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Cider you need to go back and watch some older Champion hurdles , loads of talented horse , again I’ll say Istrabaq , the greatest , I’ve said Cheltenham was a talented horse but sadly he now can’t produce that form , he can’t jump anymore , let me put it another way , Eric Bristow was the best darts player of the 80s ….
The hill has hurdlitis
LD73, Impossible to say if Nico is in any way to blame, but from what I learned watching every jump he has taken in public, 95% of the time he is left to make his own mind up. That means he’ll throw the occasional long one, but he gets there. He races quite keenly, though doesn’t fight, and his demeanour in that dept leads me to think he’s quite a nervy type.
Most of his standard jumps are exactly that – he makes a regular shape, isn’t slick, long, or short and seems to be happy jumping that way, possibly because it feels safe. If they run him again over hurdles, what is Nico faced with? If he sits absolutely still, which the horse seems to prefer, and something goes wrong he’ll be accused of giving the horse no help. If he tries taking charge and bossing Constitution Hill and goes down again, he’ll be condemned. Loyal as connections are, if they have another go, a jockey change would seem appropriate. I’d love to see Jack Kennedy ride him.
We’ve done the other jockey , it didn’t work , sometimes you just to have accept that his time is up , if you don’t believe that go back and watch Nickys interview on Saturday …
sometimes you just to have accept that his time is up
Poor Ilikedwayurthinkin well at the last at Haydock today and was fatally injured. His first fall in his 50th start……
Steep – he sat still on him at Aintree and the horse launched himself, at Newcastle he sat still at the first and he popped it fine but at the 2nd he asked him and the horse change his mind mid jump and he did the same at Cheltenham, the only time I have heard Nico cop to being to blame for the horse making a mistake was at the last in the International when he did get away with the mistake but gave many heart failure whilst doing so.
I guess my point on Nico is that by and large if the stride is there to go long he asks him and if its not, he doesn’t (he seemed to trust that the horse would sort it out himself and he did up until last March) which you would hope is exactly what any other top jockey would do if they got the leg up but if Nico (who knows the horse better than any other jockey) is sitting still and the horse launches independently why would people expect that the horse would do something different to that with a new jockey on board that he doesn’t know?
I guess the only way Nico could do something different is if he hauls him back off a long stride and makes him go short everytime but in doing that you are losing vital momentum and giving ground away to your rivals and you negate what was until recently one of his main weapons (slick hurdling).
“If they run him again over hurdles, what is Nico faced with? If he sits absolutely still, which the horse seems to prefer, and something goes wrong he’ll be accused of giving the horse no help. If he tries taking charge and bossing Constitution Hill and goes down again, he’ll be condemned.”
True.“I’d love to see Jack Kennedy ride him.”
Come on, his poor orthopedic surgeon needs some time off.Would anyone want that phone call
” Hi it’s Nicky here , would you like to ride the hill “”
” errr , I think you have the wrong number , errr do you want fried rice with that … bye “
🤣😅Thanks for making me smile HDLG I think you’re spot on, but seriously Constitution Hill is scaring the life out of me every time he runs it was almost a relief to see him go down at the 2nd last time out and get up safely. Running on without his jockey he’s seemed to be enjoying himself.
Why not try him on the flat or call it a day for the horse’s sake and we can all sleep easy, especially those prospective jockeys,
I think he’s been an amazing horse a true Champion, let’s celebrate that and walk away, he definitely has developed problems. People will turn out just to see him parade before big races, he has nothing more to prove..Jac
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...You’re right, LD. I looked again at the Aintree fall – Nico did dit still, the horse came up long (Nico, in another golf analogy, tends to gesture when he realises the horse is in the middle of a bad mistake – he lifts the reins (in the way a golfer waves his putter in the hope of making the just-struck ball go right or left) in a useless wish.
Otherwise, I am not seeing what you are (just a difference in race reading). I consider a horse to be asked up when there is a noticeable body or hands movement. Done properly, it usually only happens when a jock is certain he has seen a stride, and it’s usually initiated by a crouch. Anyway, I doubt a hurdler has ever before been subject to so much scrutiny in jumping. I’d hold to the view he should not run again over hurdles, but would add a caveat: unless they find something that was 90% likely to have been the cause of his errors.
“… unless they find something that was 90% likely to have been the cause of his errors.”
Some would say that’s Nico
I thought he travelled as well as ever that day until after 3 out when Bowen shook him up and got zero response plus an error two out. It’s possible there was no link to falls and he was just having an off day as even the best sometimes do. It was also his first run overseas. Some don’t like to travel or simply to be away from their routine longer than is normal.
First time off the bridle and nothing … not even a bit off fight , that’s the problem it’s not just the jumping issue , he’s had physical issue , now it’s mental
Steep – I think the main thing that we both do 100% agree on is that hurdling should be off the table for good now.
The Punchestown run to me was something thay should never have done, he looked like a horse that wanted to be anywhere but on a racecourse following two heavy likely brain scrambling falls – he ballooned the first two rather alarmingly but to be fair he was generally okish with his jumping after that.
Whilst he seemed to be travelling well enough during the race it was noted by the commentator that he was being ‘nudged along’ going to 2 out and (on the RP video replay of the race there was an overhead view of them jumping 2 out) it showed that he seemed to reach for the hurdle a bit with his head going slightly off to the right while he was in the air but within a few strides of landing after the flight, he cut out pretty quickly and I think it was the horse finally saying…..’sod this, I’m done’.
Could his physical issues have slightly affected his athletic ability to where his confidence in making those instinctive big jumps off a long stride has now been shaken enough to lead to him now second guessing himself at them…..which has clearly been made worse by him falling 3 times when faced with that exact scenario?
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