- This topic has 44 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 7 months ago by
.
- Posts
Although it would have been nice to see her go out in a blaze of glory, I think the connections deserve our admiration for deciding to retire her. She owes nobody anything , and clearly has had enough of racing.
I hope she enjoys a long and happy time at the paddocksAdmiration? You are having a laugh surely. Connections haven’t made a decision, they’ve been left no alternative as she retired herself.
Perhaps you are correct, but I can think of many others for whom the temptation would have been too great. I think that there is nothing worse than seeing a horse who is a shadow of its former self, and clearly no longer in love with the sport, sliding down the classes of race and course, from those they formerly frequented
Its racings loss. Almost nothing between them on the book, we missed what could have been two great duels, today and at York.
Wish her well at stud.
Don’t know why they made this decision so quickly after the race.
They could have taken their time to have a think, surely?
- Total Posts 17716
A damaging blow to her stud value as its a consistent trait in the family which you wouldn’t want to pay an awful lot to keep breeding.
Excellent filly, correct decision.
We never did get to see the best of
Sariska
as she was being trained for one race only this year and that was the Arc,she was an intelligent racehorse,more intelligent than her trainer,in fact she has made Michael Bell look a bit incompetent.Sariska never did like running on ground that had no ease and yet she was made to race on it several times,horses remember these things,the only time she was in her comfort zone was when she won the Irish Oaks effortlessly from Midday!Sariska had been telling her trainer,more than once on Newmarket gallops that she was getting a bit fed up and even back at the stables she had been showing temperament and yet Michael persevered with her! we all have a limit to our patience and Sariskas finally snapped when she tried to knock her trainer out in her stable! Her refusal to race at York was the final straw for her but not Michael who was determined he could win the Arc with her,half a dozen stalls tests later and yet none went smoothly she goes all the way to Paris to finally put an end to her career!Well done Sariska,you certainly taught Michael Bell a thing or two!
Good points TAPK
I agree totally that she was a filly who benefitted from some ease in the ground. Unfortunately in her more recent races she never got it.
You got me thinking with your points about Mr Bell, and it brought back memories of a filly of Mr Cecils from the late 80s, namely Indian Skimmer. Once it was found that she was a different animal with cut in the ground, Mr Cecil showed immense patience ensuring that she was given as many favourable chances on appropriate ground as possible.
Perhaps Mr Bell could have done the same.
Still I am pleased that the connections have now retired her- Total Posts 17716
I glided briefly over other comments and I mostly agree. She was being aimed at the Arc, Michael Bell said that would be the case after last season.
This was the last decent prep race (and close enough) and she may not have been kept in training next year anyway. They had probably made their minds up after York that if this happened they would call time and it’s just a shame when you look at Midday (a horse that’s never beaten Sariska is upto 5 group 1’s and hopefully a 6th in America) performing so well, you kinda feel they’ve missed a good chance with Sariska.
She’s a thief, a charlatan and owes me a tenner!
As good as she was, her gene pool is dodgy to say the least.
Michael Bell made more wrong decisions regarding
Sariska
than he did right ones! First mistake was running her in the Fred Darling,a bigger one was never letting Haley Turner ride her after she started showing temperament,which she has done all season! Haley would have clicked with her straight away and is still the best horse she has ever sat on!
He needed to get Pat Eddery out of retirement TAPK. He had a knack of winning on horses that other jockeys couldn’t win on. That included top class performers as well e.g. Rainbow Quest.
On a more realistic note, I think that the suggestion to use Turner may well have borne fruit.He needed to get Pat Eddery out of retirement TAPK. He had a knack of winning on horses that other jockeys couldn’t win on. That included top class performers as well e.g. Rainbow Quest.
On a more realistic note, I think that the suggestion to use Turner may well have borne fruit.Pat Eddery has been reincarnated in the shape of Richard Hughes! Both make the simplest things look difficult! Eddery running up the backside of 2 pacemakers in the 86 King George and almost stopping Dancing Brave in his tracks and Hughesey making riding Zebedee look difficult when in fact the horse could have won a lot easier than he does!
I’ll have to agree to totally disagree with you there TAPK.
Eddery was undoubtedly one of the greatest jockeys of all time, and had it all, great clock to ride from the front, tactical master, great at producing horses late, strong as an oxx in a finish, and also a star at giving promising 2 year olds an education.
Hughes has his strengths, but is not in the same league as Eddery. You don’t get all the top jobs in racing e.g. O’Brien / Sangster, H.H. Abdullah etc , by accident / coincidenceI’ll have to agree to totally disagree with you there TAPK.
Eddery was undoubtedly one of the greatest jockeys of all time, great at producing horses late,He certainly did a great job of getting
Bellotto
beat by producing him way too late in the 87 2000gns!
He didn’t exactly have a willing partner there TAPK.
He was a decidedly dodgy horse at the business end of his races as a 3 year old, and only won 2 races in his whole career if I remember correctly.
You aren’t exactly being fair to a jockey who only Sir Gordon Richards has ridden more winners than. You don’t get statistics like that without being an all time great.
Have to agree to disagree mate
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.