Forum Replies Created
- Posts
Stunning performance from Baaeed today. Hard not to love this horse. The influence of Urban Sea on the breed is nothing short of phenomenal isn’t it?
Now there’s a name from the past for me Nathan. Late-August 1981. Was camping on a nearby camp site, while taking a few day’s holiday on the Riviera after a summer working in Germany as a student. Passed by the hippodrome and saw there was a trotting meet on that evening so my mates and I decided to go. Had my wallet stolen with most of my money in it. It was cucumber sandwiches all the way home to Ireland by train and ferry after that. I never went back.
“Personally, I would regard illegally burying a dead horse as a more serious act than sitting on a dead horse.”
Wouldn’t you say that one of the above is done out of love and the other out of not giving a toss?
Maybe so SC, but I really have no idea what was going on in GE’s head he decided to sit on the horse. And yes,I can well imagine that in jurisdictions where it is allowed, an owner or trainer might well bury a horse and the circumstances might well be very sombre and emotional and done in a way befitting an animal who was loved and well looked after when living.
I started thinking about this because jancatlady remarked on how “over there” in Ireland they would be “off to the factory” and I got the impression she thought this was a callous way of dealing with dead racehorses.
I would be interested though in the view of those who think the IRHB suspension treatment of GE is too lenient – what would be an appropriate IRHB punishment for a trainer caught illegally burying a horse in Ireland, whatever the motivation behind it. Would it be regarded as bringing racing into disrepute? Would it make a difference whether a photograph was taken or not? Would it make a difference whether the trainer had a sad face or a happy face in the photograph?
Really Jancatlady?
I am no expert but I think THM is probably right that it is illegal to bury a horse in Ireland. If so, would it be reasonable to think that any trainer burying a horse on her/his property could expect, quite apart from a prosecution, that she/he should face charges from the IHRB of bringing racing in disrepute for knowingly ignoring the law? What would an appropriate punishment be for a trainer in those circumstances?
Personally, I would regard illegally burying a dead horse as a more serious act than sitting on a dead horse.
I was shocked to see him running away from Samcro like that. I’m not sure he be up to it but I’d love to see him in the Gold Cup.
Aidan will have known that Saxon Warrior was capable of that performance at Newmarket. With Donncha on board it must have been very tempting for him to be there. For me the fact that he is there in Kentuckey is a pointer to his belief Mendelssohn can deliver.
What an exciting week ahead. I hope the Champion Chase will prove one of the highlights of the season. If only Altior was there for a Douvan/Min/Special Tiara/Ordinary World rematch with Un de Sceaux and Dr Phoenix thrown into the mix. If Douvan wins this well then a clash next season with Altior would surely be one to savour whatever the race distance.
I do love these end-of-season trainers championship battles. I must admit I’ve got my prize money spreadsheeet ready to go to keep track of developments. Taking best available odds (taken from the Racing Post racecards) and assuming all horses finish in expected order based on these odds, my calculator says Willie would pass Gordon’s earnings by Race 5 on Wednesday!!
Jamie Codd tipped it in a really strong manner in a Cheltenham preview and was laughed at by the others.
it’s worth a listen of you haven’t heard this. check out approximately 1:26:00 to 1:30:00
http://cheltenham1.attheraces.com/cheltenham-preview-nightDo you think the injury has its roots in the deathly hard Cotswold Chase?
GM I have seen a few comments elsewhere suggesting that there is no way the injury would have gone undetected for so long if it was picked up in the Cotswold. However Colin Tizzard is quoted in a few reports, including from Irishracing.com, saying “We know it’s not very serious, we haven’t done much with him since the Cotswold Chase because he had a hard race, he had a little cough afterwards and got a bit light so we were just cantering.We hadn’t done any fast work with him, we thought we’d give him a busy week this week. Obviously it stems from the race, but that’s racing, that’s horses for you.” It seems he is pointing to the Cotswold.
I am not sure if you can watch this where you are Joe but here is the link to the RTE coverage on Saturday
http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/rte-racing-1476/10621462/
According to the RTE Player website the programme is available for another 16 days but I think some of the programmes are only available in IrelandNo – you’re close enough. You’ve got all of the pieces there with just a bit of rearranging required.
Marinsky was indeed the Ballydoyle rogue and you have mentioned the name I was looking for – Relkino. Rounding Tattenham Corner in the 1977 Diomed Marinsky well and truly connected with Relkino by trying to take a few chunks out of the innocent son of Relko. I seem to remember that Relkino’s ear was the main focus of Marinsky’s attention at one point and Relkino apparently was lucky to come away with his listening apparatus intact.
Relkino went on to greater things by winning the then Benson & Hedges Gold Cup at long odds, while things just got worse for poor Marinsky. As you say he was disqualified when first past the post in the July Cup and he was ultimately banned from racing when the stewards couldn’t take any more of his antics, before his untimely death which I had forgotten about. Marinsky was easily my favourite horse of 1977!!
Back to you then Seasider.
This is a question for those of us old enough to have been racing fans in the 1970s. The Ballydoyle connection was in the form of probably the ultimate bad-boy to have come out of that stable.
Thanks Seasider.
Black Minnaloushe was not the highest profile Ballydoyle classic winner and definitely not top cat of his generation there at the time having serious competition from his stablemates, one in particular. He was a decent colt nonetheless and he had his last race in Europe in the Juddmonte at York where he was 4th behind brilliant winner Sakhee, Grandera and Medicean. Black Minnaloushe finished his career at Belmont Park in the Breeders Cup classic where he finished 10th. Sakhee missed out on getting the cream there going down by a whisker to the also wonderful Tiznow. Black Minnaloushe’s better known stablemate was a well beaten sixth.
On to the next question and in a similar vein – who was the Group 1 winning Diomed Stakes also-ran who reportedly almost had a connection with Van Gogh but who definitely did have an unusual Ballydoyle connection?
Mr Yeat’s poem The Cat and the Moon is worth sharing
The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.a.
Authorized (2nd) v George Washington (3rd) in the 2007 Eclipse. Only a head between them!
There were a few posts on Dawn Approach in the news section of the Godolphin website on Saturday including this one:
http://www.godolphin.com/NewsArticle.aspx?id=6994
Sheikh Mohammed is quoted as saying“I think that he will get a mile or a mile and a quarter but I don’t know if he is a Derby horse yet. I think the trainer will see."….. When asked if Dawn Approach would remain in training with his present trainer Jim Bolger, Sheikh Mohammed replied: “Yes.”…… Simon Crisford is quoted “He stays with Jim Bolger and that is Sheikh Mohammed’s decision".
The comparison with Frankel is somewhat distracting to the possibility of a Triple Crown winner, which in my mind is worth more than many group ones………………Have his critics really thought hard about why it is so rare or what is required to succeed?
Well said Shabby. Like you, I was eight in September 1970 and remember Nijinsky’s win as if it were 12 months ago. Looking back now I think that is was probably my father’s enthusiasm for Nijinsky’s achievement that day, more that any other influence, that was responsible for my developing a fascination with flat racing that has remained with me to this day. I remember him explaining to me, as you have done so eloquently in your post, why this was such a special achievement. Since then I have never dwelt too much on whether Nijinsky’s 3yo rivals were above or below average and I never did take the time to do much research on the Bahram 3yo crop of 1935 either.
If it wasn’t for Nijinsky and his Triple Crown in 1970 would I be visiting The Racing Forum (almost) every day since I stumbled across the site a few years ago? Maybe I would have been bitten by the bug anyway, but I am not sure about that.
