- This topic has 52 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by
.
- Posts
Nice call from Big G on Traffic Fluide for Ryanair, but the Champion Chase is over bar a fall
Very impressive performance from Un De Sceaux…surprised he was given such an easy lead but now apparent Traffic Fluide was there to run his race on his own merits rather than as a nuisance and ran a corker…well done you guys who backed that one at tasty prices for Cheltenham!
Yep…looks all over bar the shouting for the Champion Chase…
General feeling that Sire De Grugy may have ran a few lbs below par but even so impossible to think he could get anywhere near at Cheltenham and on a line with SDG Sprinter Sacre & Special Tiara look to have it all on too…maybe Sprinter Sacre a slim chance if he’s better for better ground and can range up and worry Un De Sceaux out of it…unlikely though now I feel…
SDG has beaten Vibrato Valtat slightly further than he did at Kempton last time so I am not sure he has run below his best but surely now his stable companion must be their 1st string being that it was his first run of the season, so improvement to come.
The QMCC is simply UDS to lose now, even on better ground (unlikely to be any quicker than the easy side of good) his rivals are going to struggle if he is a sure footed as he was today. May be the only time to oppose him is on his first run of the season when for the last two years he has hit the deck!
Thought UDS’s jumping was bit sticky today; noticeably slowed up approaching fences on 2 occasions. But again demonstrated ability to accelerate again in the closing stages. It shows he can win without necessarily jumping spectacularly, and I think further improvement is likely. If he jumps adequately at C’ham, he wins
UDS impressive but my main thought on the race (and I am not talking out of my pocket) is why when so many jockeys are hauled before the stewards for not trying to obtain the best possible finish were the Moore’s not questioned regarding Traffic Fluide not being fully ridden out to try to finish second?
Personally I am pretty sure he would have done so if he was more vigorously ridden after the last. I know he hadn’t ran for 287 days but come on only two taps after the last and he gets beat a neck for second.
Was I watching a different race to everyone else?
UDS impressive but my main thought on the race (and I am not talking out of my pocket) is why when so many jockeys are hauled before the stewards for not trying to obtain the best possible finish were the Moore’s not questioned regarding Traffic Fluide not being fully ridden out to try to finish second?
Personally I am pretty sure he would have done so if he was more vigorously ridden after the last. I know he hadn’t ran for 287 days but come on only two taps after the last and he gets beat a neck for second.
Was I watching a different race to everyone else?
You may have a slight point Raymo. I said earlier in the thread that I wouldn’t
have a bet, although I might consider the forecast with UDS and TF, but when his
price went out to 33/1, I thought it was worth risking a bit of e/w. I actually
thought he looked sure to pass SDG in the last 100 yrds, but, if he didn’t exactly
take his foot off the pedal, he appears to slightly ease as he comes level. Maybe
he was told not to throw the kitchen sink at him, as I’m sure this race was to get
him where he is going next. Incidentally, he was beaten a short head, not a neck.I know it could sound like I’m talking out of my pocket, but to be honest I was just
delighted he ran such an impressive race for reasons Joe and I mentioned earlier, and
I’ve had a good day today. As I’m feeling in a generous mood today, I’ll give him the
benefit of the doubt, on another day I don’t know if I would be feeling so charitable
Ruby just aswell had left his whip in the dressing room.
I was hoping SDG would get near him as I’m convinced anything gets near him, he’ll go even faster.
The trouble Sprinter Sacre will have is he will either have to fight to get to UDS and then have a fight to get past him or bridle his way up at a high tempo, which he is capable of but once push comes to shove will not find enough off the bridle imo. Special Tiara could be the one to unsettle UDS from the get go and that could be a problem for UDS but if needs be he can be ridden more aggressive and attack his fences with more speed than he needed to today, I think Ruby after the last time was happy enough just to get him from one to the other although the 3rd last was very slick.Charles Darwin to conquer the World
I think Un De Sceaux could be up there with the great two milers. None of the others would have won a Champion Hurdle. Gun put to his head and a mistake free round and he could win a Champion Chase by Crisp and Badsworth Boy margins. Unfortunately, we are not going to see it because Walsh will no doubt continue with the hold up in front safety first tactics. A real shame for the viewing public.
I backed TF on a money back if 2nd basis, but thought Josh Moore rode a fine race, with the horse perhaps getting just a little tired late on. He seemed to want to just make sure the horse kept travelling within himself and he might well have been surprised at how much TF found after the last. Had he been expecting that, he might have laid up just a bit closer from three out. But hindsight’s 20/20
BTW, Graham, Moore is quoted as saying that TF goes for the QM. A brave move, and might well be worth another bet EW (I’ve just had a decent EW at 20s with Betfair NRNB 1/4 odds)
Traffic Fluid and the horses that Un De Sceaux comes up against at Cheltenham just hang around the course waiting in-case he falls, a bit like in football with Wayne Rooney hanging around the pitch waiting for a penalty
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
Thought UDS jumping was very clever today as he didn’t seem to meet a lot on a long stride but he was nimble enough to put in some shuffle steps to shorten up and pop the fence without touching a twig – a sign that the horse is thinking about what he is doing rather than just guessing and coming up on the wrong stride and hoping for the best.
Trying to wing every fence may look exciting but a horse expends a lot of energy in doing this and it can be the quickest way to put them on the floor as at some point (due to tiredness and/or a difference of opinion with the rider) the horse will put down on you or try to take an extra stride (as UDS did when Ruby asked him at the second last at Leopardstown) and end up hitting the deck.
Like in today’s race a horse will not always meet every fence on a nice long stride and the ability to fiddle a fence is arguably more important than being able to wing a fence – most horses will come up off a stride at a fence but if the stride is not there it can be much harder for some to learn the technique of shortening their stride up and popping a fence to avoid mistakes – a prime example of that was the painful viewing of Reve De Sivola trying to jump at Haydock.
With TF I thought it was a very good ride to keep him out of the early action and get him jumping and then put him into the race without giving him an unnecessarily hard race for his first run of the season – I would imagine connection are over the moon with the run given his scope for improvement both physically and experience wise. He may have got tired that much quicker by expending too much energy had he got involved in the race at an earlier stage.
Like you Steep, I have also taken a little 20-1 NRNB action as there are so many ifs buts and maybes about everything else bar UDS.
Trying to wing every fence may look exciting but a horse expends a lot of energy in doing this and it can be the quickest way to put them on the floor as at some point (due to tiredness and/or a difference of opinion with the rider) the horse will put down on you or try to take an extra stride (as UDS did when Ruby asked him at the second last at Leopardstown) and end up hitting the deck.
At the moment there is just about zero chance of this horse making a mistake due to tiredness.
You are arguing the case for the connections. As a spectator I want to see the spectacular. As it is he will almost certainly continue to win his races but without trouncing the opposition.
In my opinion the mistakes in the last two races were more down to the presentation by the jockey than the horse.
The way I saw it at Leopardstown, I don’t think the stride Ruby saw at the second last was asking too much of the horse in normal circumstances but maybe UDS was starting to get a little tired in the very heavy ground and first time out (remember Mullins said after the race that he was never happy with the way he was travelling or jumping) so instead of coming up he put in an extra stride which meant he was too close and at the speed he was travelling at he couldn’t get the landing gear down quick enough.
Part of him being spectacular was the fact that he would tear off in front with little to no regard for his hurdles/fences against much lesser rivals – he is much more tractable now but now he is up against better and multiple G1 winners so the days of him trouncing the opposition are probably a thing of the past but I have no doubt that whenever possible you will see the spectacular fast fencing but just not at every fence.
Maybe we have just been spoiled by his previous performances and anything short of that is strangely seen as a disappoinment.
The way I saw it at Leopardstown, I don’t think the stride Ruby saw at the second last was asking too much of the horse in normal circumstances but maybe UDS was starting to get a little tired in the very heavy ground and first time out (remember Mullins said after the race that he was never happy with the way he was travelling or jumping) so instead of coming up he put in an extra stride which meant he was too close and at the speed he was travelling at he couldn’t get the landing gear down quick enough.
Part of him being spectacular was the fact that he would tear off in front with little to no regard for his hurdles/fences against much lesser rivals – he is much more tractable now but now he is up against better and multiple G1 winners so the days of him trouncing the opposition are probably a thing of the past but I have no doubt that whenever possible you will see the spectacular fast fencing but just not at every fence.
Maybe we have just been spoiled by his previous performances and anything short of that is strangely seen as a disappoinment.
Good assessment by LD73
The way I saw it at Leopardstown, I don’t think the stride Ruby saw at the second last was asking too much of the horse in normal circumstances but maybe UDS was starting to get a little tired in the very heavy ground and first time out (remember Mullins said after the race that he was never happy with the way he was travelling or jumping) so instead of coming up he put in an extra stride which meant he was too close and at the speed he was travelling at he couldn’t get the landing gear down quick enough.
Part of him being spectacular was the fact that he would tear off in front with little to no regard for his hurdles/fences against much lesser rivals – he is much more tractable now but now he is up against better and multiple G1 winners so the days of him trouncing the opposition are probably a thing of the past but I have no doubt that whenever possible you will see the spectacular fast fencing but just not at every fence.
Maybe we have just been spoiled by his previous performances and anything short of that is strangely seen as a disappoinment.
It is only a disappointment because the horse isn’t being allowed to show his real ability. The reason he isn’t trouncing better opposition is purely down to a lack of confidence on the part of the jockey. Walsh is a sit still jockey who fires horses once in a blue moon. That is his style and he isn’t going to change. Set alight with a mistake free round I have no doubt he could see off the likes of Sire De Grugy by 20 or more lengths.
He doesn’t get the adulation of some of the others but I think he is the best horse in the yard. Had he been allowed to bolt up in a Champion Hurdle it would be a different story.
Presumably, you didn’t notice the horse charging up the run in at Leopardstown. Unfortunately, that was Un De Sceaux, minus jockey. Far from being tired, it looked as if he could have gone round again.
Didn’t notice the blue moon that day but it must have caught UDS eye because when Ruby fired him into the second last he didn’t come up for him and ended up on the floor – I did however notice the horse charging up the run in, maybe the fact that he had managed to rid himself of almost 12st worth of jockey from his back had a part in it to!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.