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Some harsh comments on here about the horse!!!
I think hes lost nothing lost in defeat,after a long summer off and dare i say it maybe a pair of blinkers for next season.
He will be back better than ever next season.
It is all very well blaming Kauto Star’s exertions at Cheltenham, but let us not forget that Our Vic didn’t exactly hack up in the Ryanair.
I don’t think Ruby rode him particularly well today, switching him from side to side and continually dropping back and speeding up, but looking back at his season you would have to say he was trained to peak at Kempton and Ascot.
With the watering policy at Cheltenham (announced last year) effectively ensuring softened ground whatever happened weather-wise, my opinion is that Paul Nicholls knew Denman would have the upper hand come March and as such had Kauto Star spot on to win the King George and Ascot Chase. Of course not running in the Gold Cup was never an option, but even then he might not have been at his very best (or at least capable of reproducing it).
The post Gold Cup comments of Ted Walsh seem to be echoed in subsequent interviews with Nicholls, with Kauto Star somehow viewed as the understudy to the new wonder horse, Denman. It is this way of thinking that cost Kauto Star the race today, that and connections chasing money for no other reason than pure greed. It is all very well saying that horses aren’t pets and are only there to win money, but their welfare has to be of paramount importance – would he have gone to Aintree today had he p*ssed up at the Festival and netted Clive Smith the £1m Betfair bonus?
Don’t think so.
So I would absolve Nicholls of any blame as regard giving the horse a breather after his Gold Cup run, but hold him entirely responsible for today’s tactics and moreover the fact that he has run him when clearly (in hindsight at least) over the top.
Having said that there is no way I can believe that the horse is finished as a top class chaser. He just needs to be wound down for the season and freshened up, not used a la Azertyuiop (who was visibly injured at Cheltenham, which differs slightly from this) to boost connections’ petty cash.
I think Nicholls is in denial.
His comments in today’s RP about Kauto Star running better in this year’s Gold Cup than last year’s were just his attempt to ease his conscience: re-interpreting the facts to justify him running the horse again when he clearly finished tired.
His comments after today’s race (the tactics beat him) are the same: another way to avoid admitting that Kauto Star should have been put away for the season.
The combination of the horse now seemingly being disposable because the stable has Denman, and Nicholl’s flimsy self-justifications have me fearing for the horse’s health – they’re talking about bringing him out at Sandown now. Unbelievable…
And if you think Nicholls isn’t that bad – you just have to remember Azertyuiop’s last race (at Sandown).
THANK YOU!!!
Having said that there is no way I can believe that the horse is finished as a top class chaser. He just needs to be wound down for the season and freshened up, not used a la Azertyuiop (who was visibly injured at Cheltenham, which differs slightly from this) to boost connections’ petty cash.
Kauto Star raced like a horse with a slight physical problem today imo.
Like everyone else, I hope he can come back to his best next season, but sadly I think we may have seen the best of this horse.
It is all very well blaming Kauto Star’s exertions at Cheltenham, but let us not forget that Our Vic didn’t exactly hack up in the Ryanair.
I don’t think Ruby rode him particularly well today, switching him from side to side and continually dropping back and speeding up, but looking back at his season you would have to say he was trained to peak at Kempton and Ascot.
With the watering policy at Cheltenham (announced last year) effectively ensuring softened ground whatever happened weather-wise, my opinion is that Paul Nicholls knew Denman would have the upper hand come March and as such had Kauto Star spot on to win the King George and Ascot Chase. Of course not running in the Gold Cup was never an option, but even then he might not have been at his very best (or at least capable of reproducing it).
The post Gold Cup comments of Ted Walsh seem to be echoed in subsequent interviews with Nicholls, with Kauto Star somehow viewed as the understudy to the new wonder horse, Denman. It is this way of thinking that cost Kauto Star the race today, that and connections chasing money for no other reason than pure greed. It is all very well saying that horses aren’t pets and are only there to win money, but their welfare has to be of paramount importance – would he have gone to Aintree today had he p*ssed up at the Festival and netted Clive Smith the £1m Betfair bonus?
Don’t think so.
So I would absolve Nicholls of any blame as regard giving the horse a breather after his Gold Cup run, but hold him entirely responsible for today’s tactics and moreover the fact that he has run him when clearly (in hindsight at least) over the top.
Having said that there is no way I can believe that the horse is finished as a top class chaser. He just needs to be wound down for the season and freshened up, not used a la Azertyuiop (who was visibly injured at Cheltenham, which differs slightly from this) to boost connections’ petty cash.
WELLATLEAST get your facts straight about azzertyuiop……. it wasent connections and pettycash.it was infact trainer>>!!!!! half of ownership was assured he wasent running after chelt, paul has a way of workin owners to anythink bit like the horses.that is so not right what u justand after chelt azza was exhausted n sore not injured, he was injured whilst coming 2nd to well cheif …………!!
‘The race was too soon’
I think this statement is profoundly wrong. The horse beaten a nose after obliterating the 2nd last fence. Would have won comfortably if it wasn’t for that error.
Isn’t that what steeplechasing is all about though Anzum – jumping the fences and better still, jumping them well – or have I misunderstood the sport ? (no offence intended here by the way)
All credit to Old Vic – he deserved his win,and won on merit on the day. I have never jumped on the Kauto Star bandwagon and don’t intend to start now – in my opinion, he is a very good horse but not the superstar that so many have cracked him up to be.
I’m ready everyone….shoot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We could talk/guess about whether Kauto has lost it until the start of next season and drive ourselves crazy. Or we could just hold fire and wait til next season and see how he is.
The horse was obviously not on top of his game today but they nearly "got away with it" as only his near demolition of the second last was the difference between victory and defeat.
If he had have won it would have been the performance of a horse a little short of top form and needing a break but a very classy horse who doesn’t need to be at his best to beat any other chaser in these isles over 20f+ (except Denman of course).Enjoy your hols KS and hope to see you back as good as ever in the autumn.
Kauto Star raced like a horse with a slight physical problem today imo.
Bang on, TDK. A recurrence of the post-Ascot "scare", perhaps?
Well, the thing to do, for all those that think KS is great, is to take the 7/1 for next year.
My own selection, Exotic Dancer, was also poor. Both are right off my own list. I don’t wait for this sort of horse to come back to form.
On the other hand, that Binocular is a proper prospect, imo. I didn’t see much else today for my future punting.
Good luck to those who stick with KS! I’ve deserted ED .
carvillshill wrote:
Bit soon to be writing him off IMO, will win at the top level again next season.We shall see – Azertyuiop never came back after they went cash hunting with him
All this chucking Azerty back at connections….
That was a huge mistake but do we expect every top horse to campaigned like Newmill?
Isnt jumping a game when a career can be ended at any time?
how many times was desert orchid taken to the well? To name one
He didnt trail round the back of the field sulking. He lost by a tiny margin to a horse who has always had some real ability
and some of this stuff coming from some of those that slaughtered Best Mates connections
I hope so too but the writing on the wall was his defeat to Monets Garden on his reappearance (giving stone granted).
This was a horse that won a tingle creak not so long ago, travelling like horse with so much enthusiasm so to be shoved along after a mile was strange. After the race PN called him ‘a real three miler now’….
The horse has CLEARLY lost its speed and now the jumping has gone to pot – the usual signs of a fall out with the game, and now the inevitable excuses and denial.
KS is, luckily for his owner, falling from a great height which means he’ll probably pick up a good race on the way down but as i’ve said before on here, i fear his rate of regression will catch most by surprise.
I was ageeing with the TDN there!
took very long as i burnt my dinner half way through.
After 2 defeats in a row, maybe connections will follow he example of another horse, and retire him. (Still slightly puzzled over that)
No, seriously, you would have expected him to have won that race today, but, remember, horses aren’t machines. It wasn’t a poor performance, I mean he’s only been beaten a nose, beating Exotic Dancer (Again!!) and Monet’s Garden, both proven performers.
It’s easy with hindight, to say he should have been put away for the summer after Cheltenham. I fully expect him to come back in the Autumn firing again.Anyway I was really delighted for Our Vic, he’s always been a favourite of mine.
Guys it’s plain to see. KS has run below form in his last two races. He wasn’t travelling a yard today and only marginally better at Cheltenham.
He’s had a hard season, but there’s also the possibility that he’s finished.
Which, given that I first became really impressed with him and began to follow him after the King George would be indicitave of the touch of death I bestow on horses.I know I am going to get flames for this but I really don’t care at all – it is time a bit of reality was injected into some of this stuff.
Kauto Star has hardly been overraced this season – six runs in five months or so – not exactly hardship for a horse kept in total luxury,bred to race and perhaps at the peak of his physical powers. Golden Miller always used to race at least six times per season (usually including the Grand National as well as the Gold Cup) and in the 1931/32 season, ran a total of 11 times when he bgan the season as a 4 year old,
If you go way further back in time to the days of Lottery (where life was a good deal tougher than today and horses were walked to all the race meetings – no horseboxes then and the railways had hardly been developed), you will find that despite fewer opportunities, he ran 8 times in the 1839/40 season, for six victories, and despite a crunching fall at the stonewall in the Grand National on 5th March, he ran on 11th March at Fakenham (unplaced) and then in successive weeks won steeplechases at Leamington, Northampton, Cheltenham and Stratford, all over 4 miles !
Are the horses of today really getting so fragile that six races in 5 months is beyond them – even when races appear to be being won easily by such as Kauto Star ?
Given my absolute dread of watching favourite horses jumping the Mildmay course at this time of year, I can’t remember many horses making a mistake like Kauto’s and getting away with it, albeit with the stuffing totally knocked out of him. Glad he came back in one piece, but surely Our Vic one of racings underrated horses, given that he too must have had a hard race at Cheltenham. Still very puzzled by today’s race however; obviously always going to be a tactical race but, given that connections must have assumed that Our Vic wouldn’t get the trip there was no need to go past him so early. With regards to the amount of racing that Dessie did; I can remember the last race that he won – Elsie was interviewed afterwards and he just said quietly that he’d found it hard that day; he instinctively knew that the horse started to go into a decline. I wonder if Paul Nicholls, brilliant trainer that he is, has that instinctiveness.
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