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Since when did we need a language degree to follow the horses and the formbook? Take a look at the names of the seven winners at Huntingdon on Sunday. Nothing against a smattering of foreign language entering the game, but am I alone in becoming confused.
Since when did we need a language degree to follow the horses and the formbook? Take a look at the names of the seven winners at Huntingdon on Sunday. Nothing against a smattering of foreign language entering the game, but am I alone in becoming confused.
If you think racing is bad then what would you make of some of the other equestrian sports. Eventing is not too bad most of the time, but show jumping is terrible especially if a horse is bred at a continental stud and has the stud prefix. However the daddy of them all is the showing world I especially remember the great pony stallion of the seventies Rosevean Eagles Hill and his son Comberton Dance of the Eagles. Try calling that lot home in a big field of maidens at Larkhill.
I need to make a confession here; for quite a while now I have got an awful lot of horses muddled up..if I thought of a horse I used to get a mental picture of the horse in my head..however, I get horses like Malko de Beaumont, and Miko de Beauchene etc totally mixed up…
Or the champion hurdler and the selling plater with the same name..
Or all the horses with Collonges in their names, why dont English owners rename them when they get them, especally if the horse hasnt run under NH rules.
come on now – the British NH scene is absolutely butchering the French equivalent by snapping up anything with an inkling of talent. I think it would be the ultimate kick in the teeth if we started to change their names too.
And unless you’re a commentator (of which I know there are one or two on this forum) how often are you realistically going to have to say their names anyway? I’m assuming this thread was slightly tongue in cheek, I’m just a bit surprised that the rest of the posts appear to agree with the original point
I have, on more than one occasion, threatened some of my commentator friends that I will one day sponsor a "novelty" race where the entry criteria is all the runners must have either Arabic or Gaelic names or names that use all seventeen allowable characters without any gaps.
…and in a juvenile hurdle at Warwick recently, ROUGE ET BLANC was 2nd, RED AND WHITE finished 4th. Mein gott!
Mike
I’m assuming this thread was slightly tongue in cheek, I’m just a bit surprised that the rest of the posts appear to agree with the original point
Likewise.
gc
The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I think there is a serious point here though (besides the issue about unpronouncable Miko de this and whatever Collonge), and that is (what appears to be) the gradual disappearance of the old fashioned, late-maturing British/Irish chaser.
It seems that all the bloodstock agents these days and a lot of trainers (Alan King and Paul Nichols spring to mind) seem only to be interested in syphoning off all the young precocious french talent, to the detriment of more traditional horses who arent able to achieve as much at such an early age.
It strikes me as a rather short sighted policy, which must be having huge implications on Irish/British NH breeders. You would also think that in these recessionary times that home grown talent would be supported by these people, who instead seem to be after one thing only – instant success and/or instant bucks.
British and Irish breeders need to produce a better product, it’s as simple as that.
This isn’t the first era when large numbers of French horses have been imported. For 20 years after the last war there were plenty of them about, like Festival winners Fortina, Mont Tremblant, Mandarin, Sir Ken and Clair Soleil. That’s 3 Gold Cups and 4 Champion Hurdles.
And there must have been at least half a dozen winners of the Gloucester Hurdle (now Supreme),horses like Tsaoko, Vulgan, and Oukileles II.
I read years ago that the French are very selective in which mares they breed from; ie over here if a mare becomes unsound for whatever reason we use her for breeding, regardless of whether the unsoundness was caused by bad conformation etc. Whether what I read was about racing or horse breeding in general I have no idea; it was a long time ago but the article has stayed in my mind ever since.
I remember at Baden Baden in 2006, when a horse came over from Poland for a hurdle race. Although only having seven letters in its name, it was more than a match for course commentator Manfred Chapman who referred to the horse throughout the race as ‘our guest from Poland’. Even worse for poor old Chapman was that the horse was always prominent, and eventually finished an excellent second. Not only that but the name of the jockey and trainer was quite a challenge too.
The name of the horse: HVYTKYJ
Jockey: Jaroslav Patusjek
Trainer: Grzegorz Walbrzych WroblewskiAnd you guys think FRENCH horses are a challenge……..
Darren – AngloGerman
________________________________________‘The Hungarian’s going hell for leather’ – Jim McGrath
Funny how our best chasers are all French-breds ie. Master Minded, Kauto Star, Neptune Collonges, Exotic Dancer etc. whilst the best French chaser is Irish-bred – Remember Rose.
I guess it’s nature vs. nurture but as has been mentioned previously the British and Irish breeders need to realise you can no longer charge 100k for a P2P winner when you can get a solid graded horse for half the price in France or a claiming hurdle winner with top prospects for 20,000 Euro’s.
If the British/Irish product wants to compete it has to provide what the market wants ie. precocious horses with longevity. Owners don’t want to pay ten times the price and wait 4 years for the horse to run anymore.
Just for the record, the seven winning horses at Huntingdon on Sunday were – Supreme de Paille, Bergo, Pairc Na Gcapall, Petrus de Sormain, Yossi, Kikos and Saga de Tercey.
The responses to this thread have raised several valid points, worthy of further debate.
However, taking the first horse as an example, how long will it be before we see Supreme des Pailles or Supreme de Pailles. My knowledge of French would be O-Level standard and fading fast!
I just hope the use of these names is controlled, before my racing senses become numbed. They are bad enough already!
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