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I thought that was a pretty electric performance from Jonbon on debut. Unfortunately Ian Bartlett seemed to think otherwise, as he sounded utterly bored on commentary and successfully managed to remove all excitement from the finish.
He’s done this before, making big moments sound like three-runner sellers.
Mike
Yes, you’re right LD I’m sure. Not really certain what the criteria are for all that though…presumably you can’t name your selling hurdler Nijinsky?!
Mike
The RP is priced as a digital paper ie. (Digital price : £349 for 12 months = £349/365 = £0.95 p/day, Paper price : £2.9p/day * 365 = £1,058.5 p/year) in effect Digital £349 v Paper £1058.50
Aren’t your figures are wrong there Rollo? I believe the Post is £3.90 daily Sun to Fri & £4.20 on Saturday. Which makes the total (52 x 4.20) + (313 x 3.90) = £1439.10 annually!
Not that it’s important. I’m not really sure that the Post are particularly concerned about their printed circulation amongst the general public, I reckon they just see it as an advertising and ‘presence’ tool. It gives them the kudos of being on every news stand. They may as well keep printing it and jacking the price up for the forseeable future as they know it’s the digital sales that count.
Mike
I have a newspaper for 99% of every day for the last 20+ years. Reading a tablet / phone is absolutely nothing like it for me. It will be a very sad day when the printed press inevitably ceases to exist.
Yes, I have a Sunday paper, there’s something about the tactility and wideness of vision with a printed paper that I enjoy, on-line is just too ‘letterboxed’. It’s just not the same for me.
I suppose the printed Post could carry on ad infinitum really if the bookmakers still require it, just at increasing cost to a dwindling private market.
Mike
I do understand it’s difficult with a decent prize at stake and owner’s expectations etc, but I think Ms Blackmore should have pulled her horse up. It really splayed it’s legs and could well have been injured. I thought it all looked very unedifying.
Mike
Having just looked at the form, Barnbrook Again was having his first run for a year and was well below par, but Katabatic, Sabin Du Loir & Waterloo Boy were all at virtual career-peak form, notwithstanding Sabin’s age.
Got to be the best Melling Chase ever!
Mike
Gladiateur
That must be very close to being the highest-quality chase of the 1990s?
Everything in the race is in prime form and Blazing Walker just brushes them aside. Astonishing performance.
Mike
This always reminded me of really badly staged racing scenes from the movies, as Black Beauty or whatever shoots past all the others.
Mike
I enjoyed writing those, it was good to jog a few addled memories back into life…
I mean, really it’s just a bit of fun as I could come up with another ‘top ten’ tomorrow! I’ve been thinking “I can’t believe I’ve left out xyz” all the time. Anyway, the full list:
1 VILLIERSTOWN (1983–1990) Arthur Stephenson
2 SERGEANT CECIL (2001-2008) Rod Millman
3 CATS EYES (1983-1988) Martin Pipe
4 CASPIAN PRINCE (2011-2021) A Carroll, D Ivory, R Fell, A Coyle, M Appleby
5 LATOLOMNE (1997-2005) Brian Ellison
6 PROVIDEO (1984-1985) and TIMELESS TIMES (1990-1991) Bill O’Gorman
7 SULUK (1988 – 1993) Reg Hollinshead
8 HOMECOMING QUEEN (2011-2012) Aiden O’Brien
9 VODKATINI (1982-1992) Peter Haynes, Josh Gifford
10 LEANDROS (1982) Richard HannonMike
I don’t follow Pakistani league cricket or Peruvian premiership football either
Actually, having said that, I feel both of these might offer a number of ‘interesting’ betting opportunities if you know what I mean…
Mike
I think it’s a bit unfair of Ian to presume those of us just not interested in the Breeders’ Cup are ‘glass half empty’ types!
As I said, my main reason for not bothering with the meeting is I just don’t follow non-UK/Ire racing. I mean, I don’t follow Pakistani league cricket or Peruvian premiership football either. I see the big race was won by Knicks Go, trained by Brad Cox and ridden Joel Rosario. I’ve never heard of any of those so I can’t say it means much to me.
Also, I looked at a couple of races on Betfair last night & they got turnover around 450-550k, which is about right for a Plumpton bumper. Yet the meeting is sold to us by the media as being somewhere akin to The Grand National & the Cheltenham Festival.
Mike
Number 1
VILLIERSTOWN (1983–1990) Arthur Stephenson
Arthur Stephenson had a reputation as a ‘little fish’ trainer, winning lots of small races over the years. But he also had some high-quality chasers and no doubt many will remember the likes of including Credit Call, Durham Edition, The Thinker and Blazing Walker. The latter was owned by Swiss businessman Peter Piller, who was also fortunate enough to own Villierstown.
Picked up from Ireland, Villierstown went straight to novice chasing in 1983 and won a couple of modest races before running in what were fairly ordinary handicaps in the next couple of seasons. Improvement was forthcoming by the 1985/86 season in which he won five handicaps before Christmas, and ended the campaign running consistently elsewhere under big weights.
Still he progressed, and I saw him run and win at Wetherby (I think!) the following season as more victories and consistent performances ensued. Having read his race reports for a couple of years, it was a pleasure to see his racing style. He generally liked to race up with the pace, although it wasn’t mandatory, and he attacked his fences with real vigour and enthusiasm. He obviously had the constitution to carry weight and I think that and his obvious enjoyment of the game enabled him to continuously beat the handicapper. He was tremendously consistent.
An optimistic tilt at The Mackeson in 1987 failed but Villierstown was still running well, winning four more chases through the season and only just failing to lump 11-13 in the Glenlivet Chase at Aintree in April. He returned to the Grand National meeting the following year to win the John Hughes Memorial in what was probably a career-high, and only just failed to repeat the achievement in 1990 when second of 30 under 11-10. He started the 1990/91 season as an 11yo but after a few lacklustre runs he was retired.
Peter Piller was a prolific owner back in the day and particularly loyal to Arthur Stephenson. After Stephenson died in 1992, he scaled back his operation but still had a few horses in training by the mid-2000s. Although Villierstown wouldn’t have been his most highly-rated horse (he owned One Man for a time as well as Blazing Walker), I can only believe that such horses were the reason he spent so much money supporting jumps racing.
Villierstown was the winner of 18 races but was placed on scores of other occasions and was a model of consistency over a number of years. He jumped well, raced like he truly loved the game and all ground, distance (2-3m) courses and weights came the same to him. The epitome of a tough Northern chaser, you simply cannot ask more of a racehorse. Villierstown is a worthy top-of-the-pile in My (Alternative) Top Ten Racehorses.
Mike
AP,
I presume from Salute’s form, you’d just purchased him? They were clearly handicapping the owner by then!
It was one of the more remarkable things about Sergeant Cecil, that he looked handicapped (to my eyes anyway) up to the ounce by the start of 2005. If such a treble was to be achieved, you’d think of some Prescott youngster that had run a couple of times over 10f and was in the Plate off 7st 10lbs. And yet he improved enough to win all three and even more the next season!
Of course, the Plate, Ebor, Ces treble looks nigh on impossible nowadays, with the Newcastle leg run on AW and the York race’s prize-money bump making it even more competitive.
Mike
Yesterday afternoon, The Guardian’s Greg Wood put up an article analysing all the Breeders’ Cup races which was open for comments. By 11.30pm yesterday it had attracted zero. This morning it has a couple slagging off the mmeting and a few more talking of domestic racing.
This is why I started this thread – it seems to me that the importance of this meeting is vastly greater in the minds of the UK racing media than their compatriot punters. Mind if you’re Chapman, Luck, Persad et al off on a transcontinental jolly for the weekend, you’re going to think it’s a very important meeting indeed!
Mike
The Graun appears to be concerned that the late Rose Paterson may have influenced her husband Owen Paterson to convince Randox to enter into a five year sponsorship deal with Aintree.
Congatulations to her if she did – racing could do with more enthusiasm like that!
Despite having precisely zero evidence of any impropriety whatsoever, it then laughably asserts:
It will be an annual reminder of the lobbying scandal, which could lead to concerns, for Aintree and racing as a whole, about the extent to which the National’s image might suffer as a result.
Dearie me!
Mike
