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A terrific race, but one that raises plenty of questions. Even allowing for first time out/poor yard form that was pretty shocking for a Gold Cup winner- People are saying he’ll be back on song, but he may be a Lord Windermere who has had his day in the sun.
Gaelic looked awesome tanking along in front- reminded me of Carvills Hill all those years ago. We know he handles Cheltenham, but for a horse with that much boot, you just wonder if he’ll get up the hill. Mr Townsend has some big decisions to make if Galopin comes back on song in December.
If i was holding AP vouchers for the Gold Cup, I’d be happiest to have one on Gaelic and one on The Jukebox Man right now, but whatever happens in Spring, we saw five excellent chasing performances this weekend which bodes well for the season ahead.He was fat as a pig lad , you can’t judge him on today , same as the Mullins GN horses , he may not come back as good but that’s still to be seen , he was kicking and bucking after the GC …
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
GW is a rather mercurial horse but when he is on song he is arguably one of the best around – he laughed at Il Etait Temps as a novice and then was beaten by the same horse three runs later, he ran two shockers at Leopardstown last season which resulted in them rightly missing the Festival before he put Grey Dawning in his place at Aintree and sauntered home at Sandown.
He has won over both hurdles and fences at trips ranging from 2m to 3m1F on ground ranging from good to heavy, you can hold him up or as today showed let him go from the front and he doesn’t shirk a battle but it all very much depends on what mood he turns up on on the day. I could easily see him putting any King George field to the sword at his best but I could just as easily see him spitting the dummy and running well below his best form too.
Even given his mercurial ways, in his 19 race career he has only finished out of the first three just twice, on his debut run in France as a 3yr old and in that match novice chase against Fact To File at Leopardstown when unseating at the last after running a very strange race.
ERL and HDLG – agree with both of you.
To my mind, the questions that the stewards and the racing media ought to be asking are:
1. Is a horse good enough to comfortably defeat Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup really a 50 length inferior animal to Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File? While GDC did not win this race in previous seasons, he wasn’t beaten out of sight.
2. If the distance was “too short”, why was the horse running? Isn’t it tantamount to schooling in public?
3. If the run is due to Cromwell’s horses being “out of form”, why did he choose to run his prime asset when his stable is not right and over a distance too short?
But of course no one will ask these questions. Just as they don’t when there is yet another maiden hurdle or beginners chase in Ireland, when the odds on favourite and second favourite are 20 lengths clear after a furlong or two and nothing else makes even a token attempt to get involved.
The problem is if haul Cromwell in then you have to hall Mullins in to , was a whip raised to any of the horses at the back ….
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
And that’s the problem, HDLG. The likes of Mullins, Cromwell, McManus etc are so powerful and influential that they have become untouchable.
I agree , what’s even sadder … Elliott hasn’t even got a horse to put in the race today , Mullins is the master , it’s obvs you want him to train your horse , prob is you get the likes of today where your horse isn’t remotely put in the race … You have to eat it to get your day
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
“3. If the run is due to Cromwell’s horses being “out of form”, why did he choose to run his prime asset when his stable is not right and over a distance too short?”
This is happening way too often and you’re right that certain connections are untouchable. Looking back at the 2025 Gold Cup and the winner’s previous form plus the money that came for him that day, I have to ask myself why the Cheltenham Stewards didn’t ask any questions? Did they ever ask questions at all related to a JP Festival winner? Help me, cause I can’t recall any race right now.
The bookmakers were not fooled. Inothewayyourthinkin’s price for the Cheltenham Gold Cup has been left unchanged.
This may well be me and Hughsie come mid December …..
I don’t know about Roy but I’m not sure Gaelic can do it come KG
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Most of my thoughts have been covered in the previous posts. In summary it’s a sad comment on most of those entering this Grade 1 that the majority of the field were going through the motions of competing. Only comment in the Stewards’ Report was that Senecia was ‘never travelling’, a 150/1 chance that might reasonably be expected to struggle to keep up anyway.
I wouldn’t castigate any trainer or jock among the also rans. That was one of the most unusual Grade 1 races I’ve ever seen and the fallout could spread through the season. Townend’s a fine jock and he went out with an open mind, not knowing what might lead. Gaelic Warrior ran away with him and he decided to let him get on with it – much wiser than fighting such a fresh horse. But the horse kept fizzing and he couldn’t get the top back on the bottle. I think he’ll always relish the win, but might wonder often if he could have found some way to ride the race differently. I’d say the horse is 6/4 to turn up at Kempton never mind win the King George.
If he wins at Kempton, you can confidently declare him made of iron and stick a big rosette on him (with a magnet). Fact To File very much the one to take from today given he was the only one to get a conventional ride in a race in a million.
I’ve watched it a few times now it’s fair to say Walsh looked after him , bigger days to come , still think Marine Nationale is the best horse in training however FTF is right there with him
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
In terms of the Gold Cup winner, he ran 16 lengths worse than last year when compared to the second yesterday. Add to that, the handicapper rates him a 18lb better horse than last year , so you could argue he’s run 34lbs worse. Certainly there are grounds for questioning as others have stated.
Take out GDC and it was a very poor Gold Cup field, and the horse only has a 27% win rate, so I am sticking to my Lord Windermere theory until proven wrong. Lord W incidentally finished 3rd in the Durkan in the season after his Gold Cup win, beaten 5l by future Gold Cup winner Don Cossack.GW has went 2mile pace there + still managed to battle back. Some performance. FTF ran great too.
To be fair to the other horses, yes they were out with the washing from the start, but most of them are 3m+ horses. Inothewayurthinkin etc are nowhere near their best at this trip, the market acknowledged that. Should they have run? Well, the owners won’t mind as they know the big days are yet to come.
And that’s the problem, HDLG. The likes of Mullins, Cromwell, McManus etc are so powerful and influential that they have become untouchable.
You missed out one of the worst offenders of recent times….Dan Skelton.
Where do you start Inothewayurthinkin if you are Cromwell?
Twitter: Jackh1092
Hindsight is 20/20 so make the most of it!“Where do you start Inothewayurthinkin if you are Cromwell?”
Down Royal, perhaps?
I find it a little unsatisfactory that a Gold Cup winner has started at 18/1 for a Grade 1 only 8 months after the festival. He was an even larger price with some firms earlier in the week.
It was clear that everyone in the know were certain this horse was not going to win and probably not be placed either. Or ever put into the race with a chance of winning or being placed, with a sort of “nudge nudge, wink wink” attitude afterwards.
I don’t believe it is a very good look for the sport when the horse which is meant to be the best chaser in training runs on seasonal debut in a manner which is little better than schooling in public. Why is it tolerated?
If a Flat trainer ran a top class, two mile Cup horse in a mile race, people would be asking what he was doing.
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