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Thanks all, especially Drone – I had worked out from earlier RP results that the ‘Whitbread’ marking the end of the season must be a more recent innovation, so thanks for those earlier dates.
I was impressed with Master Minded yesterday and IMO there’s not much between him and Twist Magic on bare form. My main reservation about MM for the QM would be his relative inexperience. He may not be a novice technically but in terms of actual racecourse experience he very much is. He jumped well yesterday but he had it all his own way and dictated his own pace. In a (presumably) bigger field with the frenetic pace around the undulations of Cheltenham, I’d be worried about him making mistakes at his fences.
Of course, TM also has it all to prove at Cheltenham after his fall in last season’s Arkle, although another season’s experience won’t have done his jumping any harm. I’m also yet to be 100% convinced that he truly stays 2 miles off a fast pace at a stiff track. He’s a horse I’ve had a soft spot for since his novice hurdle days though, so sentiment hopes he convinces me next month.
Tough choice for Ruby if they both get there. I’ve got a coin he can borrow.
I may be in the minority, but I think Sam Thomas is more suited to Denman in any case. His ride aboard the big horse in the Hennessy was near flawless.
Although there wasn’t much wrong with Ruby’s ride in last season’s RSA either.
I think it’s pretty poor planning – sadly indicative of the ‘de-regulated’ calendar. A couple of Saturdays ago there wasn’t a race meeting north of Chepstow; this weekend Yorkshire’s top two jumps courses will be scrapping over a presumably finite number of racegoers.
I usually go to Wetherby for the Towton, but I admit I’m tempted to head down to Donny instead to see how the new card pans out – especially as it isn’t televised, as Neil points out (and also because the chases at Wetherby are still by no means certain to go ahead – parts of the course are still waterlogged).
Rather discouraging that Noland has been declared with a tongue tie for the Newbury race (still subject to inspection).
He never wore one before his layoff and it seems odd that any problem with his wind hasn’t been sorted out whilst he’s been away.
Whatever the reason, I wouldn’t want to back a horse with a potential wind problem ante post for Cheltenham.
AP
I wouldn’t be too discouraged. PFN seems to use them as almost ‘standard kit’ – not saying that every horse he runs wears one, but I notice a lot of his do. Kauto Star always has a tongue tie and a more clean-winded horse it would be hard to find.
I was delighted to see Carruthers do the business for Lord Oaksey, and it would be marvellous if he won something at the Festival. I remember when Lord O was Audax for H&H (I started reading it young…) and it was the first column I turned to every week. It was always a proper article; flowing, grammatically correct, opinionated but never in an arrogant way. His ‘Story of Mill Reef’ is one of my favourite ever horse racing reads, even though I’m just too young to remember the great horse myself.
it was Paul Barber who discovered Breedsbreeze, so it would have been difficult for Mr. Lewis to send him to another stable…
Incidentally, I noticed that Breedsbreeze’s breeder – try saying that after a bottle of wine – is listed as Mrs Helen Walsh. Is that the same Helen Walsh who is Ruby’s mother, or is it just a coincidence? I would have thought that would be the kind of ‘human interest’ detail the press would pick up on if it were the same person (although I suppose the "Jim Lewis has potential successor to Best Mate, succeeding where the GC winner failed in the Tolworth" was all the human interest they were looking for yesterday).
Has Thisthatandtother dropped below 150 now?
Thisthatandtother is rated 155 but is going hunter chasing this season.
I read the ‘Bring on Denman’ comment not as dismissive of Kauto Star or to imply Denman is undisputedly the best horse in training, but simply that Denman’s Christmas target has always been the Lexus, as has The Listener’s, so I read it more as looking forward to the two clashing in their next race. If KS had been aimed at the Lexus, I’ve no doubt the comment would have been ‘Bring on Kauto Star’.
Improved TV coverage is definitely the biggie for attracting newer audiences. C4 generally and the Morning Line in particular has become the Scoop6 Show. It is hard work striking the balance between giving knowledgable viewers the information they want, and de-mystifying the jargon for newcomers, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try. I agree with whoever it was who said there should be some emphasis on personalities; okay, we don’t want it to become like the BBC’s 2007 Derby coverage (Frankie won the Derby you know! And by the way, there was a horse involved too) but maybe the TV equivalent of the RP’s Jockey Shorts column, or a feature on famous silks and what’s involved with registering new ones; behind-the-scenes tours of the stewards’ room/racecourse stables etc; updates on famous horses who have retired from racing. And, more importantly than any of that, good quality coverage of the racing itself – detailed cards for ALL races, shots of ALL the runners in the paddock, a glimpse of at least the market principals going down to the start.
He jumped about as well as he did in this race last year – that and his Betfair win would be his best exhibitions of jumping IMO – and although he dived at a couple, he didn’t make any media-friendly spectacular errors.
I think it was a brave and admirable performance to give Monet’s Garden a stone and finish so close (although MG was either easing down or emptying approaching the post) but I would be concerned at how early Kauto Star was off the bridle. I listened to Paul Nicholl’s comments about him needing a trip now, and dismissed that as his usual revisionist tosh. A horse with the natural ability and high cruising speed of KS would not be needed to be rousted along at half-way even at two miles, never mind two and a half, and it was way too early in the race to be lack of fitness.
I don’t think Ruby is retained by anyone. AFAIK the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ which operates between him, PN and Willie Mullins is still the only ‘contract’ in existence.
Of course the sad truth is that the decision may be made for him if any of the PN big guns suffer injury or illness, but I don’t envy him the choice if Kauto Star and Denman in particular both get to Cheltenham fit, sound and in top-class form.
Maybe it’s time for him to start practising that Cossack trick of riding two horses at the same time, standing with one leg on each back…?
How long will it be before the media start hailing his yard.
I’d say the media – particularly the RP – started a long time hence. We had the Saturday column last season, which McCririck then invariably flagged up on The Morning Line; a multi-article report on the Ditcheat owners’ open day, the ‘Dark Horses’ stable tour video on there now etc.
I agree though, it’s mouth-watering stuff.
Look, I managed an entire reply about Ditcheat without mentioning Ruby – oh, hang on…
Unsurprisingly, I have to nominate a Ruby Walsh ride: Inca Trail in the 2005 Sunderlands Handicap Chase at Sandown. How he kidded that absolute hound into thinking he was enjoying himself, and then drove him up the hill with only hands and heels, was poetry in motion.
My favourite and i’m not sure how many will remember him – it’s a horse called Lefrak City.
He was a tiny little former point to pointer trained by Capt Tim Forster. I looked after him when he won the Tingle Creek. A legend !He was a fabulous little thing! Flashy chestnut pocket rocket with loads of white; attacked his fences as if they’d personally affronted him.
Some of my favourites:
Spartan Missile – the all-time greatest hunter chaser IMO
Dawn Run, if only for her Gold Cup win (I fill up every time I hear Peter O’Sullivan’s commentary; "the mare’s beginning to get up…")
Run and Skip – a slightly bigger, bay version of Lefrak City!
Floyd – I was there when he won the Fighting Fifth. Not quite a superstar, but he had guts
Viking Flagship
Desert Orchid
RelkeelAnd many others too numerous to list.
Ruby Walsh, Paddy Brennan and Barry Geraghty.. triple yum!
Bad luck Hayley, you’re well behind me in the queue for Ruby.
I think I answered this in the other thread, but I’m mainly looking forward to the Nicholls big guns, especially Twist Magic (got such a soft spot for that nag), Star de Mohaison if he can make it back, KS of course and Denman. As I have tickets booked for both the Charlie Hall and the Hennessey, I so hope he runs in both as per Harry F’s wishes.
Looking forward to seeing one of Elite’s French-bred summer buys, Atomic Winner, having her first run for Alan King, and also interested to see where Penzance will go after his in-and-out season last year.
Slip Anchor – sensational at Epsom, never won again.
Petoski – who would remember him if not for beating Oh So Sharp et alia in the King George.
I’m tempted to add Storm Bird – yes, he was unbeaten as a 2yo, but would we remember him (as a racehorse, rather than experiencing Extreme Hairdressing) if he hadn’t won the Dewhurst?[/i]
