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Absolutely . irisgift1 tells us that his injury has not affected the horse , if so the fact remains that his form is 2st better over hurdles than over fences and his 2004 Stayers Hurdle win is rated 9lb higher than this year’s winner .
I can understand entirely having a Gold Cup dream with a horse of such innate ability but not in the face of the falls and his much inferior form over fences .
Been running and jumping as though something physically amiss since his ‘comeback’, to my untrained eyes at any rate.
The horse was aimed very high from day 1 over fences as his 1st race was The Ascot Chase at lingfield a Grade 1 Chase. The horses may not have been top of the tree apart from Ollie at the time but the horses were seasoned campaigners. It was probably the horses best jumping performance to date but he seemed to sulk slighty when the horses past him. The horse also ran in 3 real top class tough races over hurdles in 2004 within a month and a half which may have took a bit outta him as Rhinestone absouloutley toyed with him at Punchestown.
(Edited by IRSHEYEZ at 12:39 am on Mar. 22, 2006)
AP jocked off Iris’s Gift
A somewhat extraordinary decision in my opinion to switch to Dominic Elsworth considering that JP has no staying chasers of note.
Any views ?
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Wouldn’t Lami and Innox qualify?
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Quote: from Ardross on 10:37 pm on Oct. 24, 2006[br]L’Ami possibly – Innox don’t make me laugh .
I wasn’t trying too. <br> The OH rates Innox and Iris’s Gift as more or less the same horse.;)
McCoy was "jocked-off", or whether he himself chose not to persevere with the horse?
McCoy isn’t getting any younger and has had a few injuries over the last few years.
Does he really want to get on a horse knowing that he’s quite likely to be bounced into the turf?
Steve
PS I’m partly joking here.
PPS But partly serious…
(Edited by stevedvg at 11:49 pm on Oct. 24, 2006)
Probably neither side was particularly bothered by a parting of the waves. They’ve hardly had plenty of success together have they? Elsworth is a strange choice though. By all accounts he’s done plenty of work on the horse this autumn yet he rarely rides for Jonjo. Would have thought Fehily would have been more logical. Having said that Elsworth is a competent rider and Iris’s Gift is just the sort of horse that could get him in the spotlight – he’ll need plenty of rides now he’s freelance having split with the Smiths (another strange decision).
An interesting and worthwhile experiment.
It’s more than likely that the horse is simply not cut out for fences – a much better hurdler perhaps kinder – rather than not gelling with McCoy but a change of jockey may make a difference.
Elsworth is a perfectly competent jock and a good horseman, as befits anyone who’s emerged from the Sue and Harvey school of hard knocks.
Didnt really pay much attension to him last year in the GC but how was his jumping that day??
SHL
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