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Jilly..think you missed the point….you cannot compare this horse with Persian Punch…totally different class….Persian Punch was a fit horse in his prime, whose heart gave out….
VO was no better than a selling plater in grade 1 comapny…yeah he won a few, but look at his form, its nothing to write home about…his owner thought he was better than he was…I saw this horse run in a poor point to point a few weeks prior to his death…..he ran like a seller should…badly….he should have retired and kept dignaty in 1 piece….he also broke his pelvis before…so really he was a walking time bomb….most horses with broken pelvises never make the racecourse again……some can never be ridden again…..
All this discussion would not have happened if this happened in a lower grade race or in a point or at the yard, the fact this was a grade 1 chase on the tv….
Quote: from racinggirluk on 11:21 pm on Feb. 20, 2007[br]<br>VO was no better than a selling plater in grade 1 comapny
That is just plain wrong. He was shaped like the second best horse in the Champion Chase that Azertyuiop won. Only his inability to see out a stiff 2m stopped him from getting a place that year. To suggest he was no more than a selling plater is a gross disservice to the horse.
And for the record the Game Spirit is a Grade 2 contest.
I got the grade of the race wrong…I am tired…been a long day….but training and riding racehorses is tiring…
Take a look at his form…
And here is the race you mentioned http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/resu … _id=343765  and what exactly did he beat…2 moderate chasers…ok…maybe he was a little moderate, but struggled in that company, even if everthing was to his favor
Please dont try and tell me he was something else…….
But the point of my post was he was a different horse to Persian Punch and that if this was not in the public eye on the tv, nothing would have been said…
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(Edited by racinggirluk at 12:01 am on Feb. 21, 2007)
Quote: from racinggirluk on 11:53 pm on Feb. 20, 2007[br]what exactly did he beat…2 moderate chasers…
Please dont try and tell me he was something else…….<br>
If you are so ignorant, I won’t bother. To describe Ei Ei and Eskleybrook as ‘moderate’ is again grossly innaccurate and a slur on the horses and their connections.
Moderate horse don’t win over £240,000 in prize money and win 25 races between them. And like I say from the Champion Chase, to suggest the bare result reflects the true ability of the horse is misleading. The abiding memory of that festival for me is when Ruby looks between his legs thinking the race is in the bag to see Timmy with a double handful behind hium travelling just as strongly.
If Oliver Carter wasn’t so opinionated and difficult to deal with, Nicholls would have won further good races with the horse. He wasn’t far off being one of the top novice chasers during that season either, a point many people either forget or fail to realise.
Quote: from racinggirluk on 11:21 pm on Feb. 20, 2007[br]I saw this horse run in a poor point to point a few weeks prior to his death…..he ran like a seller should…badly
You must have been watching a different horse – Venn Ottery hadn’t run in a point since falling at Upcott Cross last April.
Quote: from racinggirluk on 11:21 pm on Feb. 20, 2007[br]
he also broke his pelvis before…so really he was a walking time bomb….most horses with broken pelvises never make the racecourse again……some can never be ridden again…..
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<br>The champion sprinter last year broke his pelvis twice earlier in his career.
Quote: from davidjohnson on 11:39 pm on Feb. 20, 2007[br]
Quote: from racinggirluk on 11:21 pm on Feb. 20, 2007[br]<br>VO was no better than a selling plater in grade 1 comapny
He was shaped like the second best horse in the Champion Chase that Azertyuiop won. Only his inability to see out a stiff 2m stopped him from getting a place that year. To suggest he was no more than a selling plater is a gross disservice to the horse.<br>
<br>The omission of the tongue-tie probably had as much to do with his fading late on, to be honest, but basically yes, when properly looked after a plater he most certainly was not.
Must echo the comments re: Ei Ei and Eskleybrook as well – both had earned the right to a better epiphet than "moderate".
Jeremy<br>(graysonscolumn)<br>
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
It’s difficult to draw firm conclusions re: the tongue strap on the horse. Two of his best performances came when he didn’t wear one, the aforementioned Cheltenham race and the minor event at Warwick in which he was third of 4 to Cenkos. On both occasions he found little. When he was tongue tied in Well Chief’s Maghul, he performed in very similar fashion, travelling smoothly and finding little. In my opinion, he was the same horse with/without the tongue strap, talented but fragile and plagued by a chronic wind problem.
Quote: from davidjohnson on 8:31 pm on Feb. 21, 2007[br]It’s difficult to draw firm conclusions re: the tongue strap on the horse. Two of his best performances came when he didn’t wear one, the aforementioned Cheltenham race and the minor event at Warwick in which he was third of 4 to Cenkos. On both occasions he found little. <br>
<br>Not sure I agree with the "found little" comment where the Warwick race was concerned. I was there that evening and he was all set to trample all over Cenkos leaving the back straight before tying pretty sharply. The ground was nigh-on perfect for early May and I don’t think he’d been particularly over-raced in the weeks immediately preceding that run, so I can’t think of too many other excuses, although of course that was nearly three years ago now and the old memory can play tricks.
Oliver Carter was there that evening, incidentally, and was standing a couple of paces away from me in the Tatts during the race. There were a few comments of "why didn’t he put the bloody tonguestrap on?" within audible range of him – whether any of those came from anyone who knew who he was I know not.
All I do know is that given that he and Nicholls were supposed to have fallen out by that stage, they seemed notably relaxed with and jovial in each other’s company on that occasion.
Jeremy<br>(graysonscolumn)<br>
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Quote: from jilly on 5:29 pm on Feb. 18, 2007[br]And i suppose no-one is ever rude to me?  … Grow up.<br>
Enough said,I rest my case!
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