- This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 21 hours, 55 minutes ago by
.
- Posts
I can’t recall ever criticising him, but why he perseverd on Final Demand today when the horse had quite obviously gone wrong is unfathomable. Horses who twist when they jump have either too much juice in them early and do it over the first couple of fences, or they have tweaked a muscle. Final Demand has shown himself an exceptional jumper, and we saw that again in the early part of the race. But he landed a bit awkwardly at the 8th and that’s where he’s probably done the damage as he never jumped a fence after it.
Assuming its nothing serious, I’ll happily back him at 4/1 for Cheltenham.
“Final Demand has shown himself an exceptional jumper, and we saw that again in the early part of the race.
Sorry but I have to disagree with that statement. His jumping was poor and lacked fluency from an early stage, as mentioned by Willie Mullins in his post race interview with Lydia Hislop on RTV.
I have already backed him for the Brown Advisory but I was worried today from an early stage.
The problem is Steeplechasing is that Mullins like the majority of trainers will say things like “He’s grand” “We are really happy with him” “Everything is going well” then two weeks before the festival the drift on betfair starts, the rumours begin, he goes red on oddschecker … Then the trainer comes out and says things like “hope” “may” before finally saying “we ran out of time” “its come to soon” etc, etc
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
“have already backed him for the Brown Advisory but I was worried today from an early stage”
I wouldn’t give up by any means CAS.
I don’t know what Wille means by ‘early stage” but, bar the fifth, he was foot perfect until that awkward landing at the 8th. Watch it back.
I have watched it back and still can’t agree. Nor for that matter does Ruby Walsh. On the “Road To Cheltenham” on RTV now he said Final Demand jumped poorly from an early stage.
CAS, I just watched it again, thinking my eyes must be deceiving me after checking the in-race comments to see him marked with not fluents at the 3rd and 5th (where I initially thought he wasn’t quite foot perfect) Watching again, all I see is a horse very cleverly putting himself right just before take off at 3rd and 5th. He does not touch a twig at either. His first error is 5 out and at each subsequent fence that is in clear view he noticeably twists his back end mid air – I assume he was also doing this at the fences where there are no close up. It takes a fair bit of energy to twist like that, yet he does it even at the last when he is obviously knackered, signifying that he was still trying to avoid the worst of the pain.
In my experience, horses who have never done that before don’t suddenly start doing it mid race: something went wrong with him, very probably at the 8th. Townend must have felt that back end swing. Whether it was a mucscle or a spinal twinge, I don’t know, and maybe they won’t find anything once back in the yard. I’ve been watching NH racing now for almost 60 years. I’d be confident the horse went wrong. I am more than happy to hear different opinions, but I trust my very old eyes!
Joe you have a great eye, much better than mine
I wonder if Final Demand wasn’t quite 100% before the race, made that mistake and got worse.. In his previous races, he done his best work at the end of his races or at least had bust his opposition by then. This race certainly wasn’t his true runningCharles Darwin to conquer the World
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.