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Denman’s 09 Gold Cup performance wasn’t far short of his best, and his Aintree run was an aberration caused by circumstances even less in his favour
But, without reviewing the races again, wouldnt it be fair to say that he jumped and even travelled better today?
Memory can be faulty, but he simply looked like a rejuvenated horse today, regardless of ratings
I,like many, was far from sure that Denman was still capable of showing his best form after the problems he’s had.But boy, the tank proved me wrong today.Fantastic performance.
Kauto was the first horse to regain the GC this year.I’m now convinced that Denman can emulate that come march.
Barbers Shop probably just isn’t a Grade 1 animal. Apart from his Paddy Power run last year, he simply doesn’t have any outstanding form over fences.
Fingeronthepulse who beat him in the Jewson is no more than a decent handicapper. The horse he beat at Sandown, Abbeybraney, was consistently getting stuffed around the gaff tracks over here before Wylie crazily decided to fork out two hundred grand to bring him to England. He was well beaten today in a novice event up at Newcastle by Weapons Amnesty.
I’d be amazed if Barbers Shop was good enough to place in a Gold Cup or even win a Ryanair. If he wasn’t trained by Henderson and owned by the Queen I doubt we’d take that much notice of him.
This arkle stuff has been dredged up before and its a bit tiresome after what we have just seen
Agree with the rating point raised and was jump racing any where near as competitive as now? I know he had Mill House, but was the pool of trainers and horses in training such as we now see? to me its logical that it would take far more to dominate a larger number of competing horses bred and trained for purpose than a smaller arena
The fat turd might have practically nipped a Commodore from my pocket for that drivel he calls an autobiography, but hats off, Paul Nicholls deserves an enormous amount of praise for what went down at Newbury this afternoon. The Denman we saw all last season was obviously lacking the sparkle of his 2007/8 incarnation, for all he wasn’t a massive kick in the arse off his best in form terms, but Nicholls has managed to bring the big bugger back to his very best for today.
As Drone put at greater length and with greater flair, Denman in full flight has a real overbearing presence that I’ve never seen in a horse before, and it was amazing to see he had it back today after the events of last term. The feat is made more impressive for me by the fact that there have been a lot of Ditcheat inmates shaping as though their first run will bring them on, and given his build Denman surely isn’t the easiest to strip fit first time out. To cap it all, Nicholls happened to train the runner-up, too.A truly wonderful training performance for my money.
Thats what he didnt do last season, just bully the entire field, well he almost bullied every horse bar What A Friend, Sam was still pretty motionless when Denman was streching the field right out, looked for all money What A Friend was going to win I thought when he looked all over Denman but Denman just found another gear when What A Friend came to eyeball him and he just took off from the fence, admittely What A Friend lost a lot of ground on the last fence and looked to be making a bit of ground towards the finsih which sould put him in good stead for his future and good things surely will happen for him.
But not being a very big jumps fan, that was just an amazing achievement what I saw from Denman today, was quite spectacular, would be nice if Ruby actually gave Denman a go for the GC next year.
It is interesting that Denman was rated 180p by Timeform in Chasers & Hurdlers, after his Gold Cup win. Had they chosen to rate Denman (in today’s Hennessy) on that rating; he’d have weight adjusted figure of 189 (not 184+). Top rated and 7lbs in front of both Barber Shop 182+ and Niche Market 182. The distances were 3 1/2 lengths (to What A Friend), 3 3/4 lengths (to Niche Market) and short head to Barber Shop.
So the latter two were both beaten a touch more than 7 lengths. Don’t know what Timeform are going to rate Denman, but I suspect this performance is a pound or two better than his Gold Cup win.That still puts him a couple of pounds behind Kauto Star, but there is still a question mark whether KS is as good this term. The "decider" next march is not really a decider. Just a race to see who’s best this season.
Oh and I agree with Clive, do we have to have the "he is no Arkle" posts, every time a chaser produces a great performance. May be he isn’t, but change the f…… record! Or should that be CD?
Value Is EverythingI thought Denman ran a cracking race considering what happened to him last season. Still, it didn’t stop me from backing him because I knew that he was the king. I think the opposition he faced in this Hennessy was stronger than the previous one. Amazing to say the least!
Judging from Denman’s and Kauto Star’s latest races, I’d say that the former is my choice for the Gold Cup.
Well, without wishing to rehash my post-Betfair Chase post (but wanting to sound shrewd and impressive)…
Surely we can all see that Denman is the only horse that can take Kauto out of his comfort zone come March?
If the ground has some cut, maybe even if it is just "good," the Tank can destroy the champ.
Bottom line is: KS is a better horse all-round IMHO, as his King George and Tingle Creek victories show.
Maybe Denman could have won a KG (but not against KS), but a Tingle Creek?
If they both turn up fit and well then Denman will repeat his victory of 2008. He can and WILL take KS into territory that he cannot handle. Unless, of course, KS has improved further!?
"Gold Cup 2010 – one of the greatest races ever"
Let’s hope we’re not robbed of that spectacle…(imagine if one of them fell 4 out!!!!)
Zip
Not sure the ground makes a significant difference to who is going to win come March. The last two Gold Cups can not (imo) be put in to soft and good ground camps. The difference between ground conditions were not that much judged by times. Kauto’s time was only 3.32 secs faster than Denman’s winning time. Before you all rush to say they went too slow early last year; did they?
The races on the two Fridays with corresponding races were:
Weapons Amnesty in the Albert B, 0.36 secs faster (though I remember this race as particularly slow).
Zaynar’s Triumph, 3.77 secs faster.
Cappa Bleu’s Foxhunter 6.54 secs faster (Amateurs race times can be wildly different from year to year, their judgement of pace is not as good).
Oh Crick’s Grand Annual was 2.32 secs faster.So, the Triumph, Gold Cup and Grand Annual were all run roughly the same. Given these small (ish) time differences; and the way Kauto Star finished his race last year. I believe Kauto Star should be able to run to form given the conditions that prevailed in Denman’s Gold Cup.
The over riding factor between the two races is Kauto Star had a slight injury before being second and Denman had his heart problems. Both horses ran below form when runner up.
Value Is EverythingA long post…
Styles make great fights, and the contrasting styles of Denman and Kauto Star have helped to capture the imagination of the racing public.
Denman – efficent, commanding, straightforward
Kauto Star – ebullient, stylish, unpredictableDenman can certainly take horses out of their comfort zones, given the right conditions. He had his conditions today – the right course and the right ground. He is built to carry weight. The weight was an issue for me, but I was more inclined to worry about his temperament in relation to what he has had to endure these past twelve to eighteen months. Trying to give weight to several unexposed, improving types was a hard task -impossible if he wasn’t back to his very best.
Fourteen lengths seperated the first six home and there was another sixteen lengths back to the seventh. Not what you would expect from a competitve handicap.
Thirty-seven lengths seperated the first ten home in 2007. Sixty-three lengths seperated the same number this time. In my opinion, this was a quality renewal and easily superior to that of 2007.
The field were well and truly strung out by the end, with most off the bridle before Denman actually reached top gear. What to make of this, I don’t quite know yet.
One of the key attributes which seperate the good from the great is the ability to travel. Once Denman gets into a rhythm, weight becomes less of an issue. His jumping and forceful tactics cause others to make mistakes and, quite literally, break their spirit. Jump racing is all about rhythm and on soft ground around Newbury, Denman is a machine. Still, Look at how well Barbers Shop and What A Friend travelled. If that had been Kauto Star in the same position turning in, he would have found another gear.
This leads me onto Kauto Star. Ted Walsh said after his Gold Cup success last season that he travelled like a horse who had won two Tingle Creeks.
Sandown presents the biggest jumping test in the country, in my opinion. There’s no hiding place over two miles around there and if you have a horse that can win a Tingle Creek (beating a future Champion Chase winner in the process) there’s not a staying chaser in the land that can take you out of your comfort zone.
I’ve been present at the last two renewals of the Gold Cup and there was a huge difference between the Kauto Star I saw this year and in 2008. He looked far happier in the prelims this year and he duly showed it on the racecourse.
That was the finest exhibition of steeplechasing I’ve ever seen and if Kauto Star jumps like that next year, Denman will be unable to shake him and Kauto will put the race to bed between the final two fences.
Of course, one can argue that Kauto Star was yet another victim of Denman forcing mistakes from his rivals in 2008, but Kauto never looked happy that day. Yet he still dragged himself round the second circuit and would have got within four lengths of Denman but for clattering the last. Regardless of what many beleive, Denman never broke him.
I said afterwards that it will be interesting to see how Denman is ridden the following year. Denman was out on his feet at the end and a Kauto Star operating at 100% would have his measure the following season if Denman was ridden in the same way, but go too slow and you play to Kauto’s strengths. Despite not being himself, he only had seven lengths to make up.
Conversely, Kauto Star will never again put in the kind of performance that won him the race last season. It was beautiful. It was, quite literally, perfect. Denman, arguably not at his best and ridden with restraint, has thirteen lengths to make up.
Kauto Star is the better horse, in my opinion. Kempton will tell us if he’s the same horse. No reason to think why he shouldn’t be – he will not exactly be an OAP as a 10YO.
If both turn up at Cheltenham at the peak of their powers on genuine good-soft ground, Kauto Star will secure his hat-trick.
A lot can happen between now and then, though.
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Ginger
Of course the ground makes a difference (RP going allowances show that Denman’s Gold Cup would have been run around 2 seconds faster than Kauto’s on identical ground, rather than the actual 3 seconds slower) in that softer ground puts more emphasis on stamina.
In his career, Denman has put up 3 180+ (RPR) performances – all at distances in excess of 3m; Kauto Star has put up 7 – just 1 of them at over 3m.
Go figure which one soft ground will suit best in the next GC!
I just hope the big horse can get into a decent rythm on saturday and we could get something of the old tank back.
Gutted that i wont see it live on saturday due to follow following my team to aberdeen…but i hope to come back in at night,turn on the sky+ and see a Denman destruction job.
Personally i can see it between killyglen and barbers shop tho….it will take a monumental performance from Denman.
How great would it be though if the 2 icons of the staying chaser division got to the GC in the form of their lives(throw in the likes of cooldine,IC etc),we could have a GC to savour.
Forever the optimist
At least half of my saturday was good!!!
What a performance.
In his career, Denman has put up 3 180+ (RPR) performances – all at distances in excess of 3m; Kauto Star has put up 7 – just 1 of them at over 3m.
Go figure which one soft ground will suit best in the next GC!Would this be the same RPR crowd who gave Master Minded 170 for the Connaught Chase, reet?
I agree that softground and 3m2f will very likely suit Denman better than Kauto Star, but I don’t need a laughing-stock ratings service to confirm it for me.
In his career, Denman has put up 3 180+ (RPR) performances – all at distances in excess of 3m; Kauto Star has put up 7 – just 1 of them at over 3m.
Go figure which one soft ground will suit best in the next GC!Would this be the same RPR crowd who gave Master Minded 170 for the Connaught Chase, reet?
I agree that softground and 3m2f will very likely suit Denman better than Kauto Star, but I don’t need a laughing-stock ratings service to confirm it for me.
What rating do you think MM ran to in the Connaught?
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