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I was watching some old racing vids on YouTube earlier and two things struck me, neither of which would be popular with the majority of racing followers: firstly, Pat Eddery gave El Gran Señor a worse ride in the 1984 Derby than Greville Starkey did Dancing Brave two years later; secondly, Zarkava was more impressive in the Arc than Sea The Stars.
What unpopular racing opinions do you hold?
Both Pat and Greville’s over confidence were big contributing factors to their mount’s loss but also Pat’s inability to use his whip in his right hand in the finish (due to Secreto being so close upsides and perhaps leaning in on EGS) also played a part together with the doubts over EGS’s stamina at 12F considering how brilliant he was in the 2000g. Greville had no such qualms about DB staying 12F unfortunately I beieve referring to him as ‘bombproof’.
I also think Secreto might have been underrated with his performance at Epsom (the big story obviously being EGS being beaten and Pat’s overconfident/arrogant ride) and we never really knew how good Secreto was as we never saw him again on the racecourse – he clearly improved for the step up to 12F (finishing 3rd behind Sadlers Wells in the Irish 2000g over probably too short a trip) and clearly he was able to go with EGS as their battle both pulled them away from the 3rd horse.
EGS went on to prove he did stay 12F winning the Irish Derby but I would maintain that 12F probably wasn’t his best/ideal trip, that being said I could well imagine that if the two had clashed again that Pat would have probably sat and sat in behind Secreto just waiting to pounce and use his superior speed rather than get dragged into a protracted battle, which I suspect he would probably have ended up again on the wrong side of the decision.
Re: Sea The Stars/Zarkava, I would agree in principle that overall she looked more visually impressive (the wow factor) but that is probably more to do with STS only ever doing the minimum that was required to win his races and as such you could argue because he never had that visual wow performance he was slightly underrated – that being said, his Arc win was remarkable in a totally different way as pulling that hard in the early stages of a G1 race and being trapped on the inside for much of the race should have blown any chance he had of winning but his ‘just do enough’ style of racing probably enabled him to still be able to win the race. Interestingly, the common denominator between the two Arc wins was the runner-up Youmzain, who was a decent horse (but nothing more) as he was beaten by them both and both ironically by the same distance of 2L but his biggest claim to fame was being a horse unfortunate to be runner up in three successive Arcs.
On to my own……..although, I am sure it is not classed as an unpopular opinion but an actually unprovable one but I was totally convinced that Frankel would have won the Derby and yes I know many will say Sir Henry knew the horse best but we also know that horses can make mugs out of anyone (including legendary trainers) and I do also believe that the totally unnecessary ride he was given in the 2000g (epically mind blowing as it was) wiped out any and all chance of him running at Epsom……….had he gone there and won though I very much doubt we would have seen him kept in training at 4, so swings and roundabouts.
Had el gran senor run only in mile and 10f races at 3 he would be seen as the best ever. Think he was the best miler ive seen and i think he would have beaten frankel over 10f too. Frankel overrated and the likes of seabird and ribot vastly underatted. Arkle about right. Surely no argument the best ever.
Easy , Constitution Hill is one of the greatest ever hurdler , it’s bollocks …
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
“Arkle about right. Surely no argument the best ever.”
I agree, no argument he was the best. But so much better than everything else? Does Timeform seriously believe that in the six decades since Arkle ran, nothing has got within the best part of a stone and a half of him?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/dec/28/arkle-timeform-rating-phil-smith
Would Douvan have beaten Altior in the 2018 Queen Mother Champion Chase if he didn’t fall?
I’m adamant that Altior would’ve still won.
Even so, that’s the great mystery of NH though … falls have deprived us of some sensational outcomes that we’ll never know the real answer to.
I suppose my most oft-espoused unpopular opinion would be that Sir Peter O’Sullevan was a more deeply flawed commentator than is generally held, even in his pomp.
The maxim of letting the pictures paint a thousand words was often taken too far, and a lot more could have been said by him in many commentaries about how, for example, horses were travelling through a race – things obvious to a lot of us who watch races by the thousands every year, but less so to the casual weekend BBC viewers Grandstand purported to serve.
Note also how practically any casualty in a race was described as a faller, irrespective of whether they had fallen or actually unseated, slipped up or were brought down. These are all distinct ways of exiting a race, often treated by Sir Peter – and indeed some of his peers – as one and the same.
People may point to the lack of monitors available to the earlier generations of commentators compared to the present day, but I’ve never been convinced that could explain away every instance of any of the above. Plenty which could have been caught through binoculars and described more accurately unfortunately wasn’t.
Other than the respect afforded to Sir Peter on account of a voice unarguably blessed with rare gravitas, I suspect the main reason his shortcomings were not challenged by BBC bosses or the general public more often was that there weren’t too many credible benchmarks against which to judge him more critically, especially so for the first few decades of his tenure. Certainly most of those solely operating on the Racecourse Technical Services roster were worse than him, and not many on TV or radio were better.
The one exception, I would contend, was Raleigh Gilbert – that’s the other half of my unpopular opinion.
Whilst Sir Peter could boast journalistic chops of note, Raleigh was a relatively uncommon commodity among the earliest generation of commentators in also being a racereader. It showed in the content of his delivery, and that counted for more, as far as I’m concerned. He was also a more regular sight in point-to-point commentary boxes than most other RTS or TV commentators, honing his skills with the comparatively limited resources available.
I do need to issue a caveat in bigging up Raleigh over Sir Peter, though, and that is to say Raleigh was the better practitioner when all was well with him.
Famously nervous, more than one associate who observed him at close quarter has shared tales with me of him smoking ruinous quantities in the box before and between races out of sheer nerves; and some of the footage of his Racetech and Racing Channel engagements in the year or so before his passing do seem to suggest that nervousness had finally got the better of him latterly. There’s one Great St Wilfrid commentary on either YouTube or Horsevault (I forget which) that I found a particularly harrowing listen.
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.
O’Sullevan is one of the worst commentators I have heard.
The more I know the less I understand.
I think O’Sullevan wasn’t challenged because he was a rather prickly character and no one dared.
I remember an occasion towards the end of his tenure when he kept referring to a horse by the wrong name throughout a race at Goodwood. Someone must have plucked up the courage to tell him eventually because there was an awkward pause before he started using the correct name.
I suppose his commentaries have to be seen within the context of their time. Modern race reading has become more sophisticated and his commentary style wouldn’t be considered up to standard now. But he did produce some memorable calls, such as Red Rum in 1977 and Dawn Run in 1986.
The worst commentator I recall was an Irish one from around the 70s & 80s era. Don’t know his name but he sounded like a cross between a fast auctioneer and Lord Charles.
I would go along with Zarkava.
Sea the Stars was a great, yes. He won Group 1’s each month and he was solid in the Arc. Zarkava’s Arc though was much more of a eye catching performanceGaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
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