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I said Normally.There will be exceptions to the rule. If more than one has all three then the best horse at the distance will normally win.
Actually you said "Only the winner will have all three", but never mind.
Never have I read such nonsense in all my life.
If anything beat Zenyatta today it was the sheer volume of attention she was receiving; flanked by what looked like a small army on her way to the saddling enclosure and visibly affected by the rapturous applause upon her entrance.
In the race itself she started slowly, was being asked to improve after all of a furlong despite looking less than keen, wasn’t all that far behind Blame in the middle of the back straight and failed to quicken enough having been aided (she was within spitting distance of the lead at the turn) by Quality Road going off too fast.
She was less than impressive when winning last time and was beaten by the occasion tonight. I’ve never bought in to the hype, but I can appreciate what an emotional occasion it would have been had she won; unfortunately it is that elation-turned-despair that is governing people’s reactions.
McCririck’s suggestion that Mike Smith didn’t do enough, and his subsequent verbal assault because he actually did too much (with the whip), were laughable. The less said about Matt Chapman’s rant the better.
AJ i was going to say that anyone who actually thinks the ride Mike Smith gave the brilliant Zenyatta was acceptable wants to take up knitting Tea Cosys because they obviously know sweet FA about horseracing but i dont need to due to the fact Mike himself broke down in floods of tears at the Post race conference and admitted full responsibility so yet again your contribution is a mile off the mark! Knit one pearl one…
I don’t wanna upset the apple cart but if Sea The Stars would’ve been in the same position as Zenyatta going into the straight, he’d have won
True, BUT! Kinane wouldn’t have put him in such a position, and he wouldn’t have resorted to the whip.
Twitter=@PGHenn
So don't run, just like the others always do
"hek normally in a group one race only the winner gets the perfect ride".Is what I originally said. But never mind.The second "Normally "was in reply to somebody.
Zenyatta’s loss wasn’t half as bad as Dancing Brave’s Derby run.
Oh yes it was! Greville never did apologise as he blamed the course which Epsom being Epsom got him slightly off the hook,Mike Smith has nowhere to hide with this ride and had to put his hands up!It never ceases to amaze me that so many cant see the most obvious reason even when its hitting them right between the eyes and they try to blame anything else rather than the only reason this wonder filly lost her unbeaten tag, Mike Smith!
McCririck’s suggestion that Mike Smith didn’t do enough, and his subsequent verbal assault because he actually did too much (with the whip), were laughable. The less said about Matt Chapman’s rant the better.
Whoever was resposible for sending over those two mupetts should be flogged along with the jockey of Zenyatta.
I don’t wanna upset the apple cart but if Sea The Stars would’ve been in the same position as Zenyatta going into the straight, he’d have won
The Apple cart would have been on the Front page of the Sunday Papers had that been
Sea the stars
in his day! Having said that,had Sea the stars been ridden exactly the same way as Zenyatta was last night he wouldn"t have finished within 3 lengths of Zenyatta,she was brilliant in defeat,nothing else would have got where she got under those tactics! Still horse of the year for me!
if you listen to Mike Smith he said the horse did not act on the surface for the first two furlongs. her action is all wrong until she got settled.incidentally the reference to sea the stars and Kinane is typical of the bs we must read. When Kinane got the chance he actually could not find his whip and lost by a neck!A much worse performance than Mike Smith.Nobody but Zenyatta could have gotten as close as she did from where she was coming around the bend into the straight.She met a group of group one horses and rounded them like they were standing still. Incredible.Two years in a row.She needed ten more yards .I just love her she is the last fairy tale.After Dawn Run I though I would never see another.
My initial thought was that Zenyatta didn’t handle the dirt (mostly run on synthetics) and momentarily thought she was going to be pulled up. However, that’s still no excuse for Mike Smith’s panic fuelled brutality.
While the UK whip rules are nowhere near perfect, at least we don’t generally see that sort of thing these days.
The Apple cart would have been on the Front page of the Sunday Papers had that been
Sea the stars
in his day! Having said that,had Sea the stars been ridden exactly the same way as Zenyatta was last night he wouldn"t have finished within 3 lengths of Zenyatta,she was brilliant in defeat,nothing else would have got where she got under those tactics! Still horse of the year for me!
ESPN mentioned that before the Classic she hadn’t beaten a G1 winner this year, not sure if that is true but if it is then that surely kills her hopes.
I’ve said my piece about Mike Smith, urging her along any more than he did would be venturing into unknown territory and breaking from a formula that has produced nothing but wins. In the end she was only around 5 lengths off the winner in the straight, and even with the pace and the long homestraight in her favor she just wasn’t quite good enough.
In retrospect of course Smith would be reflective, she lost after all.We’ve never seen Sea The Stars put in a long sustained sprint and they race on different surfaces so we can’t compare. But STS had a versatility and tactical speed that is very useful to any racehorse.
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We’ve never seen Sea The Stars put in a long sustained sprint and they race on different surfaces so we can’t compare. But STS had a versatility and tactical speed that is very useful to any racehorse.
He also wouldn’t have spent the first furlong or so continuing to do his dancing dressage to the crowd, like Zenyatta tried to do yesterday. I think poor Mike Smith was in a no-win situation from then onwards.
Altogether perhaps the most extraordinary thing I’ve seen in a flat race: put it on celluloid and nobody would believe it. The last few strides were painful to watch, and the race will perhaps go down in history to rank with Sceptre’s defeat by Ard Patrick in the 1902 Derby – the only classic of course which that greatest of great mares failed to win, because her jockey was both overconfident and drunk.
At least nobody thus far has accused Mr Smith of
that
!
It looked to me like she didn’t want to know for the first few furlongs- not sure anyone could have had her any closer. I agree with those who have said that Smith could have plotted a better course through the field- even if it meant staying wide all the way- that way her momentum wouldn’t have been checked so often. His overuse of the whip in the straight cost her the race IMO. He did panic, but at least had the good grace to admit it, everyone is entitled to make a mistake now and again. The whole hoopla surrounding the mare surely affected both horse and rider, a real shame. When things get hyped up so much and people begin to believe their own publicity reality often bites- reminded me of Kilkenny flopping going for an unprecedented five in a row in the hurling here this year.
Zenyatta’s loss wasn’t half as bad as Dancing Brave’s Derby run.
Oh yes it was! Greville never did apologise as he blamed the course which Epsom being Epsom got him slightly off the hook,Mike Smith has nowhere to hide with this ride and had to put his hands up!It never ceases to amaze me that so many cant see the most obvious reason even when its hitting them right between the eyes and they try to blame anything else rather than the only reason this wonder filly lost her unbeaten tag, Mike Smith!
Oh no it wasn’t!
Mr Starkey didn’t apologise because that’s probably the character he was (maybe too proud to admit his mistake). He should’ve known by the slow, early pace of the race and the undulations of Epsom that dropping out his mount towards the rear was gonna end in complete disaster.
Zenyatta’s field went like the clappers whereas DB’s was a crawl. It seemed almost inevitable that the leading group of horses in Zen’s race were gonna burn out and set up the stronger finishers to take over in the straight.
The 1986 Derby, turned into a cavalry charge … giving DB an impossible task.Zenyatta was only 3 or so lengths behind Blame entering the straight. Dancing Brave was around 10 lengths behind a sprinting Shahrastani.
Both jockeys should’ve taken closer order as their races unfolded. IMO, Greville, by far, made the biggest tactical cock-up.
Nearly threw up watching that it was so disgusting, total brutality and should have his licence revoked for minimum 2 years.
Mr W…please explain the difference between Smith’s ride on Zenyatta on Saturday and the ride Tom Queally gave Twice Over at last year’s meeting about which you wrote the following on here: "…in America like another poster said you can get away with murder so why not use to that to your advantage in the biggest race in the world with that amount of money up for grabs. The horse didn’t stop and finished a respectable 3rd, they are well looked after animals and he’ll recover from this fine so there really isn’t a problem."
Both jockeys should’ve taken closer order as their races unfolded. IMO, Greville, by far, made the biggest tactical cock-up.
I never thought for one minute Greville was ever going to pull up the legendary Dancing Brave,i thought after 2 furlongs Mike Smith was going to pull up the brilliant Zenyatta! There lies the huge difference in rides,both shockers but the latter the worst ever by a long way!
I encountered Mike Smith purely by chance the night before the BC at Santa Anita last year(thursday night) We were at the Embassy Suites and he came in to the dining area.He stopped for a lady to take pictures and them went over to visit another table.Afterwards we learned that his mother was at that table.He was the most obliging person,allwing us to take pictires and so on.He never drank a drop all the time he was there. A perfect gentleman.
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