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The head on camera clearly showed that she had to force her way out, yes she was being kept in the pocket (race riding I think they call it – afterall what would have been said if she had just been let her out) but there was never a gap to move into to start with and given the narrow winning margin, if she had of waited and pulled out around Bondi Beach (losing at least a couple of lengths plus momentum) she wouldn’t have won the race.
Didn’t they parade him at York before the Juddmonte….unless it was a actual stand in?
Not so sure on that – the filly forced her way out in the first place, then got leaned on by the runner up but the she gave him another hefty bump close home.
Centralised stewarding is now a must as at least then you would have the same people chairing the enquiry and thus a more consistent outcome, which is what everyone is after (and not getting at the moment).
I would have been more surprised had the filly kept the result.
Ironic that the jockey has now just won the next race in the same colours – thats racing!
27mm of rain overnight – Yielding is the Irish equivalent of good to soft, which is worse than the going was at both Goodwood & York; so if they stick to the company line with this horse, he won’t be running.
However, I wonder if they might in this case roll the dice and run being that it is:
a) on home turf, the undoubted pressure to support the Champions weekend which is still in its infancy (similar to when they made the decision to run Camelot in order to support the Irish Derby against their better judgement)
b) them being mindful that if he misses this race, he is unlikely to be seen again on this side of the pond (not sure if this would be a big issue for them but it may be a consideration).
c) they have a built in excuse of the ground and trip if he runs and fails to perform.Big worry for the racecourse/sponsers is that their flagship race of the entire meeting now could have Golden Horn, Gleneagles and Free Eagle all being pulled out because of the ground and we also know that the connections of The Grey Gatsby said after York that he would prefer faster ground as well – will he also be pulled out?
Any drying in the ground could also be a problem as before going back to good it will go through that stage of being on the tacky dead side, which horses have trouble getting through anyway.
PS – I wouldn’t mind Big Mac so much if he didn’t just shout down anyone who doesn’t agree with him, which by and large is pretty much everyone he has ever met!!!!
I thought after the Voltiguer that Bondi Beach would get his revenge over an extra 2F but with the ground on the fast side of good and Storm The Stars likely to be able to set his own fractions in front (unless Fields of Athenry reverts back to his front running tactics of previous wins) I am now not as confident – hopefully Buick will be much more handy than he was at York (not sure why jockeys always seem to think it is necessary to drop a hold up horse right out at the back of the field).
Ordinarily I would agree but in this case I think Coolmore are the ones pushing for him to go up to 10F, whereas if Aiden had free range (and the ground had been suitable) I think he would have gone Sussex, Marois or Moulin, QE2 & BC Mile (or they may even chance it in the Classic as they have a ready made excuse if he runs badly in it i.e dirt & trip). Unfortunately, as he is very one dimensional ground wise there was always a doubt that we would ever get to see him again in Europe after Royal Ascot.
With regards to covering the course, it takes around five or six men to move the covers on and off a cricket wicket that is around 66ft long by 10ft wide and then you usually have to wait 20-30 mins after this has been done before play resumes. I don’t know what the logistics and man power needed are to cover and uncover a 10F stretch of racecourse but it is probably not possible to do so within the time period they have – especially if the rain starts from Friday night through to say midday of the morning of the race.
Flintshire looks nailed on here, conditions in his favour no real challenge from US and assuming that he serves a run in the Arc (can’t see the ground being in his favour plus he always finds one or two too good for him at the very top level) he will go into the BC Turf as a much fresher horse. For his consistency, he deserves a big G1 win and this is his best chance.
Postponed could have his own Arc in the Prix Foy as I can’t see him getting in the shake up in the big one itself – no matter what spin you put on it, this years KG must go down as one of (if not) the worst in living memory. To my mind he is at best a G2 horse who the fates were shining down on kindly back in July and I would be stunned if he was able to get in the first 5 or 6 if everybody turns up on Arc day.
The thing that made me laugh was that he was being quoted in the betting for BC Classic.
AOB still manages to state in every interview that he is an out and out miler and I feel that it is very much against his wishes that 10F is being attempted. Now there will be even more pressure for them to actually run him if the ground is no worse than good (which AOB still says is not quick enough) as they have no where else to go with him at 8F.
I said it a while back that the BC Mile will probably be the next (and last) time that we would see him after the Sussex debacle and unless they get lucky and the rain misses Leopardstown, I don’t see that thought changing.
Heavy rain forecast Friday evening (between 20-30mm) so if that does arrive expect the ground to change from its current good to firm and then both Gleneagles & Golden Horn to be withdrawn Saturday morning – Free Eagle/The Grey Gatsby could also be doubtful runners on softer ground. They better pray the rain misses the track otherwise we could be looking at a four runner field.
Officials at Leopardstown are already going to use both the inner and outer tracks and they have now even moved the time of the race forward from 18:50 to 17:45, which means that Dettori will now give up his Doncaster rides (including Bondi Beach in St Leger) and travel straight to Ireland instead.
I myself have had a cheeky bet on Cirrus De Aigles at 9-1 as he goes on anything and we know how good he is when it gets soft, have to take it on trust that he will be fit enough since his enforced break.
Providing he doesn’t get drawn out by the car park, I think he will probably be ridden the same way as he was today – he doesn’t have a massive turn of foot like Treve but that stride will allow him to maintain a powerful gallop all the way up the Longchamp straight and I think that will only be heightened by the likely soft ground.
I don’t think Treve can really afford to give him too much leeway as once she has used that one burst of speed, if she hasn’t settled the race with that, I think she then becomes vunerable to being out stayed/out battled.
These two are the most solid choices in the race with if buts and maybes surrounding a lot of the other runners over distance & ground condition – I can’t see either of them being out of the first three.
I take your points, but personally I don’t think you can uprate a horse more for easily beating inferior rivals over another horse that is beating multiple G1 winners (and Champion Hurdlers to boot) by 1 or 2 Lengths.
Istabraq’s 12L thumping of Theatreworld in 1998 Champion may on appearance look good but he had already beaten him 35L at Leopardstown earlier that season. In the following year’s Champion, that winning distance was cut to only 3.5L but in 2000 it was up to 32L and overall Theatreworld’s record of only 6 minor wins from 32 races says it all.
No matter how far & how easily Istabraq beat the likes of Stage Affair, Derrymole, French Holly, Master Beveled, Shantarini, Decoupage & Mantles Prince to me it doesn’t compare to beating (by a length or so) the likes of a Solwhit, Rock On Ruby, Oscar Whiskey, Binocular, Our Connor & Jezki.
The fact that Istabraq was given an official rating the equal of Monksfield and in turn superior to Sea Pigeon (imho the greatest duel purpose horse of all time) makes no sense – the only thing they did get right was to actually rate him below Night Nurse.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Istabraq is a great horse but imho he is in a select group of horses (that now includes The Fly) that are just below the three aforementioned horses.
m, but he was a superstar and would easily have given Istabraq half a stone, even at Cheltenham, imo. (Always thought Istabraq much overrated).
Have to agree with the overrated comment – couldn’t for the life of me understand why beating up on the likes of Theatreworld, Hors La Loi, Blue Royal, French Holly & I’m Supposin in three Champion Hurdles and getting beaten by Pridwell warranted him being mentioned in the same breath as legends like Night Nurse, Monksfield & Sea Pigeon.
For me, The Fly was a better hurdler (never fell) and his collateral form is better as well – can’t understand why he is not officially rated higher than Istabraq.
Like a lot of sports stars, if you become far too successful at what you do (for some reason) people then want to see you knocked down a peg or two but when that eventually starts happening they then start wanting you to win again because you are seen as the under dog fighting against adversity.
We watched The Fly wipe the floor with everything in Ireland throughout his career but when it first came time for him to confirm that form at Cheltenham, injuries ruled him out for the first few years and I think this meant people strangely questioned whether he was the real deal or not. The fact that Cheltenham never really saw him at his brilliant best (even when winning his two titles) probably didn’t help either.
Due to those early injuries, he could be deemed very unlucky to ‘only’ win two Champion Hurdles but once he became a bit more vunerable with his advancing years, more people seemed to warm up to him; which while obviously well deserved was also a bit sad that it took so long for them to do so.
Imho he is the best 2m (and 2.5m) hurdler since the golden era of Night Nurse, Monksfield & Sea Pigeon.
Hope he will enjoy a long and well deserved retirement.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>steeplechasing wrote:</div>
Maybe CH4 will employ her.She couldn’t be worse than Ms. Spencer.
Given their history, I don’t think that will ever be an option for her until Ms Spencer moves on.
Sad that she has come to this decision as she is a good strong competent jockey but at 32 maybe she is wanting to look at starting a family and this is the right time for her all things considered – I guess being a pundit on ATR will give her that better work/life balance to allow her to do these things.
Good luck to her.
I don’t think that a horse’s action can be classed as a mechanical movement because it is a living, breathing being and its action or stride would be dictated by the efficiency of its engine room (i.e. the heart and lungs) in pumping the oxygen through the blood vessels to its muscles to give them the energy to gallop and maintain it as required.
I believe it would be affected by ground conditions, as the more a horse sinks into the softer ground, the more energy its engine has to produce in order to maintain it’s stride pattern to continue to gallop. That increased energy production means that it is using up its ‘stamina reserves’ that much quicker than normal (i.e. than it would on fast ground) and as a result it is unable to maintain its optimal speed for as long thereby causing it to get tired and lose its action a lot quicker and also compromising its ability to stay the required distance.
This also explains why if you have a horse that is running at a distance that you are either not sure it is going to stay or it is right on the upper limits of its stamina (Golden Horn in the KG and Gleneagles in the Juddmonte), you would not want the race to be run on ground that has soft in its description.
That being said, I feel the mind of the horse is also a key and mysterious component, it may well be that fast ground stops certain ones from producing their best because they are feeling pain when galloping but when its soft that pain is gone so they will be able to ‘let themselves down’ properly – others may find that soft ground makes them unsure of their footing so they can’t gallop like they can on fast ground and thus they are unable to produce their best form or they may just have an aversion to mud in general.
Some horses are just willing to go through the pain barrier regardless (Henbit sustained a hairline fracture in his canonbone when winning 1980 Derby) and we sadly lost Persian Punch & Thomas Chippendale who both died immediately after the finish line of a race as a result of their exertions.
Some seem to have a much bigger will to win than others and will visably stick their heads down and battle to win a race (i.e. Le Moss, Dessie, Double Trigger, Persian Punch & Giants Causeway to name a few). Other horses seem to find various ways of not winning (like pulling themselves up when they get in front, or finding absolutely nothing once they come of the bridle) whilst another group seem set on making their jockeys work overtime in a race before even making an effort.
It is a really fascinating subject and being that horses can’t tell you what their specific issues are, it is really only through a combination of trial and error, trainer/jockey experience and varying degrees of guess work that an explanation as to why a horse has performed in a certain way can be given.
For me, all horse are able to perform (not necessarily at their best) on most types of ground except for the extremes (i.e. firm and heavy) but no matter how consistant these animals may or may not be, at the end of the day, the old saying still rings true: ‘they are not machines’.
Sorry for the long ramble.
I heard that he does have his own training yard which has been upgraded over the years and I would imagine that at some point (probably around the time his son can no longer ride on the flat and switches to the jumps) he may do a Vincent O’Brien in reverse and turn his hand to NH and maybe link up with JP McManus.
I think relations with ‘the boys’ took a turn for the worse after Joseph’s ride on Australia in the Irish Champion Stakes and added to his ongoing struggle with not being able to ride under 9st (which they probably reluctantly put up with to date), I think that they have probably decided to have more control over specific riding plans (hence Ryan Moore taking over in the big races until his recent injury) & also what future targets their marquee named horses are aimed at.
From Aiden point of view, he has pretty much broken every flat record there is in the book so what more does he have to prove on that score, it can’t be much fun now having to juggle everything that is going on and he may just start wondering whether its the right time to move on and find a new challenge
I think probably withing the next five years he will have moved on from Ballydoyle – I would think that David Wachman would be the most obvious contender to take over being that his wife is the daughter of John Magnier (Coolmore’s founder and driving force). Lets face it, given all the tools that are at your disposal, any competent trainer should have no problem suceeding in that job and David Wachman is so much more than a competent trainer.
