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Nearly all his runners race prominently, no matter what the pace is. You rarely see Fairley or Fanning taking a pull or dropping off the pace because they think the pace is too strong so consequently lots of his horses weaken out of contention and this can sometimes mask their true ability. He races his horses far more frequently than can surely be good for all of them, over a variety of trips on varying ground (as has been pointed out in an earlier post) but when his scattergun fires on a suitable target in suitable conditions, they more often than not run to form. It’s the punters job to work out what those conditions are and with the large amount of form his horses have in the book it should surely be an advantage? I’m not sure that Johnston knows what the optimum requirements of his horses are, probably because he has so many of them! .Emerging Artist is a good example, unraced for Godolphin at 2 and 3yrs, debut for Johnston in June has has run eight races since, averaging just under 12 days gap between each. Arguably his best run was his 4th start at Newbury over 10f but since then he has run twice over an extra 2f, creditably but one paced, and over 13f at Chester and 14f at Goodwood, not seeing the trip out on either occasion. The route he has taken with this horse is probably not the route a smaller trainer would have taken but when he eventually drops down to a stiff 10f I will be getting a better price and grateful that he did. Similar comments apply to a lot of his horses. Also, because of the way his horses race, I’m sure the cleverer punters can make a nice profit laying his horses in running, too.
In effect if a horse can cause such havock at the track he should not be on it.If the jockey can not control him he should not be riding him.But who wants to hear such silly explanations when it is obvious that if he had not swerved he would have won anyway and no need to prove he is the best by winning honestly.
I agree. They couldn’t very well chuck out Barq for (unintentional) interference after the precedent had been set elsewhere previuosly, notably with Starspangledbanner’s pre-meditated cutting up of several other horses in the first furlong of the July Cup had not been deemed sufficient carnage to affect the end result.
It’s a strange one dropping Holberg in trip, (not so much with Bullet Train) considering his run over 12f at Kempton where he was doing his best work at the end.
By the way, I doubt Godolphin paid anything for Holberg let alone a fortune, as he is a Darley home bred and was previously registered in the ownership of one of Sheikh Mohammed’s offspring.
It would be interesting to see the whether WBX and Betdaq are on the increase now Betfair is on the slippery slope…I sincerely hope so!
Maybe everyone has gone over to Betdaq (or the other one who’s name escapes me) in protest at the Premium Charge.
It’s a shame that Sariska will bow out with those two refusals on her CV. That was an interesting race to watch, Queally always well positioned on Midday as opposed to the rider on Sarafina, who rode his filly almost as if he wanted to save her for three weeks time, only asking her to move up from the rear about 1½f from the finish (when it was all over).
Hello Matt
In your ‘On the Line’ show you seem remarkably patient when dealing with some of the callers, lots of whom seem to have little intelligence or are just ‘pocket-talking’? Where does this patience come from and does someone actually screen the calls you receive?!
Also, do you find it as frustrating as I that ATR cut to an ad-break a few minutes before the off, only returning as nearly all the horses are loaded, meaning that we miss shots of the horses in the crucial few minutes before the off? I understand that ATR is (sort of) free-to-air but surely this is doing a disservice to punters?
CheersThis sort of thing obviously goes on and will continue to go on until a solution is found.
How about restricting newly handicapped horses to only being eligible for races within a furlong of the distance in which they attained their rating, or if, once a rating has been awarded, the trip is markedly increased/decreased after the first three runs, give it automatic top-weight?
Over 12 lengths.
Not sure how you can be "in touch", make "headway" and then "nearest finish" but beaten 12 lengths!
I generally like the British rules of winner on merit keeps the race and that is fine if the winning margin is a reasonable distance but quite how the stewards can say with certainty that Afsare (who I backed by the way) did not cause Quadrille to lose the couple inches needed for a different result is a mystery to me. If there is any doubt then surely the victim of the interference should be given the benefit of it?
Unlucky there fella, he had a rotten trip most of the way. I had a lumpy each way bet on Berling at 13/2 so I too am wondering what might have been!
About £6k if he’s placed?
I’d get on betfair and get laying him for a place (currently 5.9)
Nice to see that banterous exchange between Henry Cecil and Willie Carson behind the red button on BBC
I missed it – what occurred?
York has very odd ground it seems to me (wasn’t it recently relaid?) and I try not to get involved in betting there now as it seems a larger proportion of horses won’t let themselves down there when it is riding (officially) Good to Firm than at other courses. The race won by Tactic there is a good example with what appeared to be three-quarters of the field just no acting on it, and some of those were horses that prefer fast ground.
Anyway, back to the title of the thread. I think the answer is that they watered overnight at Ascot to eliminate the draw bias so expect Good to Firm (Soft in places on the far side of the straight course).
Not another anti-Darley/Maktoum/Godolphin post surely, Andy? Perhaps you can tell us how your friend Aidan and Team Ballydoyle would do it so much better….
They should replace Ajtebi with Haykey Turner first!
As for Dettori, when he goes they’ll probably go for someone international like Soumillon.
