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Drone
,
Blakeney
is a favourite of mine, as he was the first Derby winner I saw "live" at a tender age (when he won the Ormonde as a 4yo, Carson up). He was a maiden winner who’d finished 2nd in the Lingfield Trial to The Elk (down the field at Epsom) but would not I think have had a problem getting in on any modern ratings system.
His half-brother
Morston
is quite a different case. He had only run once before the Derby, winning a minor Lingfield maiden at 14-1 (so similar profile to
Marhaba Malyoon
) and his trainer Arthur Budgett only ran this green colt because the 25-strong field did not have any stand-out chances. He won at 25-1, but on modern ratings would quite possibly have been excluded in a modern maximum field of 20. Alas he broke down in August and never ran again, retiring like Lammtarra undefeated – two of only seven Derby winners ever to do so.
Snow Knight
(2nd in the Sandown Classic Trial and 3rd in the Lingfield Derby Trial, both behind Bustino which he beat at Epsom) would have been at about the
Pisco Sour
level of "hopelessness" before his gutsy 1974 win at 50-1.
Thank you Pinza
My trousers had lengthened and various parts of the anatomy were striving to catch up in ’69, and by ’73 and ’74 The Sporting Life was a much-loved and rather too time-consuming sanctuary from O/A Level textbooks, so I do remember those Derbys if not much about poor old Morston and Snow Knight. Forgotten horses in the lull after the early ’70s Nijinsky-led storm
I think Arthur Budgett is still alive and possibly kicking, well into his nineties
When was the last time a horse fell back at a rate of knots at or before Tattenham Corner because the horse "didn’t stay"? Vast majority of non-stayers are likely to be going backwards in only the last two furlongs.
In this year’s Derby Castlemorris King was fairly near the inner and Marhaba Malyoon raced fairly wide. If you want jockeys to totally avoid horses who might "get in the way", then they’d have to go so far out of their ground to have little, if any chance of winning. Totally impractical.
I’ve no real wish to debate this further Ginger, as you know far more about the horses concerned than I do, and your mind seems made up
Still, I do think it would be a good idea if you familiarised yourself with the actually very subtle difference in the speed and acceleration a ‘poor’ horse is capable of compared to a ‘good’ horse
It is not a case of a Jag being held up behind a Steamroller
If I were the rider of a ‘no hoper’ I would make every effort to grab the best position early in the race; but I would expect to be thwarted by the riders of the ‘hopers’ who really would be daft to let me have such an advantageous spot, wouldn’t they?
I’ve more sympathy with a ban on the lowly-rated in G1 Chases, as low-rating often coincides with poor jumping, which most certainly can cause significant interference. Moreover the horses concerned generally have a more complete CV from which to elucidate that ‘poor’ rating
Still, I do think it would be a good idea if you familiarised yourself with the actually very subtle difference in the speed and acceleration a ‘poor’ horse is capable of compared to a ‘good’ horse
It is not a case of a Jag being held up behind a Steamroller.
I don’t believe I have ever said that Drone. I agree, there isn’t that much difference between the acceleration of a poor horse and the acceleration of a good one. Or top speed to top speed for that matter.
The point is a poor horse will get to the end of its tether sooner. So the good horse is often still in full flow or even still increasing his speed as the poor horse reaches the end of it’s tether. Falling back on to the good horse.
Value Is Everything
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