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The last 3 runnings of the Ormonde Stakes have had only 6 runners in each renewal. I don’t think the tight nature of the track should bother him especially in a small field.
If they want to run him this Spring on turf they are running out of options.
The Grade 3 Ormonde Stakes should it come up softer at the Chester May meeting? It had 3 hurdlers run in it last season.
Are his owners no longer interested winning races such as the Scottish National now?!
The Gold Cup and Stayers Hurdles are both Grade 1s and at the moment I would argue his best chance of landing a Grade 1 is in the latter. I certainly believe he has the ability to win one.
Won the Irish National off 141 and Welsh National off 154 which suggests to me he’s going to struggle to follow up in the Welsh National or any Class 1 Chase even off his revised mark.
I still think the Staying Hurdle division is very weak, even more so this side of the Irish Sea and he showed at Newbury this season he’s no mug over hurdles.
Rebecca Curtis is never frightened to try something different, so with Haiti turning 10 next season this is the ideal time to give it a go.
His record at the Festival meetings is poor and didn’t get any better this year.
You’d still want Bowen riding for you in a close finish but his habit of sitting out the back backfires more times than it works.
He’s probably not helped as Murphy doesn’t have many Class 1 horses and most of them are exposed when upped in class.
John Porter entries;
Al Aasy William Haggas
Bellum Justum Andrew Balding
Beset Joseph O’Brien
Burdett Road James Owen
Constitution Hill Nicky Henderson
Convergent Karl Burke
Eydon Andrew Balding
Lion’s Pride John and Thady Gosden
Phantom Flight George Scott
Pride Of Arras Ralph Beckett
Tenability William HaggasHe certainly deserves to win the Trainers title. You could argue he’s done it without a stand out high class horse. 179 winners last term so he has just past that number this season.
Not sure if any other trainers will reach the 100 winner mark in addition to Skelton & Murphy this season? Pauling hasn’t had a winner in April and not sure what Nicholls has left to run?
Bowen’s record at the Cheltenham & Aintree Festivals this season.
12th, 15th, Fell, 6th, 19th, 2nd, 17th, 7th, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, P/U, P/U, 7th, P/U, 8th, 13th, 10th, 5th, 7th, P/U, P/U, 14th, 20th.
When they try to mention I Am Maximus in the same breath as Rummy it’s almost laughable and an insult to the legend of the sport.
Just watching the replays back you would have to think I Am Maximus probably wouldn’t have negotiated the 1st fence safely back in the 70s National’s. No way would he have jumped the big open ditch, Bechers & Chair with his clumsy style of jumping.
In fact I do wonder how many of the 34 on Saturday would have completed the 36 furlong plus course back in Rummy’s day?
Haiti’s Chase rating will prevent him running in veterans races, and his age next season suggests that Gold Cup’s & Grand National’s will be beyond him (I Am Maximus clearly an exception this year).
The stable has a bit of history in the Stayers Hurdle. Lisnagar Oscar won the race at 50-1 off a rating of just 146 (Haiti is currently rated 154 over hurdles 10lbs lower than his rating over fences).
As we’ve seen in the last month Home By The Lee (and recently with Sire Du Berlais) older horses can be really competitive in the stayers division.
I think they really should explore that avenue next season.
After yesterday’s racing. 3369 races and 307 different winning trainers, the leaderboard is as follows;
1st Skelton 733 pts (184 wins)
2nd Murphy 429 pts (134 wins)
3rd Nicholls 345 pts (89 wins)
4th Henderson 331 pts (79 wins)
5th Pauling 325 pts (90 wins)
6th Snowden 276 pts (82 wins)
7th O’Brien 239 pts (77 wins)
8th Owen 230 pts (81 wins)
9th N&W Twiston-Davies 207 pts (61 wins)
10th Tizzard 203 pts (54 wins)Leading Irish trainer is Willie Mullins in 25th place with 119 pts from 16 wins
The stewards should probably ask the jockeys of any horse finishing over a 100 lengths behind the winner and a pack of other finishers as to why they continued?
I had almost forgotten but someone made a good point online about an identical error made by El Fabiolo in the 2024 Champion Chase. Townend immediately pulled the horse up and this was his explanation to the stewards;
“Jockey said gelding made a bad mistake at fifth fence, having lost all momentum and considering the manner in which gelding stumbled he felt it prudent to pull up”
I shall get to Punchestown and that will be it for me with RTV and I was there at the beginning.
Still have no clue as to why flat racing on the channel escapes the positional graphics but not jump racing including the National?
The graphic popped up for a split second in a couple of flat races at Catterick the other day and then promptly disappeared.
It’s a mess on RTV and so inaccurate. The other day we had 6 horses still running but only 5 on the positional graphic for a couple of minutes. Perhaps the tracker had fallen off?!
Despite subscribing I have watched pretty much most of the Cheltenham & Aintree Festivals on ITV. How long before follow Sky & RTV in showing positional graphics?
