- This topic has 16 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 1 month ago by
.
- Posts
When will King do the right thing by his owners and call time on the relationship? Not talking through my pocket as was the beneficiary of WBY crashing out.
I also notice that Medermit didn’t jump fluently, even allowing for rustiness, and that Two Rockers went at the first.
Chocks away!
I have mentioned him before in another thread with a similar vein.
However he is not alone.
Jacob for Nicholls is equally inept.
Fauscino Rustico today was Thorntonesque and the ride he gave Zarkandar was baffling to say the least. A potential World Hurdle horse trying to do a Champion Hurdle contender for a turn of foot. BizarreSnap. I’d given up on my Whateley double but then having travelled much the best the King horse capsizes with the race won.
I didn’t see what happened with Two Rockers, but two nasty falls over hurdles in a day.
On a related note, Tony McCoy was immense on Bobcatbilly at Haydock.
On an awkward horse who was getting a little weary and idle, he kept his calm at the last few fence. Rarely can an eased-down 13-length winner be a candidate for ride of the week, but that must be one.
Seems to have lost his nerve and confidence and horses are picking up on it – classic case of the horse saying " I don’t know what you want me to do " and falling as a result.
He’s basically ruined Kings two best novices this season. The ride he gave Carraig Mor was awful and that horse hasn’t been seen since. Meanwhile, Wilde Blue Yonder probably should be unbeaten in 4 starts this year, but Thornton has conspired to make the horse make 3 bad mistakes at the last in all of his hurdle races, two resulting in falls. Two very nice novices just totally destroyed.
It’s a bit early to say Thornton has done any damage to those horses, but the missed prize money must be very annoying to connections. I hope it doesn’t take a fatal fall for a stable star to end Thornton’s time with the stable.
I find all of this quite ridiculous. This is a guy who has ridden over 1000 winners. Yes by his high standards the last couple of, injury plagued, years have been mediocre by his high standards, but his record suggests that he is in the top echelon of riders. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, however I find some of this opinion is mainly based on hearsay and a lack of understanding of the sport. I have read many forum debates and other social media outlets, that have had a go at, in no particular order, the likes of Geraghty, Twiston-Davies, Scudamore, Russel and Johnson all top, top riders and have been consistently in the top 10 for as long as I can remember. Yes like any other walk of life they can get it wrong, but the fact is they get it wrong on fewer occasions than most, which is why they have either had the best jobs or kept the best jobs over a sustained length of time. The modern trend of having clueless pundits, Cunningham, Hislop etc trying to explain the art of race riding in depth has not helped this cause. There is a place for these people and just I am not in favour of just having a clique ex-pro’s club, however cricket and football televise puts racing firmly in the shade, when the likes of Carragher, Neville, Botham and Holding analyse a days performance or match. As Mickey Holding once said "Does ‘e wanna be at de crease" and frankly having bowled at someone at 90 mph+ he had a very good idea of those who did and those who didn’t.
Seebald, you don’t have to be an ex-jockey to see that Thornton doesn’t organise his mounts well at an obstacle. Re-watch Saturday’s Ascot racing online and compare his presentation of a horse to a fence with that of other riders. The difference is clearly visible.
I’d disagree, the horse is travelling into the hurdle, and meeting it on a good stride, Choc is going forward with him and allowing him to attack the hurdle, just because he is not moving on him does not mean that he is not helping him, as from a long way out he has realised there is no need to alter his stride. Perhaps in hindsight he should have been more definate on the horse however to my eye WBY guesses at the hurdle as he has done on all of his starts over hurdles, and steps into the obsticle. The horse has a habit of doing this. Choc has not in anyway changed his mind into the hurdle, or sent mixed signals to the horse, i.e looking to attack the hurdle and stand off the hurdle, and then changing his mind. But again these are technical issues which actually, yes, an ex-pro would have a better idea about.
I’d disagree, the horse is travelling into the hurdle, and meeting it on a good stride, Choc is going forward with him and allowing him to attack the hurdle, just because he is not moving on him does not mean that he is not helping him, as from a long way out he has realised there is no need to alter his stride. Perhaps in hindsight he should have been more definate on the horse however to my eye WBY guesses at the hurdle as he has done on all of his starts over hurdles, and steps into the obsticle. The horse has a habit of doing this. Choc has not in anyway changed his mind into the hurdle, or sent mixed signals to the horse, i.e looking to attack the hurdle and stand off the hurdle, and then changing his mind. But again these are technical issues which actually, yes, an ex-pro would have a better idea about.
My and many others opinions are probably based on the fact that you can clearly see he is riding low on confidence. All you have to see is how the King horses jump for Hutchinson as opposed to Thornton. You can see the indecision/lack of confidence at almost every obstacle with Thornton.
Of course, yes he has a career record that is excellent and that comes with having been associated with a top stable. But when riders have suffered injuries, as is oft referred to in jockeys autobiographies, the ‘bottle’ can go.
I think Adrian Maguires career took a nosedive with similar issues.I’m surprised he’s retained the mount on Carraig Mor tomorrow after that awful ride when turned over at Ascot at 1/8. Yes, the mistake could not squarely be landed on Choc’s shoulders, but the way he panicked and tried rushing him back into the race did him no favours whatsoever.
It’s a bit early to say Thornton has done any damage to those horses, but the missed prize money must be very annoying to connections. I hope it doesn’t take a fatal fall for a stable star to end Thornton’s time with the stable.
The problems within the stable have not helped, but if you told me after watching Carraig Mor on hus UK debut that his season would have progressed like this, i’d have been very very disappointed. He looked exceptional IMO. We will see what happens today.
Apparently Wilde Blue Yonder is a likely supreme runner. Depending on the outcome of First Mohican, they might either re-route him or hopefully he has Hutchinson onboard. Hopefully these heavy falls don’t impact his development, because he’s clearly a very smart and willing individual.
King has been in decline since his peak years and although he’s definitely had some bad luck (some his own doing), i wonder how much the presence of Thornton is A) limiting some of his horses B) limiting potential owners/upsetting current owners. Who knows, but Thornton definitely isn’t a good jockey at this stage in his career.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were something amiss with Carraig Mor. That blunder at Ascot looked like one which could cause muscular/back problems and he didn’t look comfortable at any stage today. I’d send him for a complete MOT.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.