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Moe, it’s his style of running that might have prevented Mark Walsh from pulling him up.
This is the in-running comment from the Stayers’ Hurdle of 2024:
“Held up in rear, not fluent 3 out, soon outpaced and dropped to last, plenty to do home turn, rallied approaching last, kept on well run-in, not pace to challenge (op 12/1 tchd 16/1)”Problem is that Punchestown has had it’s share of bad and fatal injuries in the past few years. Whether it’s the fact that horses are galloping down the hill once they’re in the back straight or that they’ve had a long season, I don’t know. But I think they had about 5-6 fatalities last year as well. Everybody tries to stay on the inside and there is a lot of contact and not always enough room at the obstacles.
Me too Moehat livid in fact! I am so upset by the needless loss of any horse being pushed and forced on when they have clearly given their all. That’s when tired mistakes are made and beautiful lives are lost!
I swerved the jumps yesterday as had an awful feeling about it and after reading this thread had to go through the results to get my head around it!
Still cant! But saying Sire Du Berlais was Eventually pulled up is quite frankly insulting and ridiculous! changes need to be made to ensure horses are pulled up when they are clearly exhausted and or struggling!When watching jumps my enjoyment of racing is regularly becoming sapped, as I find myself swinging from shouting my horse on with delight to yelling at the jockey on the last horse to pull up ffs! Which quite frankly ruins the whole experience!
Jockeys need to be held accountable for their actions if they don’t pull up a Horse In Trouble!
I have been an advocate of racing for 40 years, but for it to survive the Horses must come first – Always!R.I.P Sire Du Berlais You will never be forgotten xxx
✨ Do as you would be done by ✨
He bumped and pushed him all the way from the outset and never made a yard of ground for all that even the commentator said the horse wasn’t enjoying it albeit that would have been difficult to gauge.
The more I know the less I understand.
And that from a commentator that doesn’t even notice when a loose horse knocks another jockey off his horse and regularly doesn’t tell us if a horse has fallen. So it must have been very obvious that he was struggling. What really got me was how he whipped him on the second circuit and got no response.
Most of this criticism is unfair; even 5 out he was still in touch considering the way he has always responded to pressure, and seemed to jump nimbly enough all the way around. Then he disappeared from the picture, and I’d presumed he’d been pulled up.
Is there an argument for compulsory retirement at 11 yrs? At that age are they statistically more prone to injury?
RIP to a real dogged old warriorI agree that much of this criticism is unfair. Sire Du Berlais’ running style was often to be scrubbed along at the back and then fly home very late. I would not place a lot of weight on comments made by Thursday’s commentator given his unreliable observational skills, which were amply demonstrated again yesterday.
My perception is that fatal injuries are not more common at older ages, but that they often hit more of an emotional punch with the racing public as they relate to horses we have enjoyed for longer. I would hate to see an age limit introduced unless there were solid supporting evidence, which I am dubious exists.
One of the things I most enjoy is seeing horses continue to perform well into their teens, as this suggests they are actually enjoying what they are doing, and have not been soured by a long racing career.
Generally agree Marlingford (Outbox illustrated your final point perfectly today). Sire Du Berlais hasn’t looked like he enjoyed it anymore this season though. Only 3 races, so maybe had problems. Tragically I suspect he would have been retired after yesterday’s race if fates hadn’t intervened.
Totally agree with your sentiments Moehat. Others have said that he “wasn’t going”. So sad that the jockey didn’t have the sense to pull him up earlier than he did. I love horse racing & have done for more than 40yrs but sometimes decisions made by jockeys really make me want to give up RIP Sire du Berlais
I’m pretty sure yesterday would have been his last race anyway. Maybe the jockey wanted him to finish so they could announce his retirement,as they did with Samcro today? But they could still have one that if he’d pulled up. It wasn’t what the commentator said that made me think the same: I was already thinking it. I like these quirky types that run on at the end of races which is why I was watching him. I also don’t agree with retiring horses at a certain age; some are never meant to do dressage or showing or mooch around in fields ( although, judging by his style of running I can’t help but feel that a life of idleness would have been his idea of heaven). Something about what happened to him disturbed me and I realised that it was being echoed on social media too. What happened to Kilbeg King was awful too but things like that are part and parcel of being a horse and I know of horses that suffer that out in the field. There was something avoidable about what happened to Sire du Berlais imo and I’m saying that as someone that is always trying to defend racing to non racing friends and acquaintances. I know I’m overly sentimental about horses but I do think they need a purpose and I don’t usually blame jockeys(I think this is the first time I’ve ever done so) but what happened just seemed wrong to me.
Jusbluey,
By your reckoning he wouldn’t have won the Grade 1 at Aintree…..at what point would you have pulled him up?
“In rear, cajoled along from 5th, not fluent 10th, soon pushed along, headway 3 out, led last, soon ridden, went clear run-in, kept on strongly.”
Three runs before he was pulled up when he had a similar run.
“Reluctant to line up, reminders soon after start, raced in last, in rear after 2nd, pushed along and looked reluctant before 8th, struggling from 9th, tailed off from 3 out, pulled up after 2 out.”
In between the pulled up and Aintree he also won the Stayers at the Festival!! It was part of his style at times, sometimes he ran on, sometimes he didn’t. Walsh was very familiar with his racing style so would have known better than any of the ‘experts’ here whether he had anything left to offer or needed pulling up. Unfortunately he suffered this fatal injury.
Helluva lot of after-timing and over sentimentality going on here, perhaps we shouldn’t race horses at all?
“Is there an argument for compulsory retirement at 11 yrs?”
No. The La Touche Cup was won by a 14 year old.
I genuinely don’t think that Sire Du Berlais’ run yesterday was that dissimilar to some of his previous performances. He also ran a cracking race in the Stayers’ Hurdle a month ago, so I don’t think he was showing he’d reached the end of the line.
I think it was an awfully sad thing that happened yesterday, but something that unfortunately happens in racing. If we really must find someone to blame, rather than his jockey or connections, I’d suggest it is all of us collectively who support and follow racing, as the risk sadly cannot ever be eliminated completely.
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