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That’s right, the old A445 (Bury Road.)
I will post a picture of said grave on Derby day.
I can see the Warren Hill and Side Hill from my bedroom window. Maybe I should consider a live webcam.
lolTop 3
1. Black Caviar
2. So you think
3. Camelot/ FrankelBtw im not Australian lol they just have two very good horses lol
Deeman
Take up golf?
On a quiet road leading out of Newmarket there is an unmarked grave at a crossroads. It is said to be the grave of a gypsy boy. It’s known locally simply as ‘Boy’s Grave’.
The story goes that this gypsy boy was left in charge of a flock of sheep. He is said to have counted the sheep one evening and found that he had lost one. They say that such was his shame that he hung himself on a nearby tree. In an added twist of irony the legend tells that he had actually miscounted the sheep and taken his life needlessly.
… Aaanyway… nobody ever sees how they get there, but there are always fresh flowers on his grave. And here’s the important part: another legend tells that on the morn of the Derby the flowers on the Boy’s grave are always the same as the winning Derby horse.
A good few years back I had a big antepost punt on Luca Cumani’s Highrise. I took 25’s but in the event it returned a whopping 20/1 winner anyway.
…there were yellow flowers on the gypsy’s grave that morning.
I will report the flower colours on the morning of the Blue Riband event on the forum, so you can stop beating yourselve’s up over the likely winner now.
I’ve found the complete opposite. I meet a few non racing folk who hasve heard of Frankel but barely any that have heard of Australia.
…sorry Black Caviar.
A terrific win by HQ no doubt, however I think it might be a bit early to be heralding this filly as a truly great horse. The fillies are all over the place. It must be the coldest spring I can recall. Half of them probably still carrying wool. There’s no doubt the local fillies are backwards yet. Added to that we had a completely bizarre start to the race with the horses having time to cool down and perhaps for their performances to be affected
Forgot to add that she had ground there that you would never expect at Newmarket in the spring. It’s like a bog here at the moment comparatively speaking. It may also be that she revelled particularly in the soft conditions.
The point I’m trying to make is that there were a number of anomalies that you wouldn’t expect from a ‘normal’ Guineas.
I guess time will tell if she’s genuinely the world beater that she potentially looked yesterday.
I must admit, having lived virtually my entire life in the town of Newmarket, I have to smile at some of the ‘ratings’ stuff I read on here.
Might not make me too popular on a racing forum but I have to tell you,with regard to everyday racing, before you start interpreting form or any other horse related statistical stuff you HAVE to know which horses were trying. (And the chances are that you never will.) As often as not there will be horses in races that simply aren’t giving their all
The difference between a horse’s performance when flat out galloping with intent and it’s placing when being ‘given an outing’ on the owner’s behalf or for a pipe-opener is frankly incomparable.
Top end stuff and group race form is far more reliable of course. But bread and butter racing? Nine times out of ten you may as well stick a pin in.
Now, I will bet you blokes a slab and a 6-pack of 2008 Del Diablo Loco Shiraz, purchased on ebay and delivered to address of choice, that Frankel and Black Caviar will never even meet in a race in 2012!!!
Who wants that bet?
That’s right, nobody.
AIC its 1/3 it doesn’t happen so your bets safe but just out of interest ‘should’
Frankel
carrying 9-0 meet
Black caviar
carrying 8-11 say over 7f at York on a warm Sunny day in August on ‘Good’ ground,maybe just on the fast side of good and both were in tip top shape,say there was a field of 10 went to post who would go off favourite and who in your opinion would win?
For my money Frankel would be an odds on favourite and the mare, game though she is, wouldn’t get within five lengths of him.
I know i’m in the minority here, but i think Frankel ought to be stepping back in trip rather than up. I think he’d win the Nunthorpe by a street.
He may well be good enough to win at Group 1 level at anything between 5 & 10f, but i doubt the 10f will see him run to his best form.
You could be forgiven for thinking his optimum trip is 6/7 furlongs couldn’t you?
I am genuinely intrigued to see whether he actually can get further against top class horses. It’s easy to imagine the sheer gulf in class between himself and his peers being enough on its own to see him outrun his opponents over further but does a longer trip really suit him? It’s something we all want to find out.
This animal is something out of the ordinary. That much is for sure. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he were capable of winning against the best opposition between 6 and 12 furlongs.
I quite agree apart from i’d go from 5f to 10f as i previously said. Can you imagine Queally in the Nunthorpe, never mind trying to settle or any of that guff, just point and run full pelt. What a sight that would be, and after seeing the Guinea’s its impossible to imagine anything doing Frankel for toe!
If i had to guess Frankels optimum trip, i would plump for 6 or 7f too. Black Caviar stays 7f…………..
I saw an interview with Ray Cochrane somewhere recently where he reckoned the mare wouldn’t get close to Frankel. He used the word "slaughter" to describe how easily he thinks Frankel would beat her.
I was quite surprised at his comments. He’s generally a quietly spoken fellow not given to sensationalism. And a very shrewd judge of a race horse to boot.
It’s an intriguing prospect.
I know i’m in the minority here, but i think Frankel ought to be stepping back in trip rather than up. I think he’d win the Nunthorpe by a street.
He may well be good enough to win at Group 1 level at anything between 5 & 10f, but i doubt the 10f will see him run to his best form.
You could be forgiven for thinking his optimum trip is 6/7 furlongs couldn’t you?
I am genuinely intrigued to see whether he actually can get further against top class horses. It’s easy to imagine the sheer gulf in class between himself and his peers being enough on its own to see him outrun his opponents over further but does a longer trip really suit him? It’s something we all want to find out.
This animal is something out of the ordinary. That much is for sure. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he were capable of winning against the best opposition between 6 and 12 furlongs.
He is surely unstoppable at a mile? What a beast he looked in the paddock. He will have come on pounds for that race.
I’ve been watching the footage of Black Caviar in between the Frankel hype. I’d say she’s the greatest sprint horse of my generation. Frankel’s by far the greatest miler.
Two truly great horses. Seems simple enough to me.
My school mate’s sister was a pretty popular lady jockey in her day. Maxine Juster. Married Sir Colin Cowdrey I think.
"at least not at a mile" Exactly.A mile is not the preferred distance to judge a world class horse.Until he wins and beats the best beyond a mile he will be an (*) horse.Seems like his supporters refuse to recognise this limitation to Frankel.How can one rate him with the great Arc winners when he has never even run beyond a mile?How does he compare with the great Brigardier Gerard who raced over the classic distances.In one of the most eagerly anticipated races ever, Brigadier Gerard won in devastating fashion by three lengths from Mill Reef and My Swallow in the Guineas. Brigadier Gerard followed that victory with wins in the St. James’s Palace Stakes, the Sussex Stakes by five lengths, the Goodwood Mile by ten lengths, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes by eight lengths, and the Champion Stakes. I look forward to Frankel doing as well this year! Or are they still afraid to run a Galileo beyond a mile?
* raced over a mile.
Like I said, the topic is ‘subjective’. Some racing fans might claim Red Rum to have been the greatest horse ever. Another might tout Provideo. Either way you wouldn’t get many Nijinsky fans agreeing.
As for the distance issue well the classic races are spread between 1 mile and 1.75 miles. A brilliant miler is a brilliant miler, and this horse for my money is the best I’ve ever seen at that distance.
You don’t have to be a genius to see Frankel’s ‘greatness’ it is glaringly apparent. He wins like a great horse. I mean a truly great horse! He simply crucified Canford Cliffs in the Sussex Stakes. In the 2,000 Guineas he made every yard and was 15 lengths clear at the Bushes yet still finished
lengths out in front. There are old hands in the town here that will tell you they’ve never seen anything like that in the Guineas in fifty years of racing.Whether one believes Frankel to be the ‘BHITW’ or not is entirely an individual thing I guess, but nobody in their right mind can deny his brilliance.
As racing fans perhaps we ought to be simply celebrating a history making horse rather than bickering about where his place is in the racing hall of fame.
Has he trained on? Did you SEE his gallop the other day?
I did Joni. I watched the trio in the gallop going down to the start and coming back from right beside the rail at the four furlong marker. He looked incredible to me. Just sat calmly in behind his two pacemakers completely in control. The way he eats up the ground with his stride is quite remarkable at close quarters. I’m no equine expert of course, just a keen observer. Wrongly or rightly I expect to see him destroy the opposition in the Lockhinge if he runs in the race.
I think the ‘best horse in the world’ can only ever be a subjective thing, but for what it is worth I’ve never seen a better horse in the forty odd years I’ve been watching racing. At least not at a mile.
Here’s a close up peep of Frankel for you. Cruising at the four pole and waiting to gobble his two opponents up.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u307/ChristopherPHammond/lf.jpg
A movie made for TV called MURPHY’S STROKE is well worth a watch.
It’s the story of the Gay Future coup at Cartmel starring Pierce Brosnon if you can get it.
I think I remember that. iF I remember correctly the Scottish trainer is supposed to break down on route to the course to bring about the two non runners in the bets but he lazily doesn’t bother leaving the yard in the horse box at all and it is this factor that ultimately brings the coup down.
lol