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Bowen got called in for his ride on Delta Work , they prob spent more time preparing the excuse then they did preparing him for the race , time to start giving the jockeys truth serum before going in front of the stewards
DW beaten over 42L in his two starts prior to this race and he is 12 now – he was beaten 24L yesterday and for comparison he was beaten 23L behind Envoi Allen in the Champion Chase at Down Royal over 3m on his first run this season.
Bowen kind of gave him a similar type ride to what he did on Moon D’Orange in that he didn’t ask him to go any faster than he thought he could go early on and rode him to potentially pick up the pieces if the race fell apart, which given they didn’t go fast didn’t happen. At the end of the day 4th place was probably the best they could have expected before the race and it would have taken one of the first 3 to either underperform or not complete in order for him to get better than 4th.
Irony that Stewards enquired under the ‘not ridden to achieve best possible placing rule’ when we have other races where horses that are used in glorified pacemaking roles are never ridden to achieve their best placing and no enquires are ever called.
The Stewards on the day must have been on one as they also called in Jonjo O’Neil Jr to explain his ride on Iroko (in the Moon D’Orange race) for the exact same reason. O’Neil Jr’s response in the RP write up was:
His instructions were to sit midfield and to try and get the gelding jumping, having felt he lost his confidence after failing in his previous run at Ascot, adding that he had formed this opinion having schooled the gelding at home, he reported that he made a mistake at the third last fence, causing him to lose his left iron, and having regained his stirrup found himself stuck to the inside, leaving him unable to improve his position until after the second last fence, he continued to add he felt in top gear throughout the race and that the gelding’s jumping had suffered late on as a result, leading him to jumping the last fence slowly, he finished by stating that when taking all of the above into account, he felt that his hands and heels riding up the straight led to him obtaining the best possible placing.
You might be right but while he’s 12 yes also a multiple grade 1 winner being prepped for a hcap , prob the cross country at the festival
He is increasingly harder to place now – clearly he has not been capable of being competitive in a G1 at or around 3m for a few years now and even on the Cross Country races he is exposed (beaten 19L and 17L on his last two tries) having to carry big weights against younger less exposed rivals.
2nd in last year’s National was his best run since winning the Cross Country race at the Festival in 2023 and I would imagine that we will see him there again for possibly a last hurrah as I can’t see him coming back as a 13yr old next season.
Hopefully they retire him in one piece as he has already raced 40 times under rules winning 12 times and being placed a further 12 times whilst amassing just short of £960k in earnings – he has done connections proud.
Stage Star has hardly shone over the Mildmay course (0 from 4) and never beaten any horse home running in April admittedly on a small sample.
Think they missed a trick not entering him for the Gold Cup. He was ridden on Saturday to get the trip and Cobden might have kicked on earlier (rather than the exaggerated looks in behind) knowing the horse now stays.
This years renewal outside the first few in the betting doesn’t look overly strong and the field size is likely to be small. Stage Star will probably be able to dictate his own pace for a fair way even with the Mullins horses.
If the Gold Cup is no go I would seriously consider him for the National. That course may well suit his front running galloping style. He still has untapped potential over longer distances and is the right age. He is certain of a run now.
However it appears with Nicholls he prefers to give his main owners in the stable first dibs when it comes to entering up horses so no doubt Mr Drew’s horse will get first dibs again (the Charlie Hall, Betfair Chase, King George were all races Stage Star could have run in this season but for Bravemansgame)
Wouldn’t be critical of Bowen; as Ruby said, ‘the best way to make a slow horse really slow is to ride him too fast.’
Wouldn’t be critical of Bowen; as Ruby said, ‘the best way to make a slow horse really slow is to ride him too fast.’
————————————-It all depends what Ruby meant by that, befair. Of course a horse should be fairly comfortable, don’t want to see it being hard ridden all the way around.
However. On a stayer running over a trip on the short side, the horse may need to be pushed along in order to keep in touch if it’s to stay on and win. ie If allowed to plod around without being pushed along it’ll obviously get too far behind and subsequently have no chance… In which case: the jockey is not trying his / her best to win. AND The horse should not be dropped by the handicapper because there is no attempt to achieve its best placing.
Often noticeable a horse is pushed along early in a target race.
I’m Sean Bowen’s biggest fan and no doubt he was riding to orders. Doesn’t matter, under the Rules Of Racing imo both he and Jonjo O’Neil Jnr on Iroko were lucky to get away with their rides yesterday.
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