- This topic has 861 replies, 151 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
He was lay of the festival at 11/10 for me, but that was more due to the uncertainty in his form. I’m still unsure he’ll ever produce his best again though.
I thought George ran an encouraging race on his reappearance. Ran on gamely enough.<br>Now that the ringrust has gone he’ll be a real force and today won’t have been ‘the’ day.
Quote: from cormack15 on 9:32 pm on June 19, 2007[br]I thought George ran an encouraging race on his reappearance. Ran on gamely enough.<br>Now that the ringrust has gone he’ll be a real force and today won’t have been ‘the’ day.
agreed
Iwas extremely doubtful in the other thread of O’Briens (or anyone elses) abilty to get GW ready for a Group 1 event in such a rushed preparation. Carson on BBC also expressed some doubt as to his condition " he’s all right but I have seen him more muscled" he stated.
There is no doubt in my mind that he will improve immeasurably for that run as he did after Goodwood last year. Whether when fitter he will prove more tractable – as he did last year – we will see but I saw no more temperment today than you would expect from a frsh slightly undercooked horse.
- Total Posts 17716
Carvills/db
Ramonti has long been a front runner, so much so that he has won all his major races by doing so, even tried to make all over the 12f of the Italian Derby.<br>Why then, do you suppose he was held up in the Lockinge? Was he afraid of a battle with Speciosa; he met much better horses in Sha Tin but still ran his normal race.<br>It was obvious, even after less than a furlong, that there was to be no great pace in the Lockinge, yet a horse who has always shown his best when allowed to stride on was persistently denied his greatest asset throughout the pedestrian first 6 furlongs of what culminated in a sprint to the line. <br>At no stage, until the final furlong, was the horse given the opportunity to make a race of it, even when it was quite clear that no one else was interested in making it a proper test.<br>Even in his post-race interview yesterday, Frankie had the gall to say he didn’t know how to ride the horse in the Lockinge, a laughable assertion considering half of the punters in England could have told him.<br>Not some devious plot to engineer a better price, it usually isn’t in the goldfish bowl of gp1 races, but a clear case of a horse being readied for a more important target, which happens all the time, and at all levels, despite what some may think to the contrary.
Quote: from reet hard on 5:46 am on June 20, 2007[br]Carvills/db
Ramonti has long been a front runner, so much so that he has won all his major races by doing so, even tried to make all over the 12f of the Italian Derby.<br>Why then, do you suppose he was held up in the Lockinge? Was he afraid of a battle with Speciosa; he met much better horses in Sha Tin but still ran his normal race.<br>It was obvious, even after less than a furlong, that there was to be no great pace in the Lockinge, yet a horse who has always shown his best when allowed to stride on was persistently denied his greatest asset throughout the pedestrian first 6 furlongs of what culminated in a sprint to the line. <br>At no stage, until the final furlong, was the horse given the opportunity to make a race of it, even when it was quite clear that no one else was interested in making it a proper test.<br>Even in his post-race interview yesterday, Frankie had the gall to say he didn’t know how to ride the horse in the Lockinge, a laughable assertion considering half of the punters in England could have told him.<br>Not some devious plot to engineer a better price, it usually isn’t in the goldfish bowl of gp1 races, but a clear case of a horse being readied for a more important target, which happens all the time, and at all levels, despite what some may think to the contrary.
Yep, would agree with most of that. Post race Dettori said he spoke to his "good friend" Endo Botti about how to ride Ramonti and Botti told him to "be brave". You would have thought that they would have had this conversation prior to the Lockinge, or even when Ramonti was first acquired by Godolphin. I have to admit I thought Ramonti was a certainty for the Lockinge and maybe Godolphin/Dettori thought as much too and it was over-confidence to assume he would win whatever way he was ridden, which was ultimately why he got beat.
I would like to see him go off like a bat out of hell in something like the Sussex as he doesn’t seem to weaken, he just keeps staying on and because he will be viewed as a somewhat ‘lucky’ winner yesterday he will be a bigger price than he ought to be.
To add my 2 cents to the GW argument about yesterday being a prep race…
If he had run in a lesser race and not performed then they would have missed out on all the hype and excitement surrounding his return. On the other hand, if he had run well in a lesser race then yesterday’s hype would have been even greater.<br>However, this was too much of a risk to take…better run him in a big race and get the press and public excited and he run ‘poorly’.
To be fair for a first race back for a horse that has learned the ‘pleasures’ of being at stud I don’t think he ran too badly. Wouldn’t catch me sitting on it looking at the way it went down to the start but once he was given a reminder he picked up admirably and was in the equation to the line.
So the conclusion is that he could have done with a reminder race somewhere less exposed but as I have said above, I just don’t think Ballydoyle wanted to risk it.
Quote from Alastair Down’s article todays RPost.
"In many ways, the focus of the race was favourite George Washington, who behaved immaculately in the paddock and kept his member in it’s enclosure."  :biggrin:
I think they expected to win due to the quality of opposition rather than his fitness. Perhaps someone could enlighten me but how far in advance of racing would a horse be expected to be in training? I got the impression they would have preferred more time but were prepared to take there chance.
"In many ways, the focus of the race was favourite George Washington, who behaved immaculately in the paddock and kept his member in it’s enclosure."
#
To the relief of the other colts…..
Aragorn
the time they had would have been OK if he had had a normal winter like between his 2 and 3yr old campaigns. as it was he will have been much less fit and a bit top heavy as stallions often are (i thought he still had a bit of that look about him yesterday). So its not what would normally would be needed but the unusual circumstances that meant they wouldve liked longer i think.
Aragorn,
There are 2 criteria a trainer normally employs in bringing a horse back from a long enforced rest ( rather than a break for R&R reasons)
A. is the horse fit enough that the race does him good and accelerates his progress to full fitness rather than setting him back due to his exertions?
B. is the horse fit enough to win at his best level 1st time out?
For A you re usually talking 3+ months whilst to achieve B normally 4 months+
The trick is to wind the horse up through the fitness stages without him resenting it and hence risking going slightly sour. To get it right depends largely on the horse and the correct reading of the signs the horse is giving out.
Prior to the race I expressed queasiness that GW had only between 2 and 3 months depending on how one interpreted O’Briens somewhat delphic comments about being isolated and having 5 legs.
If he took yesterdays race well I am sure we will see a big improvement next time.
i just cant have this "lack of fitness" stuff. How come he ran on again if he was not physically right?
He ran a Rakti. God only knows if he will settle next time but it was hard enough before his love life was curtailed.
Clive,
Come on Rakti makes George look like a pussycat these days. I watched the race last night for the first time and he ran a strange sort of race, pulling hard, eventually settling then when Kinane went after him he didn;t respond until the whip was brought out. Carson (Who despite being unable to pronounce the names of french jockeys) is a pretty decent paddock judge and he thought he looked less muscled than he had seen him before so I would expect improvement next time.. Jeremy should run in the july cup or something.. Electric turn of foot..
Interesting Carson observed that, but the stable were absolutely buzzing about his chances…. surely there wasnt that much to work on? Either way, i feel that temperament is the biggest issue by far
Jeremy ran superbly well and looks like another Stoute one that never stops improving. But would July cup be too short? Theres something very specialist about the (ideal for jeremy) 7f trip
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.