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Oozed class, fantastic performance. It’s been said countless times(especially by Willie Carson prior to the race!), but you have to feel sorry for the horse, being around in Frankel’s generation.
I have had Carlton House down as one to avoid since his Derby run. I just don’t think he is a top class horse and has too many question marks over him. Sir Michael hasn’t had a group one winner for two years and has had a pretty modest record in general during that period. Cityscape is not a favourite of mine and his biggest win had a "flash in the pan" quality to it for me. He looked special that day but his other runs don’t back that up. Elusive Kate is up against it but is a filly who has done better than I expected this year after a relatively busy campaign last season. She could grab a place. I think Excelebration will win but the main concern for me is that nearly all of O’Briens recent winners have been two year olds who have probably outclassed their rivals. If I could get 10/1 on Elusive Kate I’d probably back her each way but that won’t happen. It could be that we will all be looking at Excelebration afterwards and thinking "well that was obvious"
We are Steve…and it was!
That was a completely different performance than his last race, the Jacques le Marois when he had to be shoved along a long way out. He was first-up for 2 months for that race in France which might explain that. The early pace was slow both times, but Excelebration just travelled far better than he did then and bounced back to his best (in good style too).
After what has been a long season that has to have been his best ever performance. I say that despite the fact I said it was going to be a steering job as I didn’t expect him to be quite that impressive. Def a bit of the Wow! factor there and the average time was faster than Frankel’s.
Wish I had taken that 7/2 about him for the Breeders but alas he’s now 7/4 and deservedly so. One worry Santa Anita is on the turn but as long as the gaps come he’ll take some beating.
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Nice to see you back again NWRA.
Still not going to be in 10,0000 years though.
Value Is EverythingHe was wonderful today guys. Rarely have I been so pleased to be wrong about him on soft ground. A true champion who deserved his day in the sun. Let’s hope he has another one in Santa Anita!
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
After what has been a long season that has to have been his best ever performance. I say that despite the fact I said it was going to be a steering job as I didn’t expect him to be quite that impressive. Def a bit of the Wow! factor there and the average time was faster than Frankel’s.
Wish I had taken that 7/2 about him for the Breeders but alas he’s now 7/4 and deservedly so. One worry Santa Anita is on the turn but as long as the gaps come he’ll take some beating.
"Steering Job"?? You have soon changed your tune my good man. What did you call him before France? Remind me.
When he gets it right, JOB looks extremely stylish when he’s cruising!
Lovely to see Excelebration gain a deserved, emphatic win like that. Just imagine, Frankel would have been at least five ahead of him!
Great performance by
Excelebration
yesterday and I do believe he would have beaten Frankel with that performance (New tactics + Ground swing) or at least have gone very close in doing so, probably lucky they didn’t meet him on that form.
- Total Posts 438
Whilst Excelebration was undeniably impressive yesterday, those claiming that he would’ve beaten Frankel, had the latter run in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, appear to have lost their marbles. Whilst the ground may have brought the pair closer together, Frankel would have just done to Excelebration what he did to Cirrus Des Aigles: sat, waited, and picked him off.
Let’s not forget that Frankel has beaten Excelebration on all five occasions that they have met and that the closest the ex-Marco Botti trained colt has come was 2 1/4 lengths, in last year’s St James’s Palace Stakes, a race in which everyone believes Frankel ran way below his best. This catalogue of failure includes an effort in the Coolmore livery with the supposedly "new" tactics of trying to deliver him late, in this season’s Lockinge Stakes- a race in which Excelebration had race fitness on his side; the result, as we all know, was a five-length drubbing.
Excelebration is a top-class miler and the fact that he was so patently inferior to Frankel just proves how truly great the latter was.
To be honest I’ve never seen Excelebration possess that turn of foot when he eye balled Cityscape, you could be forgiven for thinking he was running on firm ground but visually looking at the ear quarters of the horse I felt in my chest the power behind the saddle and was taken by the shear velocity in which Excelebration quickened almost skipping the realms of time as you blinked felt you had been stuck in an ice age in reference to the last visual position pre-blink in relation to post-blink.
Sensational it really was.
I’m not sure how he was allowed to start at 10-11 as he was a shoe in and this imo was best performance.
Excelebration quickened almost skipping the realms of time as you blinked felt you had been stuck in an ice age in reference to the last visual position pre-blink in relation to post-blink.
Sensational it really was.
Yeah!! I heard the sound barrier being broken first and then, as Mr Sulu pressed the warp 8 button on the control deck, you could see light starting to bend and then break as Excelebration overtook it. A fracture in time itself occurred and people all over the country had to reset their clocks and wristwatches, as they struggled to remember a time when they had read such overblown prose trying to compare a horse doing 40mph to the Starship Enterprise.
"One to beam back down to planet reality please Mr Scott"
"Aye Captain!!"
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
A quite wonderful performance from Excelebration.
The first three home in the Prix Jaques le Marois filled the same positions on Saturday afternoon, but Aidan O’Brien’s colt put an extra 1 3/4L between himself and Cityscape, and improved his superiority over Elusive Kate by 3L.
The colts were 4lb better off with the John Gosden-trained filly, but she was also preparing for the colder weather and a combination of these factors contributed to Elusive Kate suffering a heavier defeat.
Cityscape’s best efforts in winning the Dubai Duty Free and finishing a fine second in the Hong Kong Mile were both achieved on fast ground, and I have no hesitation in thinking Excelebration, who won both the Prix Du Moulin and German Guineas on testing ground, handled the ground better.
Cityscape’s effort petered out inside the final furlong, much like it did in Canada, and there’s no doubt his globe-trotting season has taken the edge off him in recent outings.
Carlton House came within a neck of being placed in three Group1 contests over three different trips after a close third in the Epsom Derby and a respectable second in the Prince Of Wales. He clearly lacked the change of gear that the first three possess, but if connections persist next season he will be a contender for the top one mile-two races and there’s perhaps an arguement for a third attempt at twelve furlongs.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Sir Michael Stoute reached for headgear at some stage, either.
Had it not been for Frankel, Excelebration would be celebrating thirteen consecutive victories out of a fourteen race career. I have no doubt that he would have won the St James’ Palace had Frankel not been present, so there is certainly an arguement to be made that we are looking at the second best miler of recent times.
One gets tired listening to Aidan explaining how he got it wrong and Joseph had to solve the problem.Botti get a horse in exchange for Excelebration and takes him to Canada to win a million. Aidan is still trying to figure things out.So You Think was sent back to Australia with Aidan wishing he had another year to get it right.Excuses excuses excuses.So boring.
Carlton House came within a neck of being placed in three Group1 contests over three different trips after a close third in the Epsom Derby and a respectable second in the Prince Of Wales. He clearly lacked the change of gear that the first three possess, but if connections persist next season he will be a contender for the top one mile-two races and there’s perhaps an arguement for a third attempt at twelve furlongs.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Sir Michael Stoute reached for headgear at some stage, either.
I can’t share your optimism regarding Carlton House. Why keep running a horse over a distance likely to be too short and then blaming the lack of a change of gear. I think that once you start messing about with trips and using equipment it is simply a fact that the horse wasn’t as good as first thought. Stoutie USED to be a master with older horses but not so much recently. I would put it as a theory that the best aid would be to equip the jockey with a pair of oars!!
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
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