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That was frustrating!! I hope she doesn’t get too much criticism. It didn’t seem much she could do about it and she’s in good company given the amount of fallers at Fakenham today.
I thought she fell off at the time, watching the replay I still think she wasn’t balanced and just fell off.
Full of admiration for Miss Pendleton, but the simple fact is she fell off. No matter how ATR have tried to spin some sort of ‘collision’ between Pacha Du Polder and Baltic Blue, it didn’t happen. Her left leg was out of the stirrup and in the air over the fence. The RP’s comment is “Jumped well in last, close up when rider came off at 7th”.
Race-riding is a very difficult skill and one that she has yet to master to an acceptable degree. The thought of her riding in a 20-runner Foxhunters at Cheltenham is worrying to put it mildly. I would very much like to see this project brought to an end after today, however interviews I’ve heard since seem to suggest that is unlikely.
In which case, maybe another year around the PTP scene would be the way to go.
Mike
Very soft unseat, no question. Big decision now for her advisers, but some of the stuff on twitter is way over the top. You’d think she was being carted round clinging to the neckstrap.
I’m not sure that balance, on a galloping jumping racehorse, is something you can teach. Given her background, you’d think it would come naturally, but I recall T Biddlecombe in particular being praised by fellow pros for his balance, so I’m guessing some are excellent with it and some just get by.
No collision whatsoever. She just fell off, because the horse landed rather steeply. Nice try ATR, but I’m not buying that.
I was the other way around, I rode horses from a child but couldn’t balance on a bike when I tried to learn to ride on in my mid twenties.
Don’t see how she will put others at risk though and it is an amateurs race. She obviously needs to keep riding out. She is in the spotlight and people are looking for any fault with her.With amateur riders you get what you get. Nine of them just made a glorious horlicks of it in the last at Lingfield, letting the first two get too far in front.
Victoria Pendleton is a competent rider who just needs plenty of practice before riding in a big race. One thing you can be damned sure is that she will be critical of herself and eager to improve.
I must say first of all so you know it is not money talking that I backed the winner of this race.
The winner jumped pretty badly but the girl managed to stay one leg either side and that is something you can’t teach IMO.
VP fell off no two ways about it but surely it is the choice of owner trainer etc who rides their horse and if they are happy for VP to ride it then who are we to criticise ?
As I have already said I have seen a lot worse pilots in amateur riders races and I have seen some shocking jockeys win ( Brod on the Drunken Duck springs to mind) so maybe we should stop knocking her and ask the question would we ride round Cheltenham having only been learning to ride for a year or so? Fair play to her for bravery but she won’t be carrying any of my money.Good Luck VP
It shocks me how vitriolic many people within the pointing ranks are about the whole affair. Does the idea of someone ‘jumping the queue’ offend them that much or is the pointing scene more cliquey/anti-outsider than i realise? I sincerely hope this isn’t the case.
This from the Guardian website pits a new complexion on things:
Lawney Hill, the Oxfordshire trainer at whose stable Pendleton has been riding six days a week this winter, reported that footage had been caught by the stewards’ scout camera, positioned behind the runners at the critical moment. Hill said Baltic Blue had thrown a hind leg in the air as he scrabbled to keep his feet, his hoof smacking into Pendleton’s foot with such force that she was forced out of the saddle.
“It showed us all that that’s why she was ejected, rather than just slipped off,” Hill said. “Victoria’s obviously upset because she wanted today to go well as much as anyone, but she’s very tough and she’ll come back and fight again and we’ll do all we can to get her there.”
Yogi Breisner, an expert in teaching horses and jockeys about the tricky art of steeplechasing, had also seen the footage. “There was no doubt about it that she was knocked out of the saddle. I saw that straight away,” he said. “The people in the stand probably think that she just fell off but then you see the slow motion and you see how the other horse’s hind leg flies up, catches her on, I believe, her foot and just basically lifts her out of the saddle.”
This from the Guardian website pits a new complexion on things:
Lawney Hill, the Oxfordshire trainer at whose stable Pendleton has been riding six days a week this winter, reported that footage had been caught by the stewards’ scout camera, positioned behind the runners at the critical moment. Hill said Baltic Blue had thrown a hind leg in the air as he scrabbled to keep his feet, his hoof smacking into Pendleton’s foot with such force that she was forced out of the saddle.
“It showed us all that that’s why she was ejected, rather than just slipped off,” Hill said. “Victoria’s obviously upset because she wanted today to go well as much as anyone, but she’s very tough and she’ll come back and fight again and we’ll do all we can to get her there.”
Yogi Breisner, an expert in teaching horses and jockeys about the tricky art of steeplechasing, had also seen the footage. “There was no doubt about it that she was knocked out of the saddle. I saw that straight away,” he said. “The people in the stand probably think that she just fell off but then you see the slow motion and you see how the other horse’s hind leg flies up, catches her on, I believe, her foot and just basically lifts her out of the saddle.”
That’s pretty good information, thanks. But you can’t tell me that ATR knew that straightaway, almost during the race without watching the replay. I still had the impression that the horse landed quite steeply and she would have struggled to stay aboard anyway. We shouldn’t start hating her, but if she really wants to ride in the Foxhunters, there is still a next year to come.
Ex Ruby, I think that Hill is doing her very best to keep this stunt alive, if VP had been hit by a horses leg with force enough to push her out of the saddle she would have suffered an injury. I personally believe that they are doing their level best to try and persuade the ‘powers that be’ that she is fit and capable of this task and that was a clearly a ‘story’ much needed. I thought Hayley Turner and Robert Cooper were near speechless, both desperately trying not to say anything. You simply cannot put in the groundwork to get someone at the level of riding at Cheltenham within a year, she is hesitant, indecisive and a passenger on a horse, she looks good but it stops there.
Do we seriously have to analyse the competence or lack of it of all the riders in the foxhunters?
No we don’t !!
As I have already said there are plenty that will be a sbad or worse that ride in the race or even the Aintree equivalent so my view is leave her be and let her get on with it!!
It is getting to be a bit like VP and Big Brother!!
Once again good luck VP !!
I personally believe that they are doing their level best to try and persuade the ‘powers that be’ that she is fit and capable of this task
Obi,
Hill, Breisner, and Nicholls are ‘the powers that be’ according to the RP. They’ll make a collective decision on whether she rides.
I personally believe that they are doing their level best to try and persuade the ‘powers that be’ that she is fit and capable of this task
Obi,
Hill, Breisner, and Nicholls are ‘the powers that be’ according to the RP. They’ll make a collective decision on whether she rides.
Shouldn’t someone not connected to the project with a more balanced view be consulted ?
If she wins the Foxhunters I’ll give up racing all together. Nothing against her or what she is doing but she is not very good. I would not back her on Don Poli in the Foxhunter or any of the Gold Cup contenders as I don’t think she will stay on.
She reminded me of myself in a Donkey Derby years ago holding on for grim life.
Best luck to her though
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