly turns it soft to heavy, year after year.
Nothing to see here
I’m not a fan of this race, and it seems to be run on really soft, even heavy ground – all it does is bottom most horses, who won’t land a blow (or even run) in the King George. All we get is the least slowest (or mudlark) horse winning……
Not only that, it’s ripped the guts out of the Hennessy…..
We only need two Gd1 3m open Chases; the King George and the Gold Cup. I’d rethink this race, and make it a 2nd season chasers Ltd H’Cap…..
It also makes no sense having the 1965 Chase at Ascot on the same day….back in the day, the H&T Walker was the highlight of this Saturday, with the Ascot Hurdle, run on the Friday.Russell could see the ground conditions as all the trainers could… And it was her choice to run. However, proper heavy ground is still a valid excuse (amongst others) for the horse. There wasn’t any point in not running Ahoy Senor. There is no alternative since the Many Clouds race was rightly shelved. Never been at his best going right-handed, so the King George was not an option. Could have been entered in the John Durkan, but would not be surprised if AS is a poor traveller… But Heavy is only one thing. Far too free to last, especially on that ground possibly resenting being held up and/or going so slow.
There is though, no excuse for poor official going reports. Personally – as comments I made beforehand indicate… At the prices I made Royale Pagaille opposable on soft ground. But when seeing the preceding races times compared to Racing Post Standard, it was fairly obvious it was going to be proper heavy going by off time… And because the added test of stamina and bottomless ground was in Royale Pagaille’s favour and against all the other runners… RP was imo value on heavy. ie Any punters relying on Haydock official going reports to know what was a value bet… were once again put away by Haydock’s Clerk Of The Course. imo the worst course in the whole country for inaccurate readings. New clerk has learnt his trade from Mr Tellwrong.
Value Is Everything
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