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I feared the worst for a horse I’ve always thought would be top class. He should’ve won the Peterborough but for a mistake at the last.
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I haven’t been on here for a while but I got to thinking about Thistlecrack , and I’ve been a racing fan for 30 odd years and I’ve never been more impressed with or excited about a NH horse. Recently there’s been the Nicholls trio of superstars of Big Buck’s, Kauto Star and Denman but for sheer presence, jumping ability and the ability to power round at grade 1 racing pace over 3 miles without breaking sweat he’s a pleasure to watch. Can’t wait to see him chasing.
Gainsay owned by Errol Brown.
Which horse beat Hellenic for a significant St Leger win and finished third to Saumarez in the Arc on his next run?
The Hobbs horses tend to be disappointing sorts, they look the part but don’t deliver at the top level over fences , whether that’s got anything to do with Johnson i don’t know.
Emma Lavelle’s are similar and i’d like to see what Alan King’s achieved if Wayne Hutchinson was stable jockey, he’s very underrated.
I was confident Sirius Prospect would win if it didn’t give away too much ground out of the stalls. Out he jumped with the rest but this is flat racing and Kelly tried to come from the back in a big field got no run and flew home for fourth.
I love Diamond Harry but surely not on a tight right-handed track, hope he runs well though.
I heard an interview with Henry Brooke and he said that he hangs around listening to conversations between Jason and Donald. He said what those two don’t know about horses isn’t worth knowing.
John Ferguson:
18 wins from 54 runners … 1 in 3 !!!
plus 14 placed runners ,so 32 of the 54 won or were placed, that’s pretty good in my book.
You’re more likely to see them tailed off at Huntingdon etc. on a Wednesday than favourite for the Saturday races. For all the horses he has his success rate/ prize money earned must be appalling.
The sport would be poorer without him but whoever breeds or buys his horses (FB ?) wouldn’t be top of my list for a xmas bonus.When he brought it to challenge the horse on his left jumped across him and Farrelly inevitably got first run. He could’ve knocked hell out of it and would have still finished second.
I know it’s a bit off topic but possibly the best Group winner as a hurdler was Alderbrook who was a Group 2 winner.
Diamond Harry is decent at Cheltenham but i’d say Newbury suits him better especially as the ground is rarely truly soft at Chelters.
Perhaps I was looking for excuses, but to my eyes Kauto Star looked a little stiff behind as he walked around the pre-parade.
Did anyone else see this?
Yes, when he was in the pre-parade ring I had some concern. He looked slightly unhappy on his off-hind foot.
During the race he travelled poorly and seemed to struggle with his action – particularly going around the bends.
I don’t think the poor performance is all age.
I’m glad someone else spotted it. As Fist said, surely the horse would not have been allowed to run if there was a real problem.
I remember thinking the same about Tango Royal before a veterans’ chase a few years back, but the commentators mentioned that the horse was a little arthritic – and that it would not affect his action in faster paces. Perhaps the on-course vet was aware of something similar with Kauto yesterday. He is eleven after all!
I noticed that as well , i thought that horse has a touch of stringhalt then realised it was Kauto.
As i said it’s all about opinion… last season there were several horses i backed and you may say they would have jumped poorly anyway or had an off day or had been raised in class but, they were horses i rated highly who were good jumpers running on ground and on courses which suited them but AP seemed to create indecision in them. Also these were horses that he was riding for the first time so his style maybe doesn’t suit certain horses.
They were Will Be Done (McCain) at Ascot and Killyglen at Sandown (Johnson) as well as putting High Jack (Turnell) on the deck at Ascot. This is where the rot set in for me.
I’d be very happy to back him in bumpers and over hurdles because he’s the strongest around.
The figures seem to show i’m wrong but betting’s all about opinion, and i’ve seen enough poor rides in chases to put me off backing him. Good luck to the rest of you who side with him but i need to have confidence in the rider when i put my meagre wager down so i’ll continue to look elsewhere.
I’d be interested to hear from you all who watch racing every day to point out when horses have jumped well for him and also when they haven’t.
