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Just saying in the chatroom last night how weak the race looked barring Kauto Star, Exotic Dancer and War of Attrition. Two horse race for me now.
I was trying to back Halcon Generlardais EW at 50’s when the markets went down. First time blinkers and the possibility of slow ground makes it a bet at the 40’s still available. His form is on a par with State of Play who is into single figures now.
Heat in a leg apparently. Scared off allegedly
Hardly….trainer’s mother died last night as well…
As the horse has been drifting all week this isn’t the biggest surprise ever. Glad I backed Exotic Dancer last night though (thanks Corm ;))
He seemed to be talking the horse down this week a bit. Pity hes not running simply beacuse we will get the old whatdidhebeat rubbish when KS trots up
Quote: from davidjohnson on 1:34 pm on Mar. 3, 2007[br]Heat in a leg apparently. Scared off allegedly.:biggrin: <br>
I very much doubt it DJ, Horses do pick up injurys its just bad luck for all involved. Hes still a Gold Cup Winner and lets hope we see him back to his best next year.
Don’t want to sound harsh, considering Mouse’s dreadful past couple of days, but doesn’t this really highlight what happens when connections wrap a star horse in cotton wool?
Connections of the horse have clearly built WOA’s season around the Gold Cup, running him in races on the wrong kind of ground – not seeking out big races on the other side of the pond on better ground (and not having him fit enough to win any of the races he has run in so far this season), with the intention of having him spot-on for Friday 16th March.
Mouse Morris has clearly been studying at the ‘Henrietta Knight School of Training’.
Fair play to Kauto Star’s connections – they have a top horse, and campaign him appropriately. A Tingle Creek, a King George, and probably a Gold Cup – all in the same season.
Kauto Star’s connections clearly have the bigger BALLS, and have been rewarded accordingly.
Would Jim Lewis have wanted his horse to win 3 Gold Cups or have its racing career foreshortened by humping huge weights in bogs several times a season?
Best Mate’s campaigns worked out well for connections. But this type of incident does hghlight the folly of gearing a whole season to one race in March. The National Hunt Season is bigger than the Festival.
If KS wins at the festival and then comes out next year and wins all again he will be remembered as one of the greatest. ie. winning at various courses over different trips on various grounds.
Best Mate although winner of 3 Gold Cups, most people agree BM cannot be given this accolade. What is frustrating is that BM never got the chance to prove how good he was.
Completely agree Pegwell Bay. Kauto Star has had a proper campaign and there is little chance of him not "peaking" for Cheltenham. It can be done and we have seen it done with other horses likes Moscow etc in recent years.
The "scared off" charge is manifestly unfair.<br>What have connections got to gain by missing the chance of earning good prize money with an 8 year old gelding ? Flat stud considerations obviously don’t apply.<br>Take out Kauto Star and this year’s Gold Cup looks a particularly weak event in which WoA would certainly have been competitive. In any event you should never be afraid of one horse and KS is the same price to fail to complete as it is to win.<br>Fair enough, a GC win over Hedgehunter and win at Punchestown over Beef or Salmon hardly confers greatness and WoA was either being brought along slowly or wasn’t at his best this season but there are worse winners of big races in the form book.<br>The horse is only 8 and comparatively lightly raced and MAY come back and retain ability – didn’t Well Chief have a similar "heat in a leg" problem?<br>Commiserations to Mouse Morris as well over the death of his mother on Friday.
doesn’t this really highlight what happens when connections wrap a star horse in cotton wool?
Connections of the horse have clearly built WOA’s season around the Gold Cup, running him in races on the wrong kind of ground – not seeking out big races on the other side of the pond on better ground (and not having him fit enough to win any of the races he has run in so far this season), with the intention of having him spot-on for Friday 16th March.
Mouse Morris has clearly been studying at the ‘Henrietta Knight School of Training’.
This was what I was thinking.
I remember similar comments when it was announced that Best Mate would miss the Gold Cup 2 years ago.
While I don’t think that WoA is necessarily a horse that would take a lot of races in a season, there seems to have been a
"we’ll just run him in the heavy ground in Ireland because there’s only one race we care about"
attitude about his campaign and, IMO, they would have been better bringing him to England for the likes of the King George.
Steve
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