- This topic has 18 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 23 years, 10 months ago by
.
- Posts
A horse that was ante-post favourite for the national, for quite a few weeks, with plenty of chase experience under his belt(and winning form at top class courses)….is still waiting for 5 horses to come out of the decs so he can get a run!!!<br>The horse is Moor Lane.<br>Yet a martin Pipe horse…Majed, admittedly a good class novice hurdler with many wins under his belt at that grade, is rated 143 over fences, which he has’nt even seen in this country!<br>He has had quite a lot of runs over fences in his native France before being brought over here, to embark on a novice hurdle campaign, but surely this does not seem right that his CHASE h’cap mark for The National, is his actual hurdle rating at present.<br>Thus depriving many capable h’cap types from taking their chance in the big race.<br>Am I alone in my views on this subject?<br>I would be interested to hear your opinions,<br>Cheers,<br>Ray.:cheesy:
So why is Majed(never jumped a fence in England) rated 143?<br>And if the Czecch’s or American’s enter a horse for the National it is automatically Top Weight???<br>Any ideas?<br>Ray.
As far as I know Majed ran over fences in France.Do they have to run in England first in that case are we going to rule out Lyreen Wonder and a few other irish runners?
Moor Lane should get in the National – Martin Pipe has multiple entries and that isn’t fair on other trainers or owners that want to get in. Pipe can by all means have more than just one runner but realistically how many have got a serious chance of winning or getting round?
There appears to be some sort of irregularity in the handicapping system…
celibate and logician are runnning in the national. These two are connected to Moor lane through the owner and trainer, yet there is no whining that these shouldnt be allowed run.
I think the main whining, apart from Ginger McCain, is coming from punters who assumed that Moor Lane would get in and didnt. It is those who backed ante post that are being stung by the ante post rules that are complaining. He had a nice weight when the entries were published but he was not one of the 40 top rated horses to compete. There is an aintree factor bending of the rules for the race but Moor Lane has never run around there and is not one of teh top forty rated horses. He simply does not get in. Tough luck to those who backed him. He would have had a cracking weight had he raced.
There is a difference between two or three horses being connected and 12 horses being connected. I’m sure we understand that Pipe has different horses for different owners and the owners may want there horses to compete but there has to be some sort of limit on this However good the horses are, they can’t all win. Ok, so there are exceptions, like the 1983 Gold Cup. The National is all about the rags to riches type stories, and smaller trainers should be given a chance (only if the horse is capable of course). Moor Lane is a good horse, and should have been included. Of course eveyone is intitled to their own opinion (and no, I didn’t back it!)
Surely if Martin Pipe has 40 horses of a rating which entitle them to run, then they should be allowed to run. He has these horses by being the best trainer – the majority are for different owners who, incidentally, pay the training fees, entry fees etc. If Moor Lane misses out by one, and Logician runs will Ian Balding begrudge the owner of Logician. I think not because he could have done something about it. And as for Ginger moaning, he has run enough no hopers in the race in his time to be denied a leg to stand on. 25 years have elapsed since he had a good horse yet he still fancies himself fit to dine at the top table.
Ever since the weights came out we knew that Moor Lane may not get in – the enforced absence of Supreme Glory, Papillon etc has aided his cause but rules are rules and you can’t start bleating about it when things go wrong.
Looking at the list of National horses there is a still a slim chance Moor Lane could get in (and no, I didn’t back him).
At number 62 is Scotton Green, who is another good staying chaser that won’t get in. I’m thinking it’s a case of so many decent enough National type horses trying to get into one race. So there should be this substitute National for the ones ballotted out even though it’s nothing like the real thing. At least a race like that could get those ones a good handicap mark so they could contest the National itself a year later if still in training…
yes Rob, ian balding is a small trainer.
I dont know which romantic past you are harking back to but if Martin pipe can run as many horses as he likes in the national even if they were just to take part, and not to win. Thats his right. It is martin pipe skill to get that many horses to the race, to get twelve horses out of the top forty in the national is an awesome achievement. If moor lane wasnt ante post favorite then there would be nothing said about this. A consolation grand national would help. The bunny boiler didnt qualify for the race this year as he was on too low a rating He has gone up over two and a half stone in teh meantime. Killeshin, a couple of years ago wasnt entered when he was the top long distance stayer in the country. Hard luck stories abound in the national.
<br>i agree with smithy on this (mh as well) but i dont think the idea of a consolation grand national is workable as the race would consist of mainly low class no hopers which would detract from the real race itself
i wonder if balding/ mcain would be whinging if they had half a chance of having 12 horses capable of running in the national
Doesn’t seem that long ago that changes were made to improve safety in the National by putting a limit on numbers and regulating the quality of the runners.  It’s no use grumbling now that ‘only’ the top handicapped horses get in to the race – everyone knew about the Moor Lane situation from since the weights came out, and ante-post is at your own risk.
:wave:
If Moor Lane, or any other horse, is balloted out then anyone who has backed them Ante-Post will get their money back.
You only lose if the connections fail to enter the horse.
I’ve yet to hear anybody moan about the fact that Robert Ogden owns three of the runners. There’s nothing wrong with the conditions of the race, if Mr Pipe wants to declare half the field then so be it!!!!
Getting back to my original point(I have not backed Moor Lane, I only quoted this horse as an example)how the hell is Majed on 10-6, when he has not been over a fence in this country in public??<br>I think he is rated only 3lb lower than Beau! and he’s only been novice hurdling!!<br>It makes a mockery of the whole system.<br>I have no qualms with m Pipe having multiple entries, I just don’t see how it achieves this rating.<br>Cheers,<br>Ray.:o
I might be wrong about this, but I think he has this rating because he hasn’t yet run over fences in this country so his hurdle rating (143) cannot be amended to take a chase run into account.  Its kind of the same with non-GB/Ire horses that do not have an established rating – they are given automatic topweight because no other rating can be calculated for them.  Should they all be randomly allotted say 10st10 or 9st? Or should they not be allowed to run? ÂÂÂ
It’s fine saying it’s not fair – but I imagine if Mr Pipe believed Majed had been handicapped over his abilities then he would not run.
Ironic really – wasn’t Moor Lane made favourite initially as he was thought to be very well handicapped?? :biggrin:
:wave:<br> ÂÂÂ
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.