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Should we increase prize money of trials? May be we should do the opposite. If connections don’t want to run their horses in trials in Jan and Feb anymore, get rid of the trials.
Then we’d get the same people crying.
Tough!!!!!!
Value Is EverythingShould have won the Ascot race too, went too fast early, fluffed the last when Johnson took it too easily.
I thought the ride in that Ascot race was erratic. Richard Johnson had taken a shocker of a fall in the previous race off Planet of Sound and I’m not convinced he wasn’t still seeing stars.
Agree there’s no reason Menorah couldn’t run in January except maybe they feel there isn’t an ideal race or they don’t need to; he’s earned his corn for this year already.
There aren’t many obvious opportunities for Champion Hurdle types after Christmas; Kingwell Hurdle is quite late; Haydock race usually has bad ground. Tote Gold Trophy is one for an improving handicapper. UK hurdlers rarely go to Leopardstown. Sandown used to host that Oteley Hurdle but never seemed to attract good fields.
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Agree with TB Racing
Think back to Paul Nicholls and Kauto/Denman after their Gold Cup races, The Winner was retired for the season, whilst the runners up raced again…. barring KS after his fall.
Oh and they got beaten after Chelt as well
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One season from Dessie was probably more than KS and Denman combined………….
I can understand why some horses are saved for the biggest stage of the season.
Horses like Diamond Harry and Imperial Commander are obviously far better when fresh. If a horse is only capable of competing a handful of times over the course of a season, then it’s only natural that they are primed for the most prestigious races.
Best Mate never had great constitution and Henrietta was always at pains to tell everyone that he took time to get over his races.
Horses like Cue Card run on adrenaline, as Francombe stated on Saturday. Keeping a horse mentally fresh is just as important as keeping one physically sound.
I can certainly understand why Denman is going straight to Cheltenham. He puts 100% into every race and one could argue that the campaign he endured when winning the Hennessy, Lexus, Aon and Gold Cup was the major contributing factor to his health problems in the off season – he nearly ran himself into an early grave in the Gold Cup.
He’s not the easiest horse to keep healthy and needs plenty of work. He’s also something of an individual and is another who you want to keep mentally sharp and don’t want to upset.
I have never understood why Nicholls has never sent Kauto for the Whitbread (sorry, will always call it that), despite being entered on more than one occasion. The main objectives are out of the way ie King George, Gold Cup and he would thrive around Sandown over that trip. It is five weeks after the Gold Cup and if he’s well in himself, they have plenty of time to get him ready for the race.
I’m quite confident that not one horse that has been ‘put away’ until Cheltenham will win at the festival.
How many of you will back Imperial Commander on his first run back from an injury in the Cheltenahm Gold Cup?
It’s pathetic to be honest. Basically every trainer is running scared of Nicholls. PFN cleans up all the big races on a weekend that the other trainers think the best chance they have of beating him is by keeping their horse fresh. In the meantime, PFN cleans up on Saturdays and then has the best – and most in-from – horses come the festival.
How can Nigel Twiston-Davies say his horse is injured but his next race will be the Cheltenham Gold Cup. If he is seriously injured enough to miss the King George on Dec 26th then how is he going to be fit enought to defind his Gold Cup crown without having a prep run.
It’s all too fishy. It’s all bent.
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It must be borne in mind that training facilities are much better now than they were a generation ago, so it is easier to prime a horse for a big race on the gallops.
Whilst we’d all like to see the best horses more frequently than is the case, this simply won’t happen until there are more viable races in which they can run. Think back to the Dickinsons sending the likes of Silver Buck and Badsworth Boy to Market Rasen and Kelso- how many of those open handicaps are now 0-145 races? Race planning is a total shambles.
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how many more times are we going to hears this from jumps trainers?
the likes of DIAMOND HARRY,DENMAN KAUTO STAR,IMPERIAL COMMANDER,CUE CARD etc wont run in jan/feb and even some other trainers are not bothered if their horses run or not again before the festival,so whats the point in staging top racing in jan/feb if top horses will be tucked up in their stables?Horses tell trainers when they should run not the other way round. Years of experience behind their decisons and not a case of not being bothered. They would love to run them every week if they could because they get a percenatge of the winnings.
Those you mention have allways run best with a long rest between races and Cue Card went from cantering to bouncing at Cheltenham on Saturday. He didn’t get home which could either be he didn’t get the trip in that class of race or he simply isn’t that good. Not sure which but his trainer has chosen to try and build him up by letting him down and hopefully he fills before March. If he comes back stronger than before maybe then he’ll be able to win the Supreme but if he kept running him all you would see is a repeat of Saturdays performance. Plus he migh not have a horse to play with in a years time. Patience is a virtue especially with racehorses.
It completely baffles me. One minute they’ll come on for the run after a break, the next apparently they’ll be "FIT" to do themselves justice after a 4 month break. I cannot understand why it is so difficult to get a horse fit to race at his optimum more than once or twice a season.
From the Q&A with Bill Pressey the following question
"Whilst aware that each individual horse is different, in your opinion on average how long does a horse need between races to operate at an optimum level."
Answer
I think that 3 weeks is too long for most, and 3 days is too short – the correct answer lies between. If you can collect and analyze physiological data such as heart rate, gallop speed, lactate balance point, etc. – you can eliminate the guesswork and pinpoint the best for your horse, i.e. tell when he is recovered from his last effort.
I’m a blasphemer GMOOH
Agree with TB Racing
Think back to Paul Nicholls and Kauto/Denman after their Gold Cup races, The Winner was retired for the season, whilst the runners up raced again…. barring KS after his fall.
Oh and they got beaten after Chelt as well
There is a big difference between:
Having a hard race at Cheltenham before going on to disappoint two or three weeks later at Aintree –
And
Having a race programme well thought out, running every four to six weeks throughout the season.
Value Is EverythingIt is interesting that immediately after last year’s Hennessey Paul Nicholls said the horse would go straight to the Gold Cup. Then changed his mind. Could it be Denman only ran in the Aon because he needed the run to get fit for Cheltenham?
Value Is EverythingThere may also be the added cautionary factor involved; whereby some trainers are so disposed towards the big day at Cheltenham, that they intentionally wrap their main contender up in cotton wool for fear of any potential injury that the horse could incur.
I remember Ian Balding saying that following Mill Reef’s King George win at Ascot, that he had made the conscious decision not to give the horse another run before the Arc, mindful of the fact what happened with Nijinsky the previous year. He said that had he run Mill Reef prior to the Arc, it could well have hindered his chance of winning in Paris.
The trainer and staff know their horse better than most, so I believe whatever decision is made regarding whether they to run again or not prior to the intended race target, then surely it is taken in the horse’s best interest.
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Have to say that I agree with most on here that it is a terrible shame that so much emphasis is now placed on those four days in March.
I was at Cheltenham on Saturday and it was a wonderful day but reading in Sunday’s post that a number of the horses won’t run again until mid March was pretty depressing actually. Whilst some trainers HAVE done it in the past it does seem to be an increasing trend.
I think it is down to a combination of all the reasons mentioned – partly prize money, partly cautionary, partly because one or two are probably best fresh (although if they ONLY ever run fresh how would we know?)
The solution? Perhaps more incentive during the intervening months. Qualifying races to ensure participation in March.
We all like to moan about the flat but they have half a dozen prestigious races during a season that are all worth winning. Not the case in NH clearly.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
I know it is early days but so far every winner has either had a recent run or been out at least three times this season.
On the flip side Menorah and Cue Card almost looked like they were in need of a run.
Like I said – early days but let’s hope we see a bit more of these horses next year as Captain Chris et al have shown that you can have a few races and still be competitive.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
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