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I see that Astonville and Turnium are declared to run in the Gold Cup today. This is grossly unfair on these two horses who are risking life and limb totally pointlessly. It is also obviously unfair on the other runners in the race whose chances of winning may be compromised by one of these two.
I don’t know for the life of me what pleasure someone would get in repeatedly entering no-hopers such as these in important races but it is unacceptable and the authorities need to find a way to ensure it is stopped. Possibly a minimum rating ruling?
Possibly a minimum rating ruling?
Or a rule where the horse has to have won a graded race before it can run in a non-novice G1 at the festival?
Maybe someone will come back at this suggestion with a horse that had never won in graded company before going on to win one of the championship races.
Steve
Cormack, when I saw ‘Stop This Man’, i thought to myself, my god, i’ve only been on here 20 mins posting a few things and already you’ve had enough of me! ;)
Oh I agree completely – i think this guy just likes having owner’s badges. maybe the JC can issue complimentary ones just to spot this tw*t. he’s a pillock, and clearly doesn’t care about the welfare of the horses.
Maybe if he entered them in much lower class races, he would have a chance of winning them. It’s disgusting, particularily when you have a maximum field going to post for the GC.
Maybe we can give him a couple of wooden horses to enter in the GC?? I’ll put a score towards it.
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I can see both sides of the argument: as has been said, these outsiders could get injured or hamper other, more serious, contenders but, then again, we wouldn’t have had results like Norton’s Coin winning the Gold Cup if all "no-hopers" were barred from championship events.
In fairness Jiminy (i thought i’d better keep Slooch’s spirit with us seeing as he won’t be back!!), I only used 1 exclamation mark in that post^^^!!!
Although 5 ones in this post! :biggrin: 6.
Norton’s Coin had run to a respectable enough rating of 152 only two runs prior to his Gold Cup win so such a ruling wouldn’t have disbarred him. It’s not outsiders that I’m against, it’s the complete, absolute no-hopers.
Bizarrely enough Astonville’s best rating (132) was achieved when trailing in last but one (in front of his stable companion Turnium) in last year’s Champion hurdle (comment in running – "always behind, no chance from 5th". Turnium has only once ran above 50, in the same race when he ran to 112.
How about a minimum rating of 140? That would see off the clowns while not disbarring genuine contenders. Special allowance could be made for overseas contenders who had displayed a comparable level of form in its homeland but had no official rating over here.
(Edited by cormack15 at 12:15 pm on Mar. 17, 2006)
It would appear that the 2 horses in question are declared as non-runners for the Gold Cup. Sense at last.<br>According to the RP website.
Maybe as a result of the five fatalities yesterday? Cheltenham (and NH racing generally) wouldn’t want any avoidable bad press is my guess. Yes, common sense has prevailed.
Cormack
A good idea for a minimum rating, though if memory serves Astonville was rated over 140 when running at the Festival last year.
Though they have deteriorated considerably, both horses would have made legitimate contenders in their youth – Astonville would probably have rated something over 150 whilst I remember seeing Turnium upsides First Gold when falling in a Group 2 a few years back.
Quote: from yquem21 on 11:37 am on Mar. 17, 2006[br]I can see both sides of the argument: as has been said, these outsiders could get injured or hamper other, more serious, contenders but, then again, we wouldn’t have had results like Norton’s Coin winning the Gold Cup if all "no-hopers" were barred from championship events.<br>
<br>Moreover, there’s no copper-bottomed correlation between ineptitude and likelihood to get killed. I didn’t see any of the very worst animals in the Festival race line-ups, the likes of Iloveturtle and the Wilson runners, adding to the body count.
For as long as that remains the case, the imposition of a minimum ratings band is probably too fallable.
gc<br>
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Having slated Fergus Wilson for running his no hopers in the best races, I am looking forward to Alastair Down eating humble pie tomorrow in light of Cerium’s magnificent 5th placed effort today….
Maybe Paul Nicholls, who also tried to bully those same connections into not running the Gold Cup, will also be offering his congratulations?
A great performance no doubt but a few sayings spring to mind.
Throw enough s**t against the wall, and something is likely to stick.
10000 monkeys on 10000 typewriters and one of them will write a sentence.Now it’s pretty obvious that if substandard horses continually race in better races than they should be eventually one of them will put in a freak performance.
I personally have no problem if they run or not i’d imagine the connections must be very proud of cerium today. He did have a lot of ability a few years ago after all. However you should understand Nicholls concerns about having his champions brought down by a 200-1 no hoper aswell..
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Cerium and Arteea both trying to get in the shake up coming around the home turn, especially when Arteea had been such a remote last on the first circuit. Unbelievably Cerium was backed into 100/1 from 500’s late doors, probably by the once a year punters (including my Dad.)
I’ve been less than complimentary about the Wilsons in the past but in at least this one instance their tilting at windmills has paid off, but their horses efforts in the previous contests today were more reflective of the Wilson’s horses in general.I have no problem with horses like Cerium and Arteea running in the Grand National.
If they are allocated a weight and make the final cut they deserve to take their chance.
However, I can understand the frustration when they run these types off level weights in Championship races, where they literally have no hope in hell, and could interfere with horses that have the potential to be competitive.
Didn’t they run Contraband in both the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup last year?
Of course, if they pay the entry fee, they’re entitled to take their chance. I just think a line needs to be drawn somewhere.
Cerium didn’t run a bad race in the Gold Cup either. He wasn’t hopelessly outpaced and outclassed like so many of the previous Wilson runners.
I’ve been critical of them too. Perhaps their horses will be ridden like horses with chances next time around – rather than skulking around at the back like Arteea.
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