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I read Paul Ferguson’s horses to follow book today and was struck by a few mentions of horses ‘whose hurdling style suggests they will make good chasers’.
That might well be so, but in all my years I have never connected the two – not once have I made a note of any hurdling technique with a view to following the horse as a chaser. For me hurdles and fences are separate entities so far as jumping styles go.
You?
Game of opinions and we all see different races but, back in the day, I thought what helped make Night Nurse the all-time great Champion Hurdler he was was his clinical hurdling style.
Night Nurse was so low, fast and accurate that one January day in 1978 at Doncaster when he jumped the fourth last side on to me, watching through binoculars in the stand, he barely even seemed to break stride.
I never saw him stand off at an obstacle until later in his career when he went chasing.
Some ex-hurdlers, especially 2m ones, take that low flat style of jumping over fences.
I often thought Badsworth Boy hurdled his fences – and he ended up on the deck once or twice as a consequence IMO.
Interesting subject – I guess horses who stand off at their hurdles and give them
plenty of air might not be the most efficient hurdlers, but might hint at promise for a future chasing career.I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"I would say a big framed, big striding horse who finds it difficult to get down low over hurdles and jumps its body too high over the obstacle with too much “up”, possibly with dangly gangly legs, while the whippy smaller ones are flicking straight “across” with their girths practically touching the hurdle . You can see a little check in the rhythm as the big one steps over.
El Fabiolo in the novice hurdle at Aintree would be an example- mind you, he clobbered a couple in the Arkle and some of the improvement is probably because he is a year younger than Jonbon. I thought the same about Classic Getaway and he duly beat better fancied horses in his beginners chase but then got injured so my thoughts about him never really got tested.
I suppose a good jumping technique is a good jumping technique
But the perfect hurdling technique is very fast and low
And as Ian says that often ends with horses hitting the deck over fences
Horses that balloon hurdles is an interesting one
Are they showing themselves as needing a fence? Or are they showing that they aren’t very confident at their obstacles and will struggle even more presented with a fence
I personally don’t think this can be something generally applied, all the horses are very different
The extra bravery required of the horse to whing itself at a fence is something we can’t really anticipate
I feel breeding is a much better indicator of how a horse will take to fences than their hurdling technique
But il never know as I definitely won’t be spending hours analysing all my antepost novice chase picks hurdling technique
Il spend a few minutes looking at how big they are and checking their breeding and be happy with that
If I was a professional punter perhaps it’s an avenue I’d look down as I’d be trying to find every edge possible
That photo a good illustration. Chaser.
https://www.irishracing.com/news/Marine-Nationale-sails-home-on-hurdling-bow-/236306
Hurdler…my pocket hopes anyway. Well a decent chaser too probably.
Cracking example greenasgrass; if I couldn’t see the hurdle I’d swear he was jumping a fence. The first word that came to mind was athletic.
“Horses that balloon hurdles is an interesting one
Are they showing themselves as needing a fence? Or are they showing that they aren’t very confident at their obstacles and will struggle even more presented with a fence”
I think the latter. If the impression is that the horse thinks the obstacle is red hot and takes care not to touch it at all, even if that means really checking stride a lot a balloning, I think that’ll be a panicker over fences who’ll be jamming on and putting in short strides.
If the impression is “get these stupid little things out of my way or I’ll kick the out of the way if need be, I’m so scopey I can take off wherever I feel like it, except ahhh dammit I was too close to that one, how do you expect me to get these massive legs up out of way in time, oh well who cares now the hurdle is lying in tiny splinters like it deserves, don’t waste my time with these pathetic Noddy obstacles they are spoiling my flow. Don’t worry about my legs by the way, that last hurdle is in ruins but my legs are fine, I’M A BEAST”
…then bring on the novice chasing fun.https://www.irishracing.com/news/Melon-new-Supreme-Novice-favourite/180549
Melon, making a mistake at the last in his maiden. He had got a bit too long at it, like Facile Vega in the other photo, but instead of launching big and bold like a chaser he took a long, flat trajectory. He was a decent enough chaser but I think if there had been a 2.5m “Ryanair hurdle” at Cheltenham he would have stayed over hurdles.
I always steered clear of two sorts of hurdlers when they switched to chasing. The first was those with an already high handicap mark gained over hurdles, especially if as in recent years, that mark was going to be applied in a novice handicap chase. That high mark invariably meant they’d be well backed in their early chases, but I preferred to look for the improver who looked one paced or clumsy over hurdles.
The second was based on how long the horse had raced over hurdles and/or the number of races run over hurdles. Obviously a horse could have two season over hurdles, but only run eight races (yes, I am thinking of CH). The theory is that the longer they spend over hurdles, both racing and schooling, the more ingrained that technique becomes and the harder it will be to adapt to jumping fences. One season hurdling is the ideal for me, but if two seasons, then not more than ten races.
Good point, AP. The only one that comes immediately to mind who would have defied that is Night Nurse, though, in a way, it is the exception that proves the rule. And I think that applies in general in this debate. The Facile Vega and Dessie pictures here would make a hugely convincing case for the style were those horses jumping like that at every flight and in every hurdle race. I think that was the point I was trying to get to originally; I’ve never noticed a horse who looked consistently in his jumping style to make a persuasive argument for chasing.
Striking how deep a grey Dessie was in his young days. I saw him in his retirement at a charity do and he was as white as aspirin.
Facile Vega for the Arkle judging by the two photos Greenasgrass put up
Blackbeard to conquer the World
“The Facile Vega and Dessie pictures here would make a hugely convincing case for the style were those horses jumping like that at every flight and in every hurdle race. ”
Joe has me rumbled: I cherry picked the most chaser-y looking photo of Facile Vega I could find and the most hurdler-y one of Marine Nationale …cos I’ve already backed FV for the Arkle
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