Team Tactics Don’t Work….

[Gingertipster]

But Coolmore should have a ban.

FACT: Hans Anderson – a “pacemaker – kept out wide and allowed Luxembourg up the inner whilst being in the way of their (thought of as) main rival Rebels Romance whose jockey had to push Hans Anderson out of the way… Hans Anderson also dropping back quickly, slightly hampered Bluestocking (thought to be Coolmore’s second biggest rival)…

FACT: Then Lordon not doing his best to win with Luxembourg. Keeping him wide in order to let Rodin up the rail.

This surely has to be seen as “team tactics” which is against the Rules Of Racing.
It was a similar story in the Irish Oaks.

I was delighted to see their team tactics not pay off.
But just because they did not succeed does not mean they should get away without punishment.

Value Is Everything

[Ex RubyLight]

Yeah, nice try Mark. I’ve said this almost every time they won a big race.
Anyway, Irish G1 races with Coolmore runners are already a farce. They ruin everything, the Irish Champion, the Derby, the Guineas and so on. Of course there should be a ban, especially when Hans Andersen gets unbalances once he runs out of steam 2 furlongs from home. Starts colliding with everyone behind him. WTF, is that? An unwritten Coolmore advantage/rule or what?

[Refuse To Bend]

Is this just a Coolmore tactic because I’m not seeing it from other stables albeit they have the ammunition to do so. The only other set-up I can see having the guns to do this are Godolphin but even with more than one entry they run on merit and not to control the race. I know Bullet Train was employed for Frankel but I find it unsportsmanlike and does turn me off the race.

The more I know the less I understand.

[Mike007]

I might be in the minority here, but I don’t have a problem with running a pacemaker. So many times we see decent races run at a crawl, then the other stables like Gosden or Appleby say there was no pace that’s why he or she didn’t show their best. They should run one then instead if they feel there will be no pace in the race rather than using it as an excuse after the race.

The York group 2 race today was described as ‘a farce’ on the tv because there was no pace. On the other hand, some people in this forum are speaking ill of pacemakers and ‘team tactics’ in the group 1 at Ascot.

[LD73]

You could pretty much get Coolmore hung drawn and quartered under the ‘ horse not ridden to obtain the best possible finishing position’ rule for the vast number of horses they run in any number of the big races.

Hans Andersen (a horse that has won at G3 level and placed at G2 level in the past when allowed to run on his merit) in particular has been used to abuse that rule in each of his last four races (in which he has been beaten a combined 194L).

I know Bullet Train pacemaked for Frankel but I don’t ever recall a situation in any of those races where he actual interferred/hampered another horse in the race – he was there purely to set a decent pace (QE2 aside) for Frankel to settle.

This is not a new trend as you can go back to the Bustino/Grundy King George where Dick Hern employed two pacemakers for Bustino to make the race the toughest test of stamina they could.

Coolmore and Godolphin (to a lesser degree) have just taken it to another level simply because they have the number of horses of a high enough class that they can be sacrificed to go off hard early and set it up for the more fancied stablemate.

If Stewards started cracking down on it…..i.e. actually applied the rules that are already in place and are clearly being flouted then I think it would be a benefit for racing and it would then place a greater test on the so called top horses to win when they race because tactics then become much more relevant.

[cormack15]

It seemed pretty clear the other two were being used to set up the race tactically for Auguste Rodin. Pacemaking is one thing but opening doors for your own while slamming the door on others is exactly the type of ‘team tactics’ that should be punished.

[He Didnt Like Ground]

For supposedly the best training outfit in Europe they don’t have cockup pace making , today was a shambles and listening to the attempted excuses afterwards just makes it worse , I’m glad I’m more of NH man , give me Mullins any day of the week

Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026

[Purwell]

I take very little interest in high class races now for this very reason.

I never bet in any race where any trainer has more than one runner.

I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highways

[Author]

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