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Regarding Boreal’s owner stating that he goes on fast ground. He would say that, as who is going to want to send a mare to be covered by a stallion who needed 12 furlongs on soft to show his best performances.<br>He’ll probably make a cracking N.H. sire though.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the preliminaries yesterday. Did Grandera behave himself, as this was a major concern for me about the horse.
Johnston actually told everyone weeks ago exactly how he thought his horses would do (i.e. they had no chance) when he was so reluctant to encourage their then owners to splash out 90 grand on their supplementary entries. He knew that both would struggle to make the first 3 and therefore recoup their entry fees.<br>I don’t really see what difference it would have made if he’d been able, or willing, to split the two of them when neither of them were ever going to win.<br>To suggest AOB is a open book when talking about his horses chances is a joke. Anybody remember Istabraq? Or what about his frankly silly comments that Hawk Wing could win either the St. Leger or the July Cup?
What did you expect Johnston to say?<br>"Fight Your Corner won’t get a sniff of O’Briens two & Bandari will fall out of the stalls and run like a dog"<br>Surely anything else would have been misleading the public.
If anyone needs any proof of how imprecise a science the breeding of thoroughbreds is, just look through the breeding of the runners at any ordinary jumps meeting. You’ll see plenty of supposed blue bloods lumbering around places like Hexham and Plumpton.
Seems that connections can’t win really. If he didn’t go for the Derby they’d get hit with the "wrapping him in cotton wool" accusations. If they do it’s bad planning. <br>Why not instead say well done Coolmore for taking up the challenge of the Derby, for going for the glory rather than taking the easy route.
What was the name of the old boy who used to do all the BBC radio commentaries? I think he might have died in the last couple of years. He was dire, you never had any idea of what was actually happening in the race from his descriptions.<br>Anyway I remember about 15 or so years ago he was commentating on a big race live on the radio and as the race reached the closing stages he had whipped himself up into his usual frenzy as three horses fought out the finish. Then suddenly with about a furlong to go he emitted a sort of strangulated squawk, followed by a good fifteen seconds of silence. We were just speculating what had happened, (heart attack, strangled by an unknown assailant, fallen of the top of the stand etc.) when suddenly he pipes up with the result and the usual ridden by, trained by, owned by stuff. No explanation was proffered as to what had happened either to him or in the race itself.
I’d still be concerned about Grandera’s temperament after Saturday. He was in a real lather (even allowing for the heat & humidity) prior to the race and looked close to boiling over in the preliminaries. <br>The race itself played right into his hands with the leaders setting a suicidal pace allowing Dettori to get the horse settled in behind. He then got some very fortunate splits up the home straight to come through and ultimately win nicely.<br>It was a good performance but I’d be willing to take him on at short prices in any of his future races.
I thought AOB’s explanation of the riding instructions was fairly plausible. They had a horse either side of the draw so they instructed the jockeys to ride apart.  OK, it did seem likely that the far side would ride quicker but imagine what people would have said if Hawk Wing had tacked across the track only for the first two to have raced up the middle to stands side. They played the percentages and basically it paid off big time.<br>As for the "consideration for the punters" I can only assume Escorial’s tongue was firmly in his cheek. Since when have the Coolmore team worried about the punters? And indeed, why should they?
(Edited by johnny boy at 5:36 pm on May 7, 2002)
With regards to Sal’s mention of indiscreet connections, I remember a good few years back standing by the parade ring at Sedgefield when a St John’s Ambulance bloke comes barrelling over from the betting ring, shouting quite loudly at a stable lad leading a horse round "Tony, Tony, is he off?" His enquiry was met by a firm shake of the head from the lad and amused looks from all around the parade ring.<br>The horse subsequently drifted in the betting before proceeding to absolutely bolt up. I just hope the stable lad didn’t need any first aid treatment that day.
It’s a bit restrictive only being allowed one vote on that list isn’t it?<br>In the end I had to go for Scu as he is so patently incompetent. He can barely construct a sentence and gives the impression that he actually knows very little about racing – impressive for someone who was champion jockey umpteen times.
Don’t know whether the stats would back me up, but I’m always interested when a Mark "always trying" Johnson horse takes a big step up in distance.
To answer Kathy’s question, would as many people have come over to Cheltenham from Ireland, probably not, I estimate that the numbers may have been reduced by as many as five or six;
1. Istabraq’s lass<br>2. The fat bloke in the Istabraq jumper<br>3 & 4 Those two sad girls who called themselves the Istabraq fanclub, dressed in Green & Gold all the time and really need to get out more<br>5. That bloke who sings the Istabraq song (thank Christ)<br>6. (possibly) AOB might not have bothered.
Other than that do you really think people who had booked months in advance wouldn’t have bothered making the trip to Cheltenham just because one horse (no matter how high profile), was a non runner.<br>
(Edited by johnny boy at 5:06 pm on Mar. 21, 2002)
Escorial,
Just checking. If you were watching from home, how can you be sure of the general accuracy & timescales of what you describe i.e.
No vet was present as Istabraq was led around only the lass & the camera crew – Did you have a choice of camera angles or a special "vet cam" perhaps to check that the vet wasn’t maybe just out of shot?
Istabraq was ridden back after pulling up – Only back as far as the finishing chute (about 20 yards) before Swan dismounted
Istabraq was dope tested before being seen by a vet – Dope tests are conducted by the racecourse vet so unless he did the test blindfolded then he must have given the horse at least a quick once over.
AOB was out of the stands long before Istabraq was pulled up – could this not be a case of a bit of editorial licence from the C4 team?
It almost seems Escorial, as if you are manipulating the facts to support some pre-conceived idea you have. That wouldn’t be like you at all. Would it?
Escorial,
Just a theory as to how AOB was so quick off the mark.
From my position in the stands, in front of the Mill House bar, not far from where the trainers watch the races you are looking almost head on down the track, from here with the aid of binoculars, I had a fairly clear view of Istabraq jumping the first hurdle on the inside in mid-division. After jumping the hurdle the horse faltered slightly and began to lose ground at which point he dropped to the rear and my view of the horse became slightly obscured.
At this point (with the horses about 50 yards on from the first flight) I turned to my friend who had taken the 8/1 Istabraq to be pulled up for fifty quid (knocked back from the £100 he had requested) and told him his bet was a winner.
It doesn’t seem inconceivable that AOB saw this for himself from his vantage point, or was informed by one of his minions that the horse wasn’t travelling, so explaining why he was on his way out of the stands before the horse was actually pulled up.
I don’t think it was pre-decided that he should pull up in front of the stands, although I do think the connections realised that the horse was unlikely to complete.
As to all the conspiracy theories regarding betting coups, guaranteeing the crowds turned up etc., no-one really takes those seriously do they?
