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They must’ve gone too fast too early, 8 of the 12 runners ran way under form , only the first 4 put up decent RPRs.
Not sure it was necessarily a bad ride from Donnocha, Magical went off 19/1 in the end according to Racing post. Not sure if that’s true? But if it is, that’s suggesting she wasn’t right. She went out like a light.
Interesting comments from Andre Fabre post race…
1) Was concerned about the ground as he showed turn of foot on better ground in the Ganay.
2) After the King George jockey said horse would win the Arc. (Which implies that on better ground he was confident of turning the tables.)So would Waldgeist have won anyway on better ground? Are we making excuses for Enable when Waldgeist was inconvenienced as well by conditions? Even Sottsass trainer said he wasnt expecting Waldgeist to do that on that ground. So the winner deserves more credit I think. A winning machine at Longchamp.
Waldgesit is not being given the credit he deserves. The best horse won the race simple as that.
They must’ve gone too fast too early, 8 of the 12 runners ran way under form , only the first 4 put up decent RPRs.
Not sure it was necessarily a bad ride from Donnocha, Magical went off 19/1 in the end according to Racing post. Not sure if that’s true? But if it is, that’s suggesting she wasn’t right. She went out like a light.
Magical went out like a horse who was having her 8th run in group company in 5 1/2 months in the hardest race of them all over 1m 4f on very soft ground. It should come as no surprise she wasnt at her best. Thats what happens when you over race horses and she has been over raced regardless of how tough she is.
Yes quite possibly Potato, which now would make me wary of backing her next time out, if she runs again, which is not looking likely after that
I agree with Mike and Potato. Watch the race again and imagine Enable and Waldgeist in each other’s positions and that it is Enable who has to switch out and comes charging home, sweeps past Waldgeist and wins pretty much going away. The ITV lot would have been in raptures about what a wonderhorse she is and how nobody else could have done it, making G1 horses look ordinary etc etc. There would have been no mention of ground except as proof of greatness (Waldgeist trainer def said earlier this season he prefers better ground- that’s why I didn’t back him EW for the Arc though I did for the KG), or how they went too fast. If the ground was better they may have gone even faster and Waldgeist’s stamina would have come into play even more.
He was trained to the minute for this race and likes being at home but also stayed best of all, had enough class to get home in front on ground he probably doesn’t care for and won reasonably convincingly. If the race had been shorter, she would have won; if Longchamp was located on the Limekilns, she might have won; but if the race was longer or the ground better or Waldgeist had raced more prominently, he would still have won.
Anyway, “if ifs and ands were pots and pans there’d be no call for tinkers”. He was the best horse at Longchamp yesterday over 1m4f on soft in a strongly run race, so he deserves his Arc. Enable didn’t lose it, he won it.
(And as an aside, I hope his groom collected the best turned out prize too- he was shining and beautifully plaited as he always is).I looked at last years race again and Waldgeist was drawn 13 and was 6 lengths behind Enable throughout. Yesterday he stayed within 3.
I believe if yesterday was run on better ground the result would still be the same.
Enable has run her race, a fine race as well but she either isn’t at her scintillating best on the track or Waldgeist reserves something extra special for it.GHAIYYATH ran like a horse who has a virus
went out like a light.
You could definitely be right- it’s not often you see them go backwards so dramatically so early on. Only other thing I can think of is if he flipped his palate or bled.
Wadgeist was clearly trained to peak in the Arc. When Enable was in full power through the season, WALDGEIST was being bought along slowly slowly with Fabre happy to view his arc day oppent from behind. Fabre has won 8 arcs and is the master, he produced a masterclass training performance. Since his 4th last year in the arc the horse has been canpaigned with one day in mind only.
Fabre outfoxed Gosden.
Waldgeist won going away.
The best horse won.
Frankie was nervous and his horse could sense it, the french jockey was ice cool and rode a blinder.
The winning trainer was the smartest, the winning jockey rode the better race and the winning horse thoroughly deserved it.
As another aside, the next horse that ITV are going to hype to the rafters and then make excuses for will be Altior in the King George. If (and I am going to stick my neck out and say when) he gets beaten at Kempton, the winner could have run a slashing race and won doing handstands and pulling a cart but afterwards won’t get half as much airtime as Altior jumping slightly left, hitting his flat spot at the wrong moment, speculation about something amiss, etc etc rather than a brief “knocking on in years and doesn’t stay a strongly run 3 miles as well as some of the others, now let’s admire how good the winner was”. I predict that particular Bambi-shooter is not going to be much lauded by ITV, unless it goes on to win the triple crown a couple of times (even Rummy was a Bambi-shooter when winning his first National).
I think giving ITV stick for hyping a wondermare is a little harsh..Now i didn’t actually watch ITV, so there’s a chance i’ve missed them completely going over the top on Enable, but it’s worth remembering they are trying to promote the sport, and Enable is the horse to do that.
I don’t think “hype” is a word to use on her either. She has proven her hype plenty of times. The same for Altior. He wins races.
As i didn’t watch it i can’t comment on the aftermath of them not giving the winner his due credit etc. But i do think Enable was worth hyping.
Twitter: Jackh1092
Hindsight is 20/20 so make the most of it!Ghaiyyath was done and eased up!! obviously flattered by the German race as he was done getting over and leading and just looked like a tired horse, he got done by 5 lengths by the winner earlier on in the year.. Appleby has already said it’s because he needs a massive break between races.. FA to do with a virus or anything else, simply wasn’t up to the job…
“I think we will finish him for the year,” said Appleby.
“As for the future, we will plan to give him extended breaks between his races. It is disappointing, as we were happy with the horse, but history is telling us he needs more time between runs.”
Fair enough Jack- both she and Altior are brilliant horses. Somebody (Brough Scott? who is old enough and sensible enough to have seen it all before) was asked afterwards where this leaves Enable in the pantheon. He said “one of the great mares- but if she had won, she would be THE great mare” which I thought was reasonable.
One thing that ITV did quite noticeably in the aftermath was scramble around trying to establish whether Enable would run again, as a yes or no was clearly going to set the tone for the coverage until they were off air. Once they had received one “don’t know” they should have dropped the subject quickly rather than asking each other whether to play their prerecorded Enable Tribute Show Swansong footage or not. They can always get her to parade on Champions Day and play it then. Looked like a lack of planning as they should have known that, in the event of defeat, neither Gosden nor Grimthorpe would have the office to say yes or no to running again.
Thought beforehand Waldgeist was the least likely of the market principles to improve, but the greatest stamina test he’s faced together with the most efficient ride in the race allowed him to improve. Can’t say Enable was “outstayed” because she’s faced greater stamina tests and come through them. However, Frankie paid for racing too close to an overly strong pace. We’re only talking fractions but it made her a little (only a little) below her best. Sottsass and Japan ran excellent races but both may well do even better with slightly less of a stamina test. Magical and Ghaiyyath over-did it up front. Latter also probably best fresh. German Group 1 (pulling so far clear) is still bloody good form.
Value Is EverythingI don’t think Enable was that close to the pace tbh. Let the 3 in front do their thing. Any further back and she would have to have been further back than Frankie would’ve wanted and he wanted to understandably keep it simple.
And then she had to go for home when she did because she had company from the 3 year olds and had to fight them off. Just the way the race pan out.
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