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Following publication of the world rankings the other day I got to thinking….on ratings (Racing Post, Timeform, Official ratings whatever) who do you think is the most under-rated horse of recent times (say, the last twenty years? Flat or jumps
Tough one to answer. I do miss horses like Harbinger who looked like a monster when winning the KG. Florida Pearl won a G1 in 7 different seasons I think without winning the GC. Kauto Star could have won a few CC in the years he ran. But would you call them underrated?
Without a shadow of a doubt, Seabass.
By a country mile, the best chaser of 2012, and was way ahead of his rating. It beggars belief that he wasn’t entered in The 2012 Gold Cup, he would have won it without breaking sweat.
In my opinion it was Katchit who only received a mark of 166 for winning a crack renewal of the Champion Hurdle in 2008. When you consider that Bincoluar was awarded 172 and Rock On Ruby 170 it’s beggars belief that Katchit (who in my opinion on his day was as good as any Champion Hurdle winner) didn’t receive at least 172.
I think there is almost no better runner-up at the highest level than Youmzain. Three Arc seconds, a 2nd and 3rd in the KG and twice a runner-up in the Coronation Cup plus numerous other G1 placings.
Both Katchit and Youmzain are very good choices.
Can scour the ratings allday and argue about a few llbs either way but theres more to a horse than a RPR or timeform rating bounced off one freak performance
A horse i thought was fabulous and raced consistently at a high level up until a grand age was Monkerhostin. What a horse to own
Probably a contentious choice , but my “under-rated ” horse has to be Best Mate .
Often berated by those self proclaimed students ( and professors ) of the form book , I think Henrietta Knight’s 3 times Cheltenham Gold Cup winner was not only a smashing looking horse but he had exceptional ability and would have held his own against most other Gold Cup winners , Arkle aside .
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
One that’s fresh in the mind is the official handicappers treatment of Blaklion.
The handicapping of the Charlie Hall chase altogether is absolutely baffling. Bristol De Mai and Blaklion fight out a close finish and there is 23 lengths back to the third yet Bristol only goes up 1 pound while amazingly Blaklion goes down 2 pounds while the 3rd 23 lengths back Definitly Red goes down only 1 pound.
No wonder Blaklion started 7/4 and hacked up in the Becher. How often have you seen a horse start at that price in a similar race over the National fences? Gone up to the only 161 after the Becher, that’s something near the rating he should have been after the Charlie Hall.
Reckon whoever was responsible for handicapping the Charlie Hall and Blaklion in particular must have been either blind drunk at the time or have a long range bet on Blaklion for the National and doing all they can too help.
Bet Blaklion’s connections couldn’t believe their luck and think all their birthday’s have come at once.Fair points, yeats. Handicappers seem baffled by soft or heavy ground when large distances feature in the placings – to be fair, P Smith admitted that with the Betfair.
There’s a huge amount of guessing goes on in racing under the guise of ‘professional’ judges and ‘experts’.
In recent times the one that springs to mind is Un de Sceaux, more specifically ahead of his Ryanair win at Cheltenham last year. Up to that point it seemed as though everything he had achieved and the style which he won races at the top grade were being widely overlooked – solely because of the Champion Chase defeat to Sprinter Sacre
I think underrated horse is a bit like which one of those 2 do you fancy the brunette or the blonde? In other words it’s who you ask.
I think Un De Sceaux has been brilliant myself so if me and Pigsinblankets and 5 other Un De Sceaux fans are in a room singing his praises then he’s not underrated.
I hope you understand what I’m getting at.lol
Farhh, for Saeed Bin Suroor. I loved this horse. 2nd to the brilliant Nathaniel in the Eclipse, twice 2nd to the almighty one Frankel in the Sussex and Juddmonte, 2nd to the awesome Moonlight Cloud in the Moulin before going on to a group 1 double in the Lockinge and Champion stakes. Had his injury problems but never put in a bad run and hopefully he will continue his decent start as a sire.
Mike, understand what you mean – goes without saying that all of our interpretations of “underrated” will vary significantly. For many, me calling out a horse as underrated despite winning 10(?) Grade 1s, and probably had miles of column praise written about him will be way off the mark.
It’s all relative though I think, and my point is that UDS was underrated relative to his ability & achievements. I’m probably specifically referring to the period up until his stylish win in the Ryanair Chase at last year’s Cheltenham Festival. As previously mentioned, this is largely because of 2 consecutive defeats to one of the greatest in the modern era, also allowing for the fact that these races took place on ground that wasn’t his absolute preference.
I’m sure there’s many that think this way about UDS, and you’re right to say that in that context; with that group of racing fans, he wouldn’t be underrated. However, over the general racing community and across much of the racing coverage and press; I think there’s a huge void between what UDS has achieved in his career, and the esteem in which he’s generally held.
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