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Never really viewed Jacob as number 1 material for a top yard. Nicholls has some powerful self made businessmen as his big owners who are hard to please.
Over the years Murphy (self inflicted), Tizzard, Thomas, Heard and Williams have fallen by the wayside and Jacob just joins the list.
The Big Bucks business showed that Jacob knew the horse was gone at the game but he would be blamed.
Unfortunate that he got fired while recovering from serious multiple injuries but there is no sentiment in jump racing anymore.
Good on him in a way for telling Nicholls what to do with his number 2 job. I’m not a fan of Scholfield and increased use of Derham is just nepotism.Surely being approachable and communicative is a huge plus in this day and age.
Makes life easy for the hacks if they can get a ready quote.
Ability comes first though. Being taciturn has proved no barrier to Ryan Moore.
Truth is that Nicholls and his powerful and monied owners (most of whom are self made businessmen) are very demanding of their jockeys.
Unless you are a established big name like a Walsh, you won’t get backed for long.
Murphy gave the yard no choice after the drunken antics on the plane and subsequent jail sentence but Tizzard and Thomas didn’t last long (the latter was blamed for falling off Big Bucks).
Nicholls could have got Fehily but chose Jacob.
Nicholls and Smith even fell out over Kauto Star being removed from the yard and being turned into a dressage horse.
Bottom line is the owners pay big £ for the horses and training fees and can have who they want.In his book Murphy says Nicholls gets pressure from the owners which he then passes on to the jockey.
I rate Sam Twiston Davies over Jacob but am bemused at the love in the press hacks have with him just because they see him as approachable and communicative. Little Willy has even been given a job with Channon though what he has done to deserve it God knows. IMO Channon not a good judge and stable in decline.After the recent dress code fiasco, more issues yesterday according to a poster on Betfair Community:-
Come racing! Arrived 40 minutes before first race. Didn’t see it ….still in a queue to get in. A queue stretching a good 200 yards into the car park, trying to get through a single turnstile. Other turnstiles blocked off with the legend: "turnstile closed." The gatekeeper of the sole turnstile then abandoned his post to chase after a punter who had not paid the correct amount. When he returned 5 minutes later, he still couldn’t admit punters because there were no more tickets. We were left whistling outside while the first race began. A manager turned up wearing a Newbury racecourse brown jacket. He reassured us that it was not his fault, "it’s nothing to do with me." He told us that there were only 8000 at the meeting last year, so there should have been no problems. But there were..
Once inside, faced by hoards of luminous jacketed stewards scouring tattersalls steppings looking for coffee drinkers to humiliate into drinking their beverages elsewhere.
Perhaps if these employees were asked to man extra turnstiles then punters might have seen the first two races. If this racecourse is trying to alienate racegoers it couldn’t be doing a better job. Perhaps they just want to turn the whole place into an apartment ghetto and do away with racing altogether?I was very surprised at the time about the low amount he paid for these horses.If you want a good return for your money then you need to buy better horses.
He obviously wasnt taking it seriously.I love my racing and if I had his money I would be spending it on better horses.Not necessarily.
Richard Hannon generally operated in around the price range Pippy was bought during his career and was not one to pay big money.
Olympic Glory cost him just £5000 more than Pippy at £65,000. Toronado was also cheaper at £55,000 and Paco Boy cost £21,000. Sky Lantern came in at £75,000. Toormore, Montiridge, Trumpet Major and Producer were all cheaper than Pippy.
Biggest price tag does not always mean the best horse. Need I mention The Green Monkey who cost $16,000,000 dollars and was useless.
When you start paying big prices for unraced horses, you are buying into breeding and the potential stud prospects should it be successful. Plenty of people good at getting value for money by not paying an excessive price, unfortunately for Rooney this didn’t happen on this occasion.
Agree with your post. Most, but not all, of Hannon’s were bought by the Doyles for £30- 50k or thereabouts. They bought gems by relatively unfashionable stallions e.g. Canford Cliffs (Tagula), Paco Boy (Desert Style) and Trumpet Major (Arakan). Given the numbers bought, there were also a fair share of duds, some by these same stallions. Owners were either lucky or not.Things will change a bit at Hannon’s with Maktoum and Joann on board.
Rooney has discovered that given the state of UK prize money, owners are racing for rosettes as Hannon snr put it. The bills will come in, with little or no return. I’m sure Michael Owen recommended the trainer but he would be down my list.
Sad to see the number of petty, vindictive and small minded posters glorifying in him discovering this.
Callan also had a highly successful season in the UK despite Varian terminating his services as stable jockey
Both Bostons Angel (lost enthusiasm) and Binocular (heart problem) have been retired today
I’m not a Tory but can’t see the problem.
Loads of workers, including those connected with racing, work over Xmas.
e.g. stable staff, airport workers, emergency services,breakdown services, petrol stations etc etc
We live in a 24/7 society- that’s the way of the worldEd Walker is moving his string into Warren Place:-
http://www.edwalkerracing.com/news/read … -0310.aspxRealistically reirement will come sooner rather than later for Timmy. He has had a few bad injuries in the last couple of years and only has the few horses left over in David Johnson’s estate plus some rides for his tenant Fergal O’Brien.
A sublimely talented rider but with a volatile and unpredictable personality.
Not sure how long his latest shoulder injury will keep him out for but he was operating at something like a 40 per cent strike rate this season. Good piece in the RP Weekender this week referring to him riding Geraghty and others to sleep on Ifandbutwhynot at Newbury.
He has married into money and has his pre-training centre in Cheltenham set up.Butler freely admitted to using Sungate alongside others.
However he used this admission to surpress use of the steroid Rexogin.
He was also injecting his horses without being a vet.
Methinks he got off lightlyDefinitely a jockey with a future. Rode a couple of winners today and looked very competent. Appears to be a decent judge of pace, too. More than just a claimer.
…and landed the gamble on Amethyst Rose
There was never a chance McCririck would win his case.
His ridiculous antics, increasingly frail appearance and faltering delivery meant he was well overdue to be shipped out.
His age wasn’t necessarily the be all and the end all. Several TV performers older than he is appear to be far more in control of their faculties.
His obnoxious attitude to the watching racegoers and long-suffering colleagues would have been enough reason to have dispensed with his services years earlier. Sadly, despite his wealth of knowledge, his other failings had become far too apparent.
He did himself no favours at all during the tribunal itself and was regularly told to moderate his "grandstanding". He undoubtedly got the backs up of those hearing the case (ironically women) and I’m sure they would have been very unimpressed by his arrogant antics.
He had a very good innings, working into his 70s in an image-conscious industry, and he ought to be very grateful he lasted as long as he did.
No doubt the manner of the ending of his connection with Channel 4 racing was brusque but he got what he deserved. His own arrogant, short-tempered and dismissive attitude to others should have prepared him for a taste of his own medicine.
Channel 4 racing is better without him, despite the lightweight nature of the current betting coverage. Overgrown and bullying schoolboys who like throwing their considerable weight around invariably get their come-uppance and he has finally got his.
The more I see of the now not-so-new Channel 4 coverage, the more I like it.
Graham Cunningham does a great job and the whole team, including Rishi Persad, seems much more at ease and confident now. Overall, the new team is a big improvement and I am only too pleased to say that my misgivings this time last year have been proved largely unfounded.
I still can’t stand the fingers pressing buttons on the touch screen though….
Overall I agree with you and prefer the new presenting team. I enjoy Cunningham and only miss Cattermole. Have never been able to stand Persad on any channel.
However viewing figures are reportedly well down. I’m sure that doesn’t bother the Arabs who sponsor the coverage, but may well concern the advertisers.
Well obviously I’m happy that Harry Topper won, and glad I took the price a few days before the race, but I was so disappointed to see Long Run looking decidedly average. Like I said before the race, i didn’t think Long Run would win, as he always needs that first run, but this was too bad to be true.
I’m tending to agree with you Steeplechasing, I think there may be something like a back problem, he does sometimes look flat when jumping. I can’t for the life of me, and I’ve mentioned this before, understand why there seems to be so much negativity about this horse. His record is pretty amazing. Yesterday was the first time in his racing career that he was outside the first 3. He has won the Gold Cup,the King George twice and some other top notch races, not to mention some terrific races against Kauto Star.
I had thought Long Run was my idea of the King George winner this year, but I have to say I’m worried after that performance. Any horse can have an off day, but I would want some assurances from Nicky Henderson that the horse is A1 before the race. I thought 6/1 was a pretty decent bet before yesterdays race, 10/1 (12/1 in a place) now is huge for this horse if there is a valid reason for yesterday, and he is sound come boxing day. I’m tempted but I won’t risk it until they confirm he is sound and have some explanation.
I see the SWC issue has been brought up again, I haven’t changed my view on this since I voiced it last year before the Gold Cup. I think Sam is a cracking guy and a good horseman, so it’s no slight on him that I will still maintain that Long Run would benefit from having Barry Geraghty on his back. Geraghty is a better horseman, simple as that. Walsh and McCoy are better jockeys, so I can’t understand why people take a negative view when I point out that the better the jockey, especially in top races, the better the chance the horse has. Would Long Run settle better and jump better with Geraghty on him, well the simple truth is that we are never going to find out, but I believe there would be some improvement. If it didn’t matter who was on a horse, you might as well bring Rosemary Henderson out of retirement….no offence Rosemary.
Anyway back to Harry Topper, as I mentioned before the race, he tends to be caught for pace at times and looks like he is getting scrubbed along, and that is exactly what happened yesterday. But I did say that the further he goes the better he looks, and that he strikes me as a Welsh national type. Nothing yesterday has changed that opinion. It will be interesting to see where he is aimed through the season. He is in the Hennessy and is being quoted a 12/1 chance. If Tidal Bay (highest rated in the race) goes for the Hennessy, that would keep Harry’s weight down (19lbs inferior)and 12/1 would be a decent bet, but if not then harry would be carrying a lot of weight in a hot race, and you can’t afford to let them get away from you in that race.
Anyway, good luck….and a couple of quid e/w on Another palm (18/1) in the Cork National today wouldn’t be the worst thing you could do.
Bailey has tweeted that it is "unlikely" that Harry Topper will go for the Hennessy. Personally I’m not sure it’s jumping technique is up to the test
Cash paid to the Heads rumoured to be €8m. Personally I hope the syndicate keep Toormore. You can pocket the Arab cash but can’t buy hopes of classic glory. Too many of Hannon’s owners selling e.g. Olympic Glory , Bunker, Toronado. I also share the view there isn’t much democracy in the Middle East.
