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Once he was asked to pick up it never looked likely that Canford Cliffs was going to win. The exuberance he showed at Newbury and Ascot just wasn’t there and it is guesswork whether we will see it again. Listening to Hannon Junior on At The Races before the race he seemed far less bullish about the horse than he had been earlier in the season.
I wouldn’t get carried away with the others as they finished in a heap and the filly who looked anything but straightforward almost won.
The problem was this was a step up in class for Canford and those odds clearly didnt reflect his chance of winning he’s only a 2 year old whos facing good group 1 opposition for the 1st time and he’s sent off around 4/9 whereas Arcano was 9/2 when his form was only maybe just below Canford’s.
Although I have severe doubts about Canford Cliffs training on next year, because he is by Tagula who seems to mainly get 2yo types, I think Canford Cliffs has to be given another chance this year. The eyes and the clock can’t have lied at Ascot. My pet theory at the moment is that the horse didn’t like travelling over to France. (His only two runs so far have been close to home, at Newbury and Ascot.)
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I think about every post you make Stacelita comes from somhwere out in orbit I’m just not sure from which planet
The day we stop trying to find excuses for good horses that get beat is the day we should stop punting entirely.
How may times have we seen a horse run at a meeting with a high profile target flop next time out without reason?
Canford Cliffs was absolutely brilliant at Ascot and no doubt 100% spot on. Maybe it was a bad race but considering the 2nd went on to win a Group 2 I doubt it was that bad. Some horse depending on their make up can easily go over the top after only 2 runs especially if like Canford Cliffs they have won their first two. That’s why many trainers only run their best horses only 1 to 3 times in their first season. The are after all only babies.
Sea the Stars himself had only three runs and you can bet knowing what he turned into wasn’t anywhere near fit first time and had a very easy race.
Take Henrythenavigator for example. He won his first 2 racees and looked a real horse and was then was beaten when 1/2 by a 25/1 shot Saoirse Abu who won nothing as a 3yo. You could blame the ground but I doubt if it was that as AOB saw fit to run him again on it.
Canford Cliffs IMO was way too impressive at Ascot to be thinking we saw the best of him today. Had he beaten beaten by only Brian Meehans horse fine! as he does look like a really nice horse but for that filly to have beat him and the other two being within 1/2 a length of him a cat with blocked sinuses cold smell a rat….less the thing was braindead as well like some people obviously are,
Sour grapes you are advising people to back odds on especially a 2 year old who’s facing top class opposition for the 1st time now which planet is that info from? The same planet which convinced you MCM would beat STS 
or maybe the one which said Sariska was was special? - Total Posts 17716
Touche.
Although I too am shocked and stunned by Canford Cliff’s defeat, I am also convinced the horse is much better than this; he clearly did not race with same zest or enthusiasm he had done previously.
I don’t buy into this upped in class theory. The opposition; Arcano apart, were nothing to write home about.
Maybe he needs seven furlongs now.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Even so he still didn’t justify his skinny odds or for someone to advise people putting a decent sized bet on.
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After dominating over six furlongs at Ascot, Canford Cliffs suddenly needs a seventh?
Both Richard Hannon and Richard Hannon Jnr were decidedly cautious over Canford Cliffs’s chances this weekend and the fact that the former nominated fifth-placed Zanzibari as the main danger speaks volumes. The turn of foot we were treated to in the Coventry was seemingly not in evidence today, but could it not be that it was nullified because he was simply facing much better horses?
Rakaan, third at Ascot, has since failed miserably in maiden company and Xtension, second at Ascot, needed every yard of Goodwood’s seven furlongs having looked at one stage to be in real trouble. Compare that with Special Duty, who won the Robert Papin impressively despite running green (the form of which isn’t at all bad, the runner-up being a previously undefeated Listed winner and the fourth-placed horse an undefeated Group 2 winner in Italy) and Arcano, who won more than cosily at Newmarket having beaten the Gimcrack winner on debut, and the two races are worlds apart.
Canford Cliffs just wasn’t good enough. That’s not to say he isn’t good, he has contributed to a race and course record after all, but there were just two better.
Having watched the race again Arcano really should push on from this, especially upped in trip, and Special Duty should prove herself to be a more than capable Group-class filly.
I remember saying at the time of the conventry what a graveyard it is for winners of that race.You have go back a long time to find a winner who then won there next race,for some reason it seems to take a lot out of the winner,maybe thats why obrien missed the race with stienback
Nope, that’s not why. I was doing race trends for the 2000 Guineas a couple of weeks ago and the Coventry is a graveyard for horses. From 22 runners since 1995, 2 have won with the other 20 unplaced. The 2 winners were trained by O’Brien. Says it all.
Not necessarily that the Coventry itself is a graveyard, I think it’s because trainers with 2,000 Guineas aspirants seem to leave them until later in the season to run them against stiff opposition. I think it’s just that the best horses don’t run in it and then the principals are then beaten when they take the better horses on.
Maybe the horse was disappointed by being covered up. It’s the first time that he has been put in behind a horse in a race and he may not have been etirely happy with it.
He certainly didn’t pick up anything like the way he did at Ascot. That’s not to say that he’s a better horse than Arcano and, as a prospect for the future, I’d take the Meehan horse, but it’s very unusual that a couple of lengths covered the entire field.
Is there a chance that the ground on the rails was slower than that closer to the middle of the track? Arcano, while acknowledging that he looks a stayer, seemed only to really pick up when switched outside Canford Cliffs.
It was a somewhat disappointing reverse but, from a punting perspective, it’s best to read the race as seen and concentrate on Arcano for the future.
A disappointing run by Canford Cliffs, but it’s premature to write him off on the evidence of one bad run. Maybe he isn’t a good traveller, but more likely he just had an off day, although the winner is clearly very smart.
I’m confident he’ll bounce back next time, and he’ll no doubt be a G1 sprinter next year.
He certainly doesn’t need an extra furlong and he has virtually no chance of staying a mile.
When I first heard that Canford Cliffs was going for the Morny, I felt that it was a strange choice of race. I do think some horses feel alien going to other countries to race.
Like others on here, I too am gutted that CC was beaten but he does appear to have shot a blank. It’s way too early to write him off and I hope he’ll bounce back.
High five LGR.
I think too many people were dismissive of the others when this field was clearly better than anything he met at Ascot or Newbury.
Emerald Commander has more scope for the 2,000 Guineas than Canford Cliffs IMO.
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I don’t believe any race in history is a graveyard for any horse that runs in the 2000 guineas. The mentality behind that and trends is totally nonsensical and is the equivilant of saying if red comes up 4 times then the next time it can’t possibly be black…..a horse is either good enough to win a classic or he is not. Nonoalco won both as did Zafonic who broke the track record in the 2000 guineas.
Speaking of which…I just read Arcana broke the track record
Looked as if they were hacking for the first 3 furlongs to me.Obviously not! and all 5 must have been close to breaking the record.
Usually top sprinters wouldn’t get a mile….maybe none of these will. Ladbrokes going 12’s the field seem to be thinking that way.
I still think it would be a brave man who is prepeared to right off Canford Cliffs and some bookies are in agreement making him 8/1 joint fav.
Sour grapes you are advising people to back odds on especially a 2 year old who’s facing top class opposition for the 1st time now which planet is that info from? 
The same planet which convinced you MCM would beat STS 
or maybe the one which said Sariska was was special? 
Looked as if they were hacking for the first 3 furlongs to me.- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.