July Cup 2014

[Triptych]

Was Tropics wearing a first time hood?

According to my racecard Moe he wasn’t wearing a hood for the first time.
Looks like he recaptured a bit of his old form over course and distance yesterday.
Striking looking gelding.
Jac

Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...

[JJMSports]

Slade won that well but take a look at the ride from William Buick on Gregorian, would have been a lot closer with a clearer run.

[stevecaution]

Was Tropics wearing a first time hood?

According to my racecard Moe he wasn’t wearing a hood for the first time.
Looks like he recaptured a bit of his old form over course and distance yesterday.
Striking looking gelding.
Jac

No first time hood for Tropics as you say Jac. He has worn it for his last dozen or so starts. I thought he was a bit generously rated when he was on 116 and he had dropped to 109 before the July Cup. He has run about 6 lengths closer to Slade Power from their previous meeting in the Diamond Jubilee. No doubt he will go up again now. He is entered in The Stewards Cup but I am not sure what effect any new rating might have on that project?

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[The Ante-Post King]

Slade won that well but take a look at the ride from William Buick on Gregorian, would have been a lot closer with a clearer run.

Not Williams finest hour JJM,had the race been run on Friday

Gregorian

would have won.

Slade Power

did win well but like you say Buicks ride wasn’t his best and had he got a clear run it would have been bobs of heads,fair play to the winner but my 70’s on Gosdens horse was burning a hole in my pocket!! E/W betting Ante-Post yet again paves the way.

[stevecaution]

Slade won that well but take a look at the ride from William Buick on Gregorian, would have been a lot closer with a clearer run.

Not Williams finest hour JJM,had the race been run on Friday

Gregorian

would have won.

Slade Power

did win well but like you say Buicks ride wasn’t his best and had he got a clear run it would have been bobs of heads,fair play to the winner but my 70’s on Gosdens horse was burning a hole in my pocket!! E/W betting Ante-Post yet again paves the way.

I slipped a couple of points as a saver on Gregorian at 20/1. He’s been a decent friend to me at big odds each-way in the past. William Buick is not my favourite jockey by any stretch, I would say he is good but not one of the top handful. His ride on The Fugue in the Eclipse left her with little chance, even if the ground was "greasy" according to John Gosden.

I think Slade Power did really well considering he shed more sweat in the preliminaries than Frankie has in his combined finishes this season . He is 3/1 for the Sprint Cup and if he is certain to line up there I will be on at those odds anyway. I hope they don’t muck about with him, and that he becomes the top sprinter we have lacked for a while now.

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[The Young Fella]

All credit to Slade Power from me. Many things haven’t gone to plan for him this season, but he has been all class. Well done to Eddie Lynam for nurturing his horse so well, too.

He has done it on very different ground conditions, can carry plenty of weight with no problems and is very tactically versatile. You can see why he has been snapped up for stud duty already.

The only question is whether he can carry it on in the backend of the season. Starspangledbanner and Lethal Force both looked set to dominate the division until getting jaded before going to stud, so he might not have everything sewn up just yet.

[Maurice]

There were a couple of comments regarding Slade Power not looking quite as good as at Ascot so he may well have won despite not being quite at his best.

I wouldn’t read too much into the relative finishing positions of those on opposite sides of the track. When that happens I find it best to treat them as two separate races and rate them accordingly.

For example, in my opinion, Due Diligence was greatly flattered to get close at Ascot. He was racing in what proved all week to be the advantaged side of the course yet the winner was on the unfavoured side which speaks volumes for the difference between them.

[stevecaution]

All credit to Slade Power from me. Many things haven’t gone to plan for him this season, but he has been all class. Well done to Eddie Lynam for nurturing his horse so well, too.

He has done it on very different ground conditions, can carry plenty of weight with no problems and is very tactically versatile. You can see why he has been snapped up for stud duty already.

The only question is whether he can carry it on in the backend of the season. Starspangledbanner and Lethal Force both looked set to dominate the division until getting jaded before going to stud, so he might not have everything sewn up just yet.

I was disappointed that they never gave Lethal Force a try in the Nunthorpe. His best performances seemed to come when forcing the pace over 6f on fast ground. Instead they chose to go a half furlong further and take on Moonlight Cloud in France, before ending his career with a tame effort on good to soft at Haydock, where he weakened approaching the final furlong. The horse only won once at 7f and was only ever tried at 5f on his debut. You feel he should have gone to stud with more than 4 wins from his 17 starts.

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[Triptych]

Slade won that well but take a look at the ride from William Buick on Gregorian, would have been a lot closer with a clearer run.

Only just had time to watch my recording of the July Cup as being there I only had eyes for Slade Power on the far side.

William Buick was on the stands rail and 2f from home started edging Gregorian out into the middle of the course towards the far rail where the pace was, up the hill he was making really good headway and would have been a lot closer to Slade Power but would never have beaten him.

As for all the comments from Nick Luck & Co about Slade Power sweating up before the race, that was put to bed by his owner who told Clare Balding that they would have been worried if he wasn’t sweating as it’s in his nature.

Great day’s racing it seemed the whole racecourse was on Slade Power as he hit the rising ground by the cheer that went up, pure magic Jac

Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...

[stevecaution]

Interestingly, Tropics will run

without

the hood on his next start. They are dropping him to five furlongs for The King George Stakes at Goodwood, which was won by Moviesta last year.

Tropics was raised 6lb for his second behind Slade Power in the July Cup and the trainer reckons he has plenty of speed, in theory, to be effective at 5f.

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

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