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I was in the middle, had to back Spot because of the price and roared him up the hill leaving me hoarse today (would have roared just as loud without financial involvement)
I think they should retire him now- the X Country race at the Festival is a handicap and that might be too big an ask at 15.I think I’d agree.
For all that I’m a staunch advocate of running horses well into pensionable age if still able to do themselves justice, there is a world of difference between the likes of Mr Dow Jones still finding low-grade marathon chases off a mark in the low 110s at 14-15, Bold Navigator landing point-to-points at 17, and Spot Thedifference having to race off 150 or as near as makes no difference rising 15.
The first two-named still have any number of options open to them at a lower level. Spot is ineligible for hunters’ chases for the rest of this season at the least, and handicaps-wise he’s looking at those without a ratings ceiling or 0-150s where he’d almost certainly have to carry top weight.
If the (basically) level weight conditions of yesterday’s race, plus certain of the Irish equivalents, represent the only ones in which he could be as competitive hereafter, that’s not a lot of targets to aim at – even before the risks of abandonments or unsuitable going conditions reducing that total yet further are factored in.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
What about the Christies Foxhunters? Is he ineligible for that race? and it’s not a handicap?
It was both luck and courage that won him the race yesterday and I think he deserves to go out on a high; I may be wrong but my gut instinct is that they’ll retire him now.
What about the Christies Foxhunters? Is he ineligible for that race? and it’s not a handicap?
He’s raced after November 1st, so that’d him out for hunters’ chases for another year. Ditto Ballycassidy, whose season would have been spent far more productively in that sphere this season than trailing home miles behind in amateurs’ handicaps if yesterday’s evidence is any guide.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
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