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It’s obscured a bit by the US odds line at the bottom but doesn’t he pull something from under the saddle as he takes it off? It’s then in his hand holding the whip and he passes whatever it is to her.
Although it’s the trainers responsibility I can’t imagine Mr Al Z personally injecting the animals, which begs the question what on earth were the vets thinking of? Surely it’s their job to understand what treatment is permissable.
I don’t think this was attempted cheating he knew the yard was open to random inspection and there are legitimate medical reasons for using these drugs. Looks more like incompetance to me – or sabotage …?
"I don’t think this was attempted cheating…."
Are you serious? I’d say this is just the tip of the iceberg. As someone else mentioned I doubt the trainer injected all the horses himself, so it would appear that ANYBODY in the yard who had anything to do with these injections were ignorant of the rules as well!
Godolphin probably employ Lance Armstrong as a consultant for all we know!
On a serious note, Armstrong’s approach was to dope himself up to the eyeballs and stay out of the way of the testers whilst he was training. When it came to the races he was always clean. What is the random testing programme for horses who are just in training or away from the racecourse? If it is poor Al Zarooni could well have thought that the likelihood of a visit was very low.
Does anyone else agree that there was a jockey error on Flemenstar at the second last fence?
I understand the tactics of dropping him in this time but at the second last Flemenstar put in a superb jump whilst Sir Des Champs was less fluent. Flemenstar jumped upsides and his momentum was going to take him into the lead but the jockey took a massive pull on the horse to keep him behind SDC.
To me it really killed the horses natural impetus and SDC kept his run up the inside, cutting off the corner, and then stole a bit of a march on Flemenstar going to the last. There was no difference between the two up the run-in.
Like I say, I understood the new tactics for the race but I felt at the crusial time he should have let Flemenstar have his head rather than hold him back.
Anyone agree?
Ultimately I think PN made the wrong choice to go public with his concerns and send the horse away early. The fact that he mentions a "team meeting" intimates that it was his staff who were most upset about the move and he allowed his judgement to be clouded by that. He should have shown better leadership and allowed the horse to leave after Boxing Day even if he and his team were upset.
I was at Sandown on Saturday and Clive Smith was deep in conversation with Brough Scott near the pre-parade ring before KS came out. I wonder if he was talking about the problem? If I recall I don’t think PN had anything to do with KS’s parade that day so it would seem this has been brewing.
As for dressage for KS it doesn’t really do anything for me but for the horse it’s probably stimulating and a lot safer than eventing or hunting. Dressage is like an adult taking up Tai Chi instead of Judo!
Thanks for posting the rules. I guess it came down to a decision between "dangerous" and "careless" and once it was deemed as the latter the result stood because the interference took place quite a long way from the winning post.
When I watched it at the time I definitely felt there was a significant movement from two horses that caused the incident. Obviously Position came off the rail sharply but I also thought that Tigers Tale moved to its right at exactly the same time and that’s what made the incident all the more dangerous. Valiant Girl was chopped off badly but Position was nearly knocked off its feet. It was amazing that it recovered and still won. So I think that the two horse movements made the whole thing worse but you have to take the jockeys’ actions in isolation I assume?
I wonder if Luke Morris claimed in his defence that Tigers Tale also moved to the right and I wonder if the stewards took this into account? Is there somewhere where the transcript of the stewards enquiry is published?
Was it careless or dangerous? Personally I think it was dangerous. At the time Richard Hoiles (co-commentating I think) said it "was as close to dangerous riding as I have seen for a while." And he’s someone who chooses his words quite carefully I think.
I did actually have money on Position in the race and I must admit I was fully expecting the result to be changed.
Why isnt it about Frankel?
MY horse is Frankel. Easy peasy.
I meant that for me this particular post isn’t about Frankel etc. There didn’t seem much point asking the question, "Who is the horse of the year?" unless you are interested in reading 100 posts saying "Frankel". I thought it might be interesting for people to post about a particular horse or two that they have followed, for whatever reason, and why they like it.
The reasons can be financial or otherwise. Mine are financial because having a small bet is what makes racing more interesting for me. And I only bet small for the record, and am capable of enjoying racing without having a bet.
I always start a season off with a significant number of horses that I am keeping an eye out for. Often they may not be the superstars but I get enjoyment from following their fortunes. Some of them have flopped badly on a regular basis, some have won sporadically. But out of all of them Prussian has been the one who has stood out of the ones I’ve been following.
I’m not disputing for a second that Frankel is THE horse of the year, but let’s face it he doesn’t race under the same sorts of conditions that Prussian, or thousands of other horses face on a regular basis. Frankel goes out and runs his races and wins them with ease. Yes that’s because he’s the best by a country mile, but he doesn’t have to run in a big field handicap in conditions that don’t suit etc. That’s why Prussian is my personal favourite from this flat season.
Agreed – the bloke is absolutely awful as a commentator. His problem with a lot of stuff he does is that he tries too hard to create excitement through his commentary. He’s not alone in this. There are a few commentators who will try to convey the excitement of a close finish when there isn’t going to be one.
How many times do you hear a commentator saying that a horse is "flying down the outside" when nothing of the sort is happening? The worst is when one horse is comfortably out in front, holding all challengers, and the commentator pretends that the horse in second is closing the gap all the time.
As for Chapman he ruined last year’s QIPCO Champions Day at Ascot for me as he was the person calling the horses back into the winners enclosure after the race. It was a beautiful autumn day, good races, plus Frankel on display, and you had him screeching and shouting as the winners came in like a boxing commentator calling two heavyweights coming into the ring! The worst part is that you can tell his approach is forced, and that he’s trying to hype things up.
There is an art to commentating and he hasn’t got it at all.
I think they need to run Frankel in the Grand National…..then they can say he’s the best over more than a mile!
Does anyone understand the price discrepancy between Trumpet Major and Talwar?
Talwar beat Trumpet Major twice last year, has won on reappearance this year, and Trumpet Major put in a good performance in the Craven.
Talwar has been supplemented so they can’t be running it without some justification and currently Trumpet Major is 8/1 and Talwar is 40/1!
Can somebody enlighten me?
Joe Calzaghe – Beating all he could face, longevity at the top level and doing what only a handful of boxers have ever done, finishing as unbeaten world champ
Please tell me you are joking…..right?
No, you can only beat who is there at the time and Ali whilst one of the best heavyweights of all time would not survive as a heavyweight today, he lost fights to people who also lost fights and if it weren’t for dodgy tactics by his trainer could well have lost to Henry Cooper as well.
He was outstanding at his peak but so was Calzaghe and one has a better record.
Nobody could say how Ali would have fared against Johnson, Louis, Tunney, Marciano, etc, it would just be speculation as is the Black Caviar vs Frankel pointless guessing game.
Ring magazine have Ali higher in all-time heavyweight rankings than I do, I’m not sure he would have beat the four I have mentioned at their peaks, or others.
Yes you can argue whether Ali would survive as a Heavyweight today. But this thread is about the "Four Greatest sports stars of my lifetime". You pick a boxer and you pick Joe Calzaghe? So he was unbeaten. There are plenty of boxers who were unbeaten but certainly wouldn’t be considered the greatest. Calzaghe is famous for not fighting great fighters…..unless you count waiting until they are past their prime. He’s a typical case of a British fighter mugging off the gullible British supporters who like to think we have world class fighters.
There are plenty of fighters you could debate about as being the greatest, but Joe Calzaghe isn’t one of them….not even close!
Boxing: Muhammad Ali had everything you would want in a boxer – speed, knockout power, athleticism, and was as tough as they come in a battle.
These three because they operated at a time when sport has become much more professional, therefore harder to dominate:
Golf: Tiger Woods
Tennis: Roger Federer
Football: Zinedine ZidaneJoe Calzaghe – Beating all he could face, longevity at the top level and doing what only a handful of boxers have ever done, finishing as unbeaten world champ
Please tell me you are joking…..right?
except for the royal meeting at ascot id like to see how long ascot and other tracks survive with out the so called common people being allowed in ! there is no argument in what a person chooses to wear but using a dress code as a stick to beat the people they dont want in is not the way to go
What are you talking about? When have Ascot or other tracks tried to stop "common people" coming in? If they were using it as "a stick to beat the people they don’t want in" why weren’t they just throwing people out of the racecourse?
You are talking rubbish.
ok thats your opion i read your other post the one quote workingmens sports like rugby football can do as they like well i count racing as a working mans sport too and its the opion of people like you the race courses are pandering too if i have the money to go in the dear section i should be able to wear as i please if i cause trouble then i would be expecting to get thrown out you were at wentworth i bet you did not walk around the 18 holes in a suit allday but i bet the ocaasion was not anyless enjoyable because of it dont take this personally everyones different opions is what make the world go round and christ the place would be a boring place if everyone was the same
The debate about whether you should have the right to enter the Premier Enclosure dressed as you want is another debate. I was pointing out the fact that you are saying that Ascot are using the dress code to stop "common people" coming in, and that they are using it as "a stick to beat the people they don’t want in." That’s ridiculous. Believe me, Ascot want as many "common people" as they can cram into the place to go there. They want them coming in, spending money on over-priced food, copious amounts of cheap alchohol, and gambling their money away as the booze flows ever more. Absolutely racing is a workingman’s sport, that’s why it is such a great sport. It is open to everyone.
But don’t talk about your "right" to enter a Premier Enclosure dressed as you want because you are prepared to pay the money. Ascot are a business enterprise. They have a "right" to set the terms and conditions of their business as they see fit, and if they see fit to have a dress code you either accept it or you go into another enclosure. It’s quite simple.
For the record, I rarely go to race meetings where I do have to wear a jacket and tie because I don’t feel comfortable. Although if it’s a meeting I really want to attend I will do so. Equally, I’m not that keen on Ascot since the monstrosity of a facelift they gave it a few years ago. I prefer to go to meetings where you have to be "smart" but where a jacket and tie isn’t essential.
except for the royal meeting at ascot id like to see how long ascot and other tracks survive with out the so called common people being allowed in ! there is no argument in what a person chooses to wear but using a dress code as a stick to beat the people they dont want in is not the way to go
What are you talking about? When have Ascot or other tracks tried to stop "common people" coming in? If they were using it as "a stick to beat the people they don’t want in" why weren’t they just throwing people out of the racecourse?
You are talking rubbish.
Here’s an idea that might keep the scruff bags on here happy.
As an alternative to Ladies Day (which surely "in this day and age" is a sexist concept and very discriminatory against those of us with todgers) we could all petition Ascot to trial "Dress Down Thursday" at the Royal meeting this year.
Everyone wears what they want. The Queen can wear her denims, Prince Philip his string vest, Charles and Camilla can wear the his n’ her shell suits given to them as a wedding gift by the Mayor of Liverpool and Pippa can wear a catsuit
.If it is a success we could push the following year for "Naturist Friday"…………………
What a fantastic idea! But can’t we get this day out of the way early at the big meetings? Maybe call it Chav Tuesday, offer cheap booze (I’m sure the course could do a deal with Wetherspoon’s), and get some "travellers" to run some of their old cobs up and down the hallowed turf. The punters would be too out of it to know if it was Frankel or Dobbin running!
