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If Enable and Cracksman meet next year in the King George at the moment I’d personally still make Enable favourite, at least on a the firm side of good.
Value Is EverythingWow – only just seen the race as had to pop out for a bit, but didn’t he look like his old man as he pulled away there in the straight? Awesome stuff, didn’t back him (was on Barney Roy, that worked out well lol), but well done all those who did, never in doubt.
If Enable and Cracksman meet next year in the King George at the moment I’d personally still make Enable favourite, at least on a the firm side of good.
You’re a brave man. A massive factor here imo will be the improvement remaining in Cracksman and I get the strong impression he can better today by 5 or 6 pounds.
Wow what a day ! Big congrats to Cracksman backers, you kept the faith and he repaid you handsomely with that performance.
If they do clash, it will be in the King George as Oppenheimer is old school and wants a KG victory that he missed with Golden Horn – wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t clash in the Arc at all (Enable to defend her Arc crown with Cracksman back to repeat in the Champion Stakes).
I doubt that because adding an Arc win to his CV would be a much bigger boost than winning another champion stakes. And wouldn’t it be back at Longchamp this time? I feel a Longchamp Arc carries more kudos than a Chantilly one, because of the history of that venue. Enable winning another arc, as a broodmare, I doubt it would add that much to her value and broodmares aren’t worth as much as colts anyway at stud.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Enable came back, ran a couple of so so races (often fillies struggle to back up their three year old careers) paving the way for retirement and having Frankie on board Cracksman for the arc. Speculation though.
One absolute cert from today will be Frankie’s relief at having talked them out of an Arc run. Impossible to say how much, if at all, Cracksman has come on in a couple of weeks or how well he actually was at Arc decision time, but Frankie must have been wiping his metaphorical brow just after passing the post.
And that my friends is why you duck the real race. No need to confirm what they saw at home with Enable, when you can beat up on a bunch of Gr.3 winners, and be the best in the world.
If Enable and Cracksman meet next year in the King George at the moment I’d personally still make Enable favourite, at least on a the firm side of good.
You’re a brave man. A massive factor here imo will be the improvement remaining in Cracksman and I get the strong impression he can better today by 5 or 6 pounds.
Fair point Joe, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Enable improve next year too. Cracksman has a bit of a roundish action that may not be quite as effective on firmish ground. And… although I have no doubt Cracksman is at least mid 130’s, the form is a little more difficult to read. Just one performance to this standard so far and it’s a tricky race to rate with confidence.
EDIT:
Second time looks even more impressive than first time around.Value Is EverythingAnd that my friends is why you duck the real race. No need to confirm what they saw at home with Enable, when you can beat up on a bunch of Gr.3 winners, and be the best in the world.
I’ve seen the form crabbed on twitter too. But in cases like these (and his York win alerted a few that he was well capable of something like this) it is the manner of victory that tells the tale more than what is behind him. He is putting races to bed a long way out with a burst of acceleration that gives nothing else a chance, He then, with nothing to race against, goes farther and farther away showing a huge appetite for racing despite being out there alone (I think that latter aspect is often ignored and most certainly should not be).
From time to time at this level it’s a case of ‘it ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it.’
And that my friends is why you duck the real race. No need to confirm what they saw at home with Enable, when you can beat up on a bunch of Gr.3 winners, and be the best in the world.
I’ve seen the form crabbed on twitter too. But in cases like these (and his York win alerted a few that he was well capable of something like this) it is the manner of victory that tells the tale more than what is behind him. He is putting races to bed a long way out with a burst of acceleration that gives nothing else a chance, He then, with nothing to race against, goes farther and farther away showing a huge appetite for racing despite being out there alone (I think that latter aspect is often ignored and most certainly should not be).
From time to time at this level it’s a case of ‘it ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it.’
Complete nonsense to crab that form Joe. If Frankel had won that race in exactly the same manner people would have been falling over themselves to throw platitudes in his general direction. I think that’s why so many were keen to take him on today- they couldn’t believe what their eyes were telling them.
It seems to me in racing there’s far too much obsession with “form”. Sometimes you’ve got to believe what our eyes tell us. When we first get into racing, we get into it because we watch the horses on the telly and they impress us, it’s not because we spend hours squinting at a form book.
And that my friends is why you duck the real race. No need to confirm what they saw at home with Enable, when you can beat up on a bunch of Gr.3 winners, and be the best in the world.
I’ve seen the form crabbed on twitter too. But in cases like these (and his York win alerted a few that he was well capable of something like this) it is the manner of victory that tells the tale more than what is behind him. He is putting races to bed a long way out with a burst of acceleration that gives nothing else a chance, He then, with nothing to race against, goes farther and farther away showing a huge appetite for racing despite being out there alone (I think that latter aspect is often ignored and most certainly should not be).
From time to time at this level it’s a case of ‘it ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it.’
Perfectly put
Richard Hannon very unhappy that the race wasn’t run on the inner track.
Probably more unhappy owners chose the races his run in
Blackbeard to conquer the World
Agreed Nath – Richard would certainly have preferred the QEII for Barney but to be honest I don’t think he really handled that ground today.
Well done Judge and Joe and others who backed Cracksman. You may have seen on the other thread that I eventually came round to the idea of him winning once the rain fell but I did not expect THAT sort of performance. What a season we have in store next year if JG doesn’t mind them racing against each other. My feeling is that, right now, Enable would just about win but next year could be a different story…. Let’s just hope they both stay sound.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
And that my friends is why you duck the real race. No need to confirm what they saw at home with Enable, when you can beat up on a bunch of Gr.3 winners, and be the best in the world.
I’ve seen the form crabbed on twitter too. But in cases like these (and his York win alerted a few that he was well capable of something like this) it is the manner of victory that tells the tale more than what is behind him. He is putting races to bed a long way out with a burst of acceleration that gives nothing else a chance, He then, with nothing to race against, goes farther and farther away showing a huge appetite for racing despite being out there alone (I think that latter aspect is often ignored and most certainly should not be).
From time to time at this level it’s a case of ‘it ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it.’
There is a difference between giving credit and completely going overboard.
Is Cracksman a Gr.1 animal? Absolutely.
Is he the 2nd best middle distance horse of 2017? Probably.
Has he proven that without a shadow of a doubt today? Absolutely not.Highland Reel was been beaten 12L by Jack Hobbs with soft in the description, and 9.25L by Enable. Today he was beaten 7.25L (over 2f shorter) in what everybody perceives to be a prep race for the BC Turf. All the other horses that finished directly behind Cracksman in the Champion Stakes, Voltigeur and Niel have weak Gr.2 wins at best.
Yet some people are suggesting Enable is lucky Cracksman didn´t turn up for the Arc and that if they meet tomorrow he´d be a clear favourite. Okay.
Gosden played his cards absolutely perfectly it seems. He knew he´d avoid likely defeat in the Arc, while getting a 2nd rate field in the Champions Stakes, and with the British desperation to make Champions Day happen, he would be guaranteed a massive rating, if he did it in style.
Has anything come to light about Brametot today? Clearly nowhere near his best, but not sure if that’s due to course, ground or something physical. He never really seemed on the bridle.
Cracksman very impressive, however. I was there, and I couldn’t believe how quickly he pulled away in the final furlong. He was two lengths ahead, I looked away, I looked back and he was seven lengths ahead!
There is a difference between giving credit and completely going overboard.
Is Cracksman a Gr.1 animal? Absolutely.
Is he the 2nd best middle distance horse of 2017? Probably.
Has he proven that without a shadow of a doubt today? Absolutely not.Highland Reel was been beaten 12L by Jack Hobbs with soft in the description, and 9.25L by Enable. Today he was beaten 7.25L (over 2f shorter) in what everybody perceives to be a prep race for the BC Turf. All the other horses that finished directly behind Cracksman in the Champion Stakes, Voltigeur and Niel have weak Gr.2 wins at best.
Yet some people are suggesting Enable is lucky Cracksman didn´t turn up for the Arc and that if they meet tomorrow he´d be a clear favourite. Okay.
Gosden played his cards absolutely perfectly it seems. He knew he´d avoid likely defeat in the Arc, while getting a 2nd rate field in the Champions Stakes, and with the British desperation to make Champions Day happen, he would be guaranteed a massive rating, if he did it in style.
There’s also a difference between taking the absolute worst a performance could sound like and giving it the credit it deserves, Pete. You call it a “second rate field” and “Group 2 horses”. And yet the second was Poet’s Word. Yes, he is only a Group 3 winner; but last time out he was also second in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes. Difference is he was only just touched off by Decorated Knight by 1/2 length in that race; not 7 as Cracksman did. So on “form” you could say Cracksman is a 6 1/2 lengths better horse than Group 1 winner Decorated Knight. Now look at how far Decorated Knight was beaten by Ulysses in the Group 1 Prince Of Wales, 1 1/4 lengths. So on a line through Poet’s Word and Decorated Knight… Well, may be PW was a little below his Irish run yesterday, but it is extremely difficult to believe he was as far below it as you seem to believe.
There is no doubt Highland Reel was quite a long way below his best. But do you think he ran exactly the same amount below form on every time he ran on soft ground? Surely it is best to take a look at how far Cracksman beat other horses before judging him on Highland Reel?
Another one of your “second rate field” Recoletos was beaten a total of 8 lengths by Cracksman. He had been beaten only just over a length by Brametot in the Group 1 French Derby. Just a short head behind the second Waldgeist… who went on to be less than two lengths behind Capri in the Group 1 Irish Derby.
Another “second rater” Desert Encounter, beaten 9 1/2 lengths by Cracksman, beaten around 3 1/2 in the Group 1 Eclipse by Ulysses etc etc.
Now I am not saying all those form lines are reliable, and yes, the horses Cracksman beat were not top top class. But the distances/manner of victory leaves no doubt Cracksman is something special. There is on form… plenty of room between Cracksman and Poet’s Word to fit Group 1 winners like Ulysses, Decorated Knight, Brametot, Capri and on colaterol form they would’ve all been beaten quite a long way too.
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