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At the end of the 2010/11 season, I seem to remember Paul Nicholls justifying keeping Kauto Star in training by saying something like… "Not all horses like living out in a field, Kauto would be bored". Now it seems he wants Kauto to live out his life in a field.
Value Is EverythingI think Paul Nicholls is very talented but success will always come first for him. When C Smith got disgruntled with Sam Thomas, the trainer stood with Smith, even to the extent of pressuring his jockey in his RP column – nasty and unnecessary, I thought.
By some accounts CS was never that happy with Mr Nicholls (the owner was ‘disappointed’ that PFN couldn’t/wouldn’t pronounce Kauto Star’s name ‘properly’) and I can only assume he too was playing a percentages game; if his horses were with the champion trainer then the competition in big races would be much more easily managed.
I’d be willing to bet a large amount that had Master Minded been in his prime now, not a peep would have been heard from Paul about Kauto’s retirement.
Yesterday was about control freakery and who was going to have the last word.
I think the best that can be said is that both men thoroughly deserve each other.
http://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/0 … acehorses/
There’s no question that an education in dressage can be beneficial to most thoroughbreds after their racing careers are over.
In the late 1960s, I watched the great gelding and five-time Horse of the Year, Kelso, who by then was retired from racing, provide a dressage and jumping demonstration on the turf course at Saratoga during the race meeting. He was ridden in the exhibition by Lana duPont — the daughter of his owner, Mrs. Richard C. duPont — who earlier made history as the first woman to compete in three-day eventing at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo on another thoroughbred, Mr. Wister.
Well those hoping this one would just blow away will be disappointed to read the RP website today. The war of words continues with Smith saying the relationship has now broken down "irretrievably" and Nichols "strongly refuting" Smith’s claims.
All getting very ugly.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
Paul Nicholls run a business Paul Nicholls Ltd, Clive Smith is a customer, I do not know many businesses where the customer is treated as such.
I thought the comment about PN being unable to pronounce his name correctly to be bordering on the childish.
Surely this name pronunciation debacle could be solved immediately if someone asked his breeder how it was meant to be pronounced?!!
It strikes me that PN is the one who is out of order here. Clive Smith was again quoted today as saying that PN has known about this since May. Surely none of us would accuse CS of lying so PN should have just gracefully accepted the owner’s decision. Judging by some of the criticism of CS you would think that the horse was being sent to the knackers yard or the dog food factory !
As other correspondents on here have already stated, PN didn’t kick up such a fuss about the second careers of Denman (hunting) and Neptune Collonges (dressage)so why should CS be treated any differently to the owners of the other two horses.
This is total hypocrisy from PN and in my opinion any criticism of CS is unfair and unjust.
Surely this name pronunciation debacle could be solved immediately if someone asked his breeder how it was meant to be pronounced?!!
If I remember rightly AOTF, Kauto is a part of Norway, There was a Norwegian TRF member a few years ago, who told us the name should be pronounced Ka-oo-too. (Something like that).
Value Is EverythingClive Smith is quite right to put his side of the story and it’s explosive stuff to read just how things have fallen apart in the relationship between the two men.
Why Nicholls should even have assumed that Kauto would automatically be staying with him is beyond belief. It’s not his horse.
Anybody who believes that Nicholls has not shown himself in a very unpleasant light, and almost certainly his true colours, is living in a dream world.
Clive Smith has until today been very restrained. He is right to have taken up the offer of the Racing Post to put the record straight and expose what seems to be some very bad-tempered, touchy and boorish behaviour from Nicholls.
Talk about burning your bridges. All because his pride was dented and what he thought was his all-seeing wisdom was being bypassed.
There was a Norwegian TRF member a few years ago, who told us the name should be pronounced Ka-oo-too. (Something like that).
Pretty good:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kautokeino.ogg
This war of words between Mr Nicholls and Mr Smith is jolly good fun, not least the latter’s supercilious insistence that he pronounces Kauto ‘correctly’. Clive old chap may I suggest you too haven’t quite mastered North Germanic diphthong and intonation; and who, other than a native speaker, has or can?
Paris: Pariss or Pariyy?
Bombay or Mumbai
Peking or Beijing?and does it really matter?
It will be interesting to see how CH4 deal with the issue on Boxing Day. Will they interview Nicholls, Smith, neither or both?
It will be interesting to see how CH4 deal with the issue on Boxing Day. Will they interview Nicholls, Smith, neither or both?
Just the horse I suggest – ‘what’s your name big fella?’
The issue of the name could be quite important. If I had spent so much on a horse and was paying someone around £20k a year to train it the least I would expect is for the trainer to call it by the correct name. Nicholls clearly knew what the correct name was but made a deliberate decision to pronounce it differently. This sums up the arrogance of the man ‘I’m Paul ‘the great one’ Nicholls I will do what I want’. He seems to have an ego the size of an elephant. What he needs to realise he is a paid employee who needs owners to keep him employed.
I fully support Clive Smith. Let’s not forget it was Nicholls, his staff and family who started the slanging match. Smith is fully entitled to go on record to defend himself.
Miss Woodford, while not competing in the 3 Day Event I believe a certain Trish Galvin won a bronze medal for the US in the dressage at the Rome Olympics,if my memory serves me right.I feel sure many women must have competed in Dressage for the US over the years but was this the first medal for a US woman? While not a DuPont I am told that her father’s wealth knew no bounds.
Im a huge admirer or Nichols and consider him the finest trainer the game has seen. I also have a lot of respect for his communication and clarity. His talents are too often downplayed, probably because he doesn’t act all opaque and then get labelled a "genius"
But hes volatile and OTT here. Its not quite black and white but ownership is ownership and thats the end of the matter
As in his bio, hes the first to admit he loses it sometimes and i think he may look back at this and regret
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