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The King is dead.Long live the King. Lets move on.Time for the Guineas.
The King has not yet left the building. He’ll return and bring his blue suede shoes with him.
He may be all shook up, but he isn’t about to surrender.
The King is dead.Long live the King. Lets move on.Time for the Guineas.
never warmed to the flat – cheltenham is in the blood
Don’t forget Somersby.
This is a much faster model of Calgary Bay, so he can’t be that far away!
I would love to see Kauto Star come back next year, but doing it as an 11-year-old who has had so many hard races would be asking a lot. I expect he’ll get beaten at Haydock first thing next season, making him a great price for the King George thereafter.
I can’t see him making any impression on the front two, but Henrietta Knight today confirmed Calgary Bay a definite runner in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
I notice that he’s available at 33/1 w/o Kauto Star and Denman.
I was tempted with the 20/1 on Betfair Bos until you mentioned the 33/1 available!I had a quick look on Oddschecker and Bet 365 are going 50/1, 1/4 the odds 1st 3,so if he can finish 5th,you will still get 12.5/1 a place! The Kings gone in again!
Cheers!Having snaffled the 50"s last night,i couldn"t resist going in again! Incredibly Bet365 have slashed the price from 50/1 to 20/1 in the last 24hrs! When the King addresses his public…!
- Total Posts 17716
Gold Cup winners don’t grow on trees and horses like Cooldine Joncol Somersby Punchestowns Long Run etc are a million light years away from getting there.
Mikael D’Hagenuet would be one horse who could get there IMO but that’s pie in the sky until we see what he can do when tackling the big ones.
There must be ahuge doubt about Denman going again as the national looks a must for him while they can.
That leaves Kauto Star and Imperial Commander which mean, taking it I’m right, the 6/1 about Kauto Star for next years race could be a bet to nothing.
Can see no reason why he won’t be back and even less reason why he can’t win if he turns up. Having a few quid on anyway and alittle EW double with binny at 4/1….let em bookies sweat for a while if the both bound back guns blazing
Absoulutly delighted for connections of Imperial commander,cheltenaham was so hard till Buena Vista then Big Bucks came with Twisteez treble.good times.
Joncol looks exciting but needs cut,I might back the commander once again but must be kept FRESH.
Would any of them stand a weavers against the redoubtable and most speedy Mikael?
Interesting Kauto’s performance. I see him in the same way Agassi saw Nadal. The all-action, athletic way Nadal plays prompted Agassi to wonder whether Nadal’s body would continue to be able to pay out on the cheques his mind was issuing. Words to that effect. Can’t remember exactly.
What winning three Gold Cups, apart from the odd King George, would take out of even the toughest horse, must be phenomenal. So, I think his body was telling him, ‘OK, Kauto (or whatever his nickname is) that’s enough. You’ve got to call it a day now. All good things come to an end.’ Trouble is, it can only tell him when he races once to often. Glad that the race had a happy ending for him, though.
Those words of Agassi reminded me of Hailsham’s remark that he seemed to spend most of his latter years visiting the sporting friends of his youth while they were in hospital, for treatment of their various ailments, as a result of their having led a life of strenuous physical exertion in their younger days.
Those of us that said the Tank could beat KS fair and square have surely been proven correct.
You can go on and on about what
may
have happened
if
Kauto had jumped…but he didn’t, why not?
BECAUSE IT WAS TOO MUCH FOR HIM.
The rigours of the Gold Cup, unless a weak field (as when he won in 2009 – and Denman not 100%) is not his optimum. On any other course I’d say he’d beat IC and Denman. Maybe IC will prove otherwise…
Last years renewal was a far more competitive field, in my opinion, run in a time just over a second slower than todays race.
The fastest time Kauto recorded was in 2007 (the fastest in the previous four runnings of the race), so it’s false to assume that the rigours of a Gold Cup are too much for him.
His defeat of Imperial Commander at Haydock on his seasonal bow in very soft ground was about as rigorous as it gets.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Denman proved he can beat Kauto fair and square today – he did that in 2008 when there were no valid excuses for Kauto, except it was the opinion of many that he wasn’t at the peak of his powers. Kauto was a beaten horse after the eighth fence today and I think that’s why some feel underwhelmed by this result – the great battle we wanted to see never materialized.
and he would have to improve on his jumping and at his age is that possibile, cheltenham is all about rhythm and i think kauto has lost his fluidity.
kauto has never had that much fluidity in his jumping – when he stands off is when it goes wrong – either too far or puts a leg down (usually too far). He has never been at " his best" at cheltenham either – but he is such a good horse does it matter. I hope he doesnt harm himself but as he gets older and more tired in his races the mistakes will become more numerous (he has always been a bit of a dodgy jumper).
I think Kauto’s jumping has been unfairly criticised during his career. His fall at Exeter during his novice days was due to inexperience. He simply over jumped in the Champion Chase and today I think today he was just too brave for his own good.
His stand-off leaps are an unparalleled exhibition of brilliance. Look at some of his leaps at Kempton over the past two years and the Gold Cup last year. He even threw in a couple before his early blunder this year.
He has jumped at pace around the two most notorious courses where rhythm is of pivotal importance – Sandown and Kempton. The former over two miles in the Tingle Creek.
You have to remember that he went thirteen races without falling after the Champion Chase, over a variety of distances at seven different course. He has been unfairly branded a ‘dodgy jumper’ by some because he has made these rare mistakes at crucial times in high profile races.
It’s amazing how quickly people (over)react sometimes. In the past twelve months, Kauto has put in two of the best performances seen in modern times – his victory at Kempton last year was arguably the best we have seen in forty years.
I was never worried about Kauto retaining his ability during the Summer last year, but every year that goes by will see Kauto drift closer and closer to the edge. If he retains 90% of his ability, he will win a fifth King George – Long Run is the only danger – and if he does that he will go to Cheltenham with a favourites chance.
I would love to see him go to Kempton and win a record breaking fifth King George. A few horses have won the Gold Cup on three occasions or more, but no other horse in history has won five KG’S.
He can add that to being the only horse to regain the Gold Cup – maybe twice.
You can go on and on about what may have happened if Kauto had jumped…but he didn’t, why not?
BECAUSE IT WAS TOO MUCH FOR HIM.
The rigours of the Gold Cup, unless a weak field (as when he won in 2009 – and Denman not 100%) is not his optimum. On any other course I’d say he’d beat IC and Denman.
Couldn’t agree less regarding "the rigours of the Gold Cup"… The horse made a mistake, but not because it was a Gold Cup. He’s made similar mistakes beforehand at bothe Kempton and Haydock and today just wasn’t his day. If he had repeated last year’s performance he would have won again imo, but we’ll never know now. Just don’t understand how the Gold Cup is "too much for him" Zip?
"Fist" wrote: Gold Cup winners don’t grow on trees and horses like Cooldine Joncol Somersby Punchestowns Long Run etc are a million light years away from getting there.
Mikael D’Hagenuet would be one horse who could get there IMO but that’s pie in the sky until we see what he can do when tackling the big ones.
There must be ahuge doubt about Denman going again as the national looks a must for him while they can.
That leaves Kauto Star and Imperial Commander which mean, taking it I’m right, the 6/1 about Kauto Star for next years race could be a bet to nothing.
Can see no reason why he won’t be back and even less reason why he can’t win if he turns up. Having a few quid on anyway and alittle EW double with binny at 4/1….let em bookies sweat for a while if the both bound back guns blazing
Weapon’s Amnesty I feel is the most likely challenger to the Gold Cup next year and the danger to the above two.
The King is dead.Long live the King. Lets move on.Time for the Guineas.
The flat sucks. Bring on Aintree, Punchestown and Summer Jumping.
Thought Matty Batchelor gave Carruthers a good ride – didn’t go mad for once and nearly got him home in 3rd. Well done Matty.
Bosranic, each to his own viewpoint, but I think that if Kauto wins next years KG, he will go to the Gold Cup with less of a favourite’s chance, not more.
I think he’s entitled to be ‘closer to the edge’ than you think, but only time will tell.
I"m a great believer in "If it can happen,it will happen" and unfortunately with Kauto stars attitude to fences it was inevitable that he would fall sometime,i thought after the first Miraculous recovery from Ruby he was a beaten horse!He never lifted a leg! The King is dead,Long live the King,he would be a 1/2 shot for next seasons King George,but he wont win another Gold Cup i"m afraid,too many young pretenders in Somersby and Weapons Amnesty,never mind about the new King of the Chasers Imperial Commander!Kauto Star will be remembered as a true Champion of the era!
I"m a great believer in "If it can happen,it will happen" and unfortunately with Kauto stars attitude to fences it was inevitable that he would fall sometime,i thought after the first Miraculous recovery from Ruby he was a beaten horse!He never lifted a leg! The King is dead,Long live the King,he would be a 1/2 shot for next seasons King George,but he wont win another Gold Cup i"m afraid,too many young pretenders in Somersby and Weapons Amnesty,never mind about the new King of the Chasers Imperial Commander!Kauto Star will be remembered as a true Champion of the era!
Calgary Bay did us proud, Gord.
Nearly…
I think Kauto Star has perhaps missed his last chance at the Gold Cup. The mistake at the 8th was just one of those things and but for that I imagine he and Imperial Commander would have turned in together and fought out a great finish. The field quickened soon after Kauto’s mistake and he couldn’t get back into it.
Great run from Imperial Commander who is a lovely type and a real Cheltenham specialist. The footage of Francome riding him out was great and his wonderful easy galloping must have had many a Kauto supporter worried. Rightly so as it turned out, although most of Kauto’s problems stemmed from his own mistake. Does anyone think that running on the rail behind Carruthers was a factor, Ruby would normally have Kauto wider (unfortunately Denman and IC had poached his spot). As someone else mentioned Kauto has made mistkaes on the rail before.
Intersting theory from another post about Kauto not liking the weather. If memory serves all his best performances have come in the sunshine.
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