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For a race which hands over £1m to the winner you would have to question why it didn’t attract a better field or maybe there aren’t the horses to create a better field.
The more I know the less I understand.
It’s funny that, despite all their success, Coolmore have never had a true champion.
Timeform ratings aren’t infallible, of course, but their highest rated Coolmore horse was Hawk Wing – and his rating of 136 is based on his possibly fluky performance in the Lockinge as a 4yo.
Montjeu, owned by Michael Tabor, had a rating of 137.
So a horse puts its leg down a hole through no fault of its own and it’s tough.
One lifts it up in the stalls and its a nr
Spot on Homer
Ladbrokes apparently waived the deduction but not Paddy Power.
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Few (if any) high achieving home breds too. Odd that such a huge “breeding” operation has to buy in most of its top horses.
If you are a punter you pay your money and take your chance we all know that. How many of us have cursed our horses losing it at the start it’s life you move on and don’t expect your money back.
The more I know the less I understand.
“For a race which hands over £1m to the winner you would have to question why it didn’t attract a better field or maybe there aren’t the horses to create a better field.”
With modern breeding, is a 12 furlong race for three year olds in early June now something of an anachronism? Is The Derby really going to identify the best horse of its generation?
I suppose the argument against that would be City Of Troy won at Epsom – but The Lads couldn’t wait to drop him back to 10 furlongs.
It’s funny that, despite all their success, Coolmore have never had a true champion.
That’s so true. I still rate Giant’s Causeway as one of their all-time greats. Apart from the staying G1 races how many four year olds (and older) have won G1s for him in GB? Highland Reel was a KG winner at four, but how many more did he have?
“But ask them about the 3-yo hierarchy within the stable and they’ll get wrong almost every single time.”
That has certainly been the case for the last two years. If The Lads thought that Lambourn and Christmas Day were world beaters, Moore would have been on board.
I think it was clear that City Of Troy and Auguste Rodin were the Chosen Ones but several of the Coolmore winners have been very uninspiring.
“I doubt the public care about the lack of charisma of ‘the lads'”.
Perhaps not. But I do believe the obvious delight of Billy Loughnane and George Boughey after Bow Echo won the Guineas was a welcome breath of fresh air. Not over the top and attention seeking like Dettori and better than The Lads barely summoning up any enthusiasm after their fourth string has won.
I think instead of moaning at coolmore surely we should be more asking why gosden,godolphin or aga khan had not horses decent enough to run. Take out the coolmore horses and that would be a shocking field. Regards coolmore buying classic winners. All the other big operations had the chance to buy these horses. Could be the likes of mv magnier and pat shanahan are damn good at what they do. Yes it its frustrating the big races arent spread out but blaming coolmore seems to be missing the point. Imho of course.
I wonder if changing the trip to ten and a half or eleven furlongs might do the trick. There aren’t many, if any stallions at all producing winners over the Derby trip. What drives me crazy are the astronomical sums spent at auctions for horses that even fail to win a race, let alone Group 1s.
I don’t think we are blaming Coolmore for being shrewd and successful, but the game has become boring.
Just look at today’s cards. For a Saturday there was no other standout meeting and there were no Group races at the remaining tracks. I know we are in the pre-Royal Ascot phase, but it’s f*****g June, we should have competitive racing on a Saturday at more than just one track.Coolmore have so much firepower at their disposal that even a 4th or 5th string horse would be most other stables marque horse, heck even the ones Aidan balloted out of the race (that have been pacemaking in the trials) most stables would give their right arm to have in their yard.
Seperately, I hope to god that they never drop the race down to 10F – I know most would say that the French Derby has been all the better for it but a Derby should always be run over 12F as it is the classic distance especially at Epsom because it test a racehorse for speed, balance, agility and stamina.
There was a discussion about reducing the distance of the Derby to a mile and a quarter some years ago.
Thank goodness it didn’t happen; hopefully, it never will.
It would be a stupid thing to do. The Derby distance should be 12 furlongs and if you don’t have the right horse for the race, then you might reconsider your purchase policy.
“Could be the likes of mv magnier and pat shanahan are damn good at what they do. Yes it its frustrating the big races arent spread out but blaming coolmore seems to be missing the point. Imho of course.”
Fair point. I recognise it is churlish to criticise success. And I dare say a lot of punters don’t really care who owns the winner as long as they have backed him.
The likes of Godolphin need to raise their game but it still sits uneasily with me that one set of connections seem to be monopolising The Derby through their purchasing power. The game thrives on competition and variety.
As for the race distance, the traditionalist in me is pleased that any move to reduce the distance to 10 furlongs as at Chantilly has been resisted. However, it runs the risk of The Derby sliding into irrelevance in the same way the St Leger has.
Another reason the race has lost some appeal is that the French so rarely come over . When the Aga Khan,the Wertheimers or old Stavros Niarchos had a strong contender it always added interest . The million pound pot will help, but a bonus payment for a Derby/Arc or Derby/Grand Prix de Paris winner could add incentive. As another poster suggested, an incentive for the JRA is a good idea.
Epsom need a Nick Beaumont-Smith type character who can go out and drum up international business.
As for geezer Frank Warren’s relaunch, the weather rather kyboshed that so we will have to reserve judgement till next year . I’m not sure the ‘I remember eating jellied eels with my dad and taking bets from Prince Monolulu” shtick will cut much ice with the yoof though, so they will need some younger faces to help with the selling. But the Jockey Club are trying hard so let’s not knock them. I still think that on decent ground Maltese Cross would have hosed up- he was tanking 2f out- and had that happened, the spin on the race would have looked much more positive today.
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