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For the life of me, I can’t understand why it should be a bad thing that the top staying Group races are mostly contested by horses that frequently run against each other.
One of the weaknesses of flat racing is that far too often its equine heroes are retired to stud before they’ve reached maturity. In the last 8 months we’ve lost the best miler for at least a decade, Rock of Gibraltar, and the most exciting sprinter for ages, Choisir. I’m not proffering any easy solutions to this problem, but let’s at least celebrate a sector of the sport where the problem thankfully doesn’t exist.
Would other sports, such as football, cricket, athletics be more exciting if the leading players retired after their first or second season?
To say that the staying division is composed of horses who aren’t good enough at 12f. and is therefore a "joke", is itself risible. You might just as well say that the top middle distance races are merely contested by horses that are too slow to win the top sprints.
And why should the short-sighted policies of commercial flat breeders adversely affect either the number of staying races in the Pattern, or our appreciation of the horses that contest and win these races?
Just rolled in from a night out – crown green bowls match, we are second in the league 2 pts behind the leaders with 5 to play, followed by 8 frames of snooker doubles ending 4 all.
3 £5 doubles and a £5 treble this afty :-
DAME DE NOCHE @ 12/1<br>JARDINES LOOKOUT @ SP<br>THE TATLING @ 7/2
Well done Persian Punch what a courageous performance – 6 pints of mild – 4 southern comforts – not due at work in the morning and somehow I don’t think I’m going to have a settled sleep tonight!
:(
I was at Goodwood yesterday and looking at the horses in the paddock before the race I immediately discounted Persian Punch as he looked like old piece of dog meat showing every year of his age.
How wrong was I!!
I had been very successful in previous races by looking at the horses in the padock and discounting the sweating up favorites and backing the fittest and calmest looking, but the only thing that could be said about Pershan Punch was that he was not sweating up, in fact he was so laid back that I doubted that he would have the energy to get down to the start!!
The response and acclaim from the crowd at Goodwood after his very brave win was wonderfull and the ‘lap of honour’ that Martin Dwyer gave him in front of the stands was an extraordinary sight and brought a tear to the eye of many hardened race goer.
Like Jason I was also on Jardines Lookout but the blow was softened by the wonderfull bravery and reception given to Persian Punch.
John.
James, you missed a crucial part of Venusian’s post. He refers to ‘the short-sighted policies of commercial flat breeders’ – those who are aiming purely to maximise their profit from breeding.  This does not refer to many of the most successful breeders in Europe, such as the Aga Khan, Khalid Abdullah, Ballymacoll, Meon Valley and the likes of Jeff Smith – those who breeding policies take into account the past, present and future of the breed. ÂÂÂ
The long term success of these operations show the value of appreciating all types of racehorses.  Qualities shown by Persian Punch, such as resolution, stamina and durability, that are displayed in the Cup races, should not be bred out of racehorses because of fashion.
I’m not a big fan of Persian Punch myself but hats off to the old bugger…a while back we were asked about jockeys on another thread and i put up Martin Dwyer as a jockey i would prefer on my side ..he reminds me of wee Quinn a few years back strong as hell in finish.
<br>It wasn’t just a fast diminishing head against Jardines Lookout. It’s the fact that Persian Punch regained the lead after being headed…something he’s done in the past. It was a brilliant finish…really exciting.
Anyone whose ever read my words in a debate knows how much I take form seriously in the top races. I don’t regard Persian Punch as a great in the sense that he is pushing 140 in the ratings and beats everything in his way. He doesn’t do that…he isn’t the classiest stayer there’s ever been.
But he’s so tough…a really hard horse to beat in a finish. Personally, I find it special to be able to watch any horse at any level pushing and fighting to keep its head in front of its rivals. They run for our benefit after at all. And for once, I don’t actually believe the media have gone completely mad when talking about a horse. It isn’t often that I hear Persian Punch described as a wonder horse, a great, a best ever etc… that kind of comment is saved for horses like Hawk Wing.
Persian Punch deserves to be commended for entertaining so many people so often. Racing is there for more than just form study.
Darkknight, I agree with your comments about Johannesburg and Trade Fair, both of whom were always likely to prove best at distances short of a mile.
But there is nothing magical about distances between a mile and a mile and a half, and we shouldn’t decry horses who are most effective outside those distances, nor should we accept the prejudices of unimaginative commercial breeders without question.
Look at European racing over the last 100 years:
Take The Tetrarch, arguably the best 2-y-o, or Abernant, arguably the best sprinter, or Tudor Minstrel, arguably the best miler, or Ribot, arguably the best horse.
What do they have in common? They were all sired by stallions who stayed beyond 2 miles.
Roi Herode, the sire of The Tetrarch is especially interesting. He was a high-class, rather one-paced stayer, who was best at distances of 2 miles or more, and who has been described as large and rather clumsy-looking.
Remind anyone of a horse who won a race this week at Goodwood?!
It happens at the other end of the spectrum in reverse – look at Johannesburg who connections tried to make into a horse for he Kentuckly Derby through greed because they know the bloodstock industry isnt falling over itself for sprinters. Trade Fair was another example…
<br>tdk,
I would have thought that Johannesburg was more than entitled to go for the Kentucky Derby in 2002. By winning the BC Juvenile, the logical step was to give the horse a tilt at an extra two furlongs on surface he handled. Obviously, Ballydoyle/Coolmore’s decision had an awful lot to with Johannesburg’s value at stud, however I don’t think this is a good example of the point your trying make.
tdk,
I think O’Brien was more regretful of not giving Johannesburg a prep race in the states.
He’s 11-2 this morning which looks good value to me. You know if your money is on Persian Punch, you are going to have a good run, with his never say die attitude. I really hope he can win, but I do respect Bollin Eric.<br>Interesting that Fallon is on the outsider!
Back him at 11/2 – lay him in-running at shorter but whatever you do, make sure you have the sound down on your TV as Simon Salivating Holt will be sure to up the decibel level a few notches.
If he wins today then we can forget Seabiscuit – Punchy will be the next box office smash. Shame Oliver Reed has passed away as he would have been the ideal man to portray the evergreen stayer’s trainer.
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