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I caught a Howard Johnson interview after Tidal Bay’s Aintree win and he said it’s all roads to the RyanAir.
Love the horse and backed him quite heavily for Arkle win last March so I’ll be following him again this season.
Welcome to TRF…………….but why the hell couldn’t you come up with a shorter username??????
Colin
Thanks, Grass.
Tidal Bay looks like he’ll be a better horse over two miles-four, so I’d target him at the Old Roan chase for his seasonal debut.
Depending on his effort that day, Howard Johnson will probabaly know what direction his horse will take for the season.
We know he’s a brilliant 2 miler so why would they start messing about in distance without testing the water against MM first?
I think Howard would want to know and he will be out to take on MM asap.
It would be really stupid not to at least try.Master Minded has the potential of being the best horse seen on a racecourse since you know who. Albeit over 2 miles.
The fact remains he was stuffed at Aintree wheras Tidal Bay was brilliant.
If they take on MM early and are beaten then they know exactly where they stand and then and only then I would expect him to be stepped up in distance. Much depends on the owner I suppose but they were contemplating taking him on at Aintree and never. I don’t think they will make that mistake again.
Fist of Fury,
I believe TIDAL BAY will go for the Ryanair.
With the "Ryanair" division looking stronger than ever next year (Our Vic, Voy Por, The Listener, Taranis, Mossbank etc), there is a good argument there for keeping Tidal Bay to 2m, as much as I subscribe to the notion that 2m4-3m will be his optimum.
Didn’t Taranis perish or did I imagine that?
Taranis broke down badly on his off-fore in the 2007 King George. It wasn’t a life-threatening injury,but was career-threatening. He is currently at his owner’s,Mrs Angela Yeoman,recovering form the injury. It’s hoped he’ll be back in training at Ditcheat next July, to resume his very promising career.A very talented chaser and hopefully he will make a good and full recovery and make it back to the track.
Howard Johnson says…he’s probably going to start Tidal Bay off in the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter and if all goes well there then he’s going to go to Sandown for the Tingle Creek. He followed up by saying that…"If we think he needs upping in trip, we’ll up him."
Paul Nicholls will run either Twist Magic or Takerok, depending on the ground, at Exeter. Master Minded is going to go straight for the Tingle Creek without a prep run.
December 6th at Sandown should give us a top quality race and give a good indication of how the 2m chase season is going to pan out.Hopefully it will not leave us with more questions than answers!
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IHe was mega impressive at Cheltenham but the truth is he beat very little.
Tidal Bay on the otherhand won a much more competitive Arkle.
Fists, my old friend, I really admire the way you stick your neck out but sometimes it really deserves to be severed.
How on Earth can you say that the Arkle field was stronger than that which MM destroyed in the Champion Chase? Tidal Bay was highly impressive in the Arkle (and at Aintree, too) but he’s beaten absolutely nothing. Now, I know that you don’t rate Voy Por Ustedes (if you want to go through that one again, let me know… I’ll just post a link to our previous discussion on that topic in this forum), but those who chased home Tidal Bay at both Cheltenham and Aintree wouldn’t get within ten lengths of Alan King’s chaser at level weights, even at two miles. Yes, the Wylies’ gelding has unlimited potential but, on the ratings, Paul Nicholl’s charge is the best two-mile ‘chaser since Dunkirk (at the very least)… if he gets to Cheltenham in one piece and in the same form as last year, MM will walk the Champion Chase unless Tidal Bay is better than Dunkirk. Chances of that happening….
The only negative is that French-breds tend to peak early, but MM is only five and should have a couple of years left in him yet.
I am positive that Voy Por will have a lot to say over 2miles 4 this season.
Tidal Bay vs Master Minded in the QMCC would be good to see, but looks like Tidal Bay will be going for the Ryanair.
I am positive Kauto Star will win the Cheltenham Gold Cup..so what’s new
NOTE: I also reckon VPU won’t win race in 2008/2009
Comments on a postcard please
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The idea that two miles around Cheltenham even remotely compares to two-and-a-half miles around Aintree is as laughable as it is absurd, so any doubts raised about Master Minded’s stamina on that score are completely unfounded.
I would be interested to know how different the ground was for the Champion Chase and Arkle, but taking the race times at face value puts Master Minded some way ahead of Tidal Bay. That’s obviously not the most sensible way to evaluate the relative merits of each horse, but it’s certainly a useful indication.
Tidal Bay is, without doubt, a high class individual, having finished either first or second in each of his 14 career starts. However, Master Minded is still, technically, less experienced than his Arkle-winning adversary, having raced only 13 times. It would be true to say that the Nicholls horse has raced more often over fences, but taking into consideration the fact that Tidal Bay is also two years his elder, the Champion Chase looks to be a ‘no contest’.
5/4 against 6/1 would appear to bare that out.
Perhaps you are correct saying the time is a good pointer but it is far from conclusive. Times are the lazy man’s option as far as I am concerned and one has to look at the way races are run rather than just saying this or that must be the better as the time was faster.
I like everyone was knocked out by Master Minded’s performance, so much so he made me instantantly think of Arkle himself. The way he skipped round the bend in the same greyhound type style was unbelievable but then Aintree.
The QMCC is like no other chase they go off like a bat out of hell then quicken up and it is seldom the Arkle (novices) is run at the same sort of pace. Albeit MM was a novice he is obviously mature beyond his years.
Master Minded has yet to meet any other horse worth talking about bar VPU and he is widely regarded as the worst or at least one of the worst QMCC winners of all time.
Nothing pleases me more than watching a real champion and having backed MM for plenty in the QMCC and having taken 6/4 for the renewal immediatly it was offered I am a big fan. However Aintree brought me down to earth with a bang.
Perhaps MM was over the top? There was more to it than distance as far as I am concerned and I refuse to believe that a horse who wins a fast run 2 mile CC can’t at least put up a good performance round Aintree at 2m4f. MM looked very ordinary that day and my worry is that should he meet another really good 2 miler he is found out.
It will be a crying shame if Tidal Bay avoids him as he has nothing to lose by having a crack early. If it does happen and MM does to him what he did to VPU then and only then will I believe he is the new coming.
I simply can’t think of another 2 miler who could blow wind up MM’s backside and isn’t that the truth. Never mind if that’s the case then that 6/4 is going to look awful good if all he has to beat is the same lot of mules he beat last season.
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Everything points to your money being perfectly safe, Fists, so I wouldn’t worry about Master Minded’s Aintree run. I don’t think two-and-a-half miles at the Liverpool track is quite as ‘easy’ as some people think, but I’m fairly sure that wasn’t his true running (I still think he’ll get the Gold Cup trip to be honest, going on his Champion Chase run).
But, whatever doubts were borne of Master Minded’s post-Cheltenham efforts, he is younger than Tidal Bay, has raced fewer times and has already achieved a good deal more. The 5/4 still available is quite remarkable.
I am positive Kauto Star will win the Cheltenham Gold Cup..so what’s new
NOTE: I also reckon VPU won’t win race in 2008/2009
Comments on a postcard please
Fist
Now don’t go losing your hard won loot from Zarkava on the Gold Cup as KS will do well to get placed.
As for VPU, isn’t that one winning this years King George ?
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