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I think it would be better to have pacemakers declared as such and taken out of the betting. Also other owners should be allowed to object and have the pacemaker removed from the race.
The BHA should only permit a pacemaker that has proven form to complete the trip at a competitive pace. If an owner hides a pacemaker then all his horses are automatically disqualified.
Recent races seem to have a presumed pacemaker that gets totally ignored by the pack and also ignored as a non-trier by the Stewards.The race would become far more exciting if the pacemaker was more often in with a real chance at the finish and the plodders were drawn out into having to compete.Ballydoyle used Await the Dawn as pacemaker for ST.Nicholas Abbey in the BC and he was ridden beautifully by an American jockey, allowing Joe O’Brien to relax and wait until the right time to go ahead and win.
Why does the O’Brien stable (and any other stables as well) need to employ one or two pacemakers every time they run with a good horse against another good one? There is always loads of pace in British Group I races and what is the use when a 65-rated horse is about half a furlong in front and nobody cares about him cause he will be backpedalling any way??? Three dead horses running in front for about 4 furlongs and the rest not even caring about them. It makes the sport look very stupid and the trainers even more. Maybe someone can explain me why Frankel & Co. are better horses when some other horse stands in their way for the first part of the race.
Pacemakers make honest winners.
Cue The Great Voltigeur, nice to have that race in black and white in the breeding book but who wants to look at history to predict the future when you have false results?
Honest winners only come when tested to their physical maximum, slow races are an art but they are a thieving art which denies the good horses from taking their just deserts.
Halling (twice), One So Wonderful, Royal Anthem, Falbrav and Sea the Stars won the race in just about the same time.
Halling even made all when winning for the 2nd time and quickened away in some style and he was just facing 5 horses on good ground and not good too firm. Where would you rate him then?
Seriously, I think Frankel would have one in exactly the same time without the pacemakers. So just make me understand why we need them. Why did Excelebration need one in the Lockinge? The horse ran alongside him right behind Bullet Train. So was he making the pace? No, he even got himself covered up behind Frankel’s pacemaker. For what reason? That’s what I want to understand.For Frankel, a pacemaker was employed because he pulled so hard early in his career, over the extra distance the slower race pace could have caused this trait to recur, having a lead horse was insurance.
St Nicholas Abbey had not contested a top level 10f race and had produced top class efforts over 12f, a slowly run 10f race would not have given him much chance of using his proven stamina over his rivals.Await the Dawn in the BC was the only pacemaker of Ballydoyle that I am aware of that did the job properly. He was ridden by an American jockey who can judge pace properly due to his training.He set the race up for Joseph and Joseph took full advantage of it.Johanny Fortune did an excellent job on Confront leading for Workforce although beaten by So YouThink in the Coral Eclipse.Apart from those two it is difficult for me to recall a good job of pacemaking in recent times.
Following Frankel’s victory on Saturday and Bullet Train’s performance perhaps the rules need to be revisit about running team mates in the same race.Imagine the uproar had those horses been trained by Ballydoyle.
With respect, I’m not sure why you are bothered by this Andy? The tactics were messed up by Frankel missing the break and so Ian was forced to take a pull. Did it interfere with the others? Was it unfair? I don’t think there were any hard luck stories and certainly none caused by the pacemaker.
At the business end of the race Bullet Train was well clear of the protaganists.
I think we are only troubled by pacemakers when they get in the way at the end of a race and deny the serious horses a chance of winning. Can we honestly say that happened yesterday?
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
Another moral question worth considering Andy might be: should horses be allowed to have their performances enhanced by narcotics?
Perhaps all those horses in history who’s performances were enhanced by drugs should have their records struck from the history books?
… hang on, that would only leave the poor old USA with Champion and Trigger wouldn’t it?
A pacemaker is allowed to run but only as a pacemaker not as a team player.The observation above points out the problem.If the fancied runner get lost behind the pacemaker that should not influence the pacemaker unless he sees himself in a different role!
hammy lets not confuse keeping the rules and morality unless you have the ten commandments in mind.So how about the rules?
hammy lets not confuse keeping the rules and morality unless you have the ten commandments in mind.So how about the rules?
Only joshing with you Andrew.
The rules? Yeah change them if you want. TBH I’ll admit to being a bit confused by Bullet Train’s role on most occasions. I thought the concern yesterday was that Frankel might have his stamina tested by CDA pushing the pace from up front. So why Frankel needed a pacemaker is a bit of a mystery to me. And of course he didn’t need one yesterday. Bullet Train’s tactics never influenced the race one way or another as far as I could see.
I agree. However listening to the commentator refer to Bullet Train making trouble for the French horse is what got my attention."Trying to make himself a nuisance" are his words.Hardly a legitimate task for a pacemaker.
I agree. However listening to the commentator refer to Bullet Train making trouble for the French horse is what got my attention."Trying to make himself a nuisance" are his words.Hardly a legitimate task for a pacemaker.
I think you’ve misinterpreted the word nuisance Andy. Or at least the commentator used it perhaps in a poor context. I’m not sure why he mentioned it tbh, but I suppose he meant that Bullet Train was pushing CDA along at a brisker pace than he wanted to go. I guess the idea was to nullify his potential to finish with a rattle following a slowly run race. As it happened I think his jockey was intent on deploying entirely the opposite tactics. I.e I think he intended to sap Frankel’s stamina by putting up a front running performance.
Truth is Andy that Frankel was in a different stratosphere to him. Short of the Cecil horse breaking down nothing else was going to put CDA in front of him at the winning post.
Whatever his position in the ranks of the all time greats there wasn’t a horse in existence that could put him under pressure during his racing career.
That’s the only slight shame regarding Frankel’s career for me. We will never really know how good he was. His potential was never truly examined, such was the gulf in class between him and any other horse in training.
Maybe there’s a ‘Course of Dreams’ somewhere on the other side where he’ll eventually meet (And without doubt beat.) all of those champions of bygone years.
Leaving aside the first paragraph I agree entirely with you. Some were a little deflated that Frankel did not spreadeagle his field and incidentally the same applied to the run at Ascot of Black Caviar.However as I stated on another site I thought it was a wonderful victory done in a very professional manner by Queally.
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