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A tendon Katchit. He’s lost his novice status over fences and may find it tough when he comes back next season. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he returns over timber.
If I’d spent almost every day of the last twenty years with my back to the racecourse I’d be fed up too. But there’s nothing like a queue full of mug punters waiting to fill your satchel to cheer you up though Barry!
In all seriousness is it the business or the horses you’re fed up with? If it’s the horses you’re off your rocker. This is shaping like one of the best Festival in all those twenty years you’ve been going, and if it’s the business, you’ve got a high enough profile so start using it to get out and do something else. If your mate Mac can do it you can. Just grow yourself some big sideburns, wear a dodgy hat, and get that coat out of the garage you wore on that first pitch of yours. You never know, you might even find your very own Tan as a sidekick. Big Brother awaits!
If Phil Smith wants to tinker with the weights isn’t the answer to frame them later rather than earlier, meaning horses are more likely to have shown their hand. I’d prefer he left them alone completely though and horses competed off their actual OR’s. It’s all well and good him accounting for the ‘Aintree factor’, but the fences are much less of a test these days, and it is simply a large field, marathon chase, cavalry charge. All he is trying to do is give those weighted at the top of a handicap a chance at the weights they haven’t earned. What he singularly fails to grasp is that every year there will be less exposed horses lower down who benefit and improve for a step up to such a trip, and no matter how much tinkering he does that will never change.
I agree, a number of his better sorts have been lightly raced this season. Rather than a problem though, it suggests to me he will be making an all-out asault on the spring festivals, and wants to make sure his best horses are fresh and his handicappers are less exposed.
Reveley has apparently said Tazbar will bypass Cheltenham and will head to Aintree for the three mile novice hurdle instead. Shame, I thought he’d have a big chance at the Festival.
Paddy Merrigan has gone back to Ireland this weekend. I guess he’s hoping his reputation is not quite as bad back home and he can pick up some decent rides.
One more episode and his career will surely be over, so I reckon going back home is the sensible thing to do.
Having said that, I do agree with probably the kernel of their research – that there are a fair few underrated, cheaper stallions out there who could probably get much better results if only given the opportunities that some of the bigger names get.
I’d be interested in your thoughts on which stallions you believe are underrated and overlooked currently Sal?
Denman won The Hennessy because of the relentless gallop he was able to maintain. They may have gone slowly for the first half mile but once Sam Thomas let him go on he just didn’t stop, and to take a field like that apart giving lumps away all round makes Mordin’s assessment of Denman and the race as nothing more than the sensationalism to keep himself in the headlines.
Denman produced a similar performance in the Sun Alliance Chase and had them at it from a long way out. Whether his style will be quite as effective against his own stablemate in March remains to be seen of course, but I genuinely can’t see The Listener living with him. Don’t forget Denman has easily surpassed anything The Listener achieved as a novice and for me his Hennessy performance surpassed anything The Listener has achieved since his novice days.
His odds for The Lexus seem to me to be a fair reflection of his chance.
I’ve watched this debate with interest, and I have to say that Alan’s idea is a sound one. But before any fundamental changes are made there is something else which I believe is a serious consideration. Fences have been generally dumbed down over the last ten years or so in the interests of safety, and my concern is that they have been dumbed down to the extent that horses and some jockeys in particular don’t show them the same respect they one did. There is no doubt that the fences at Cheltenham are considerably ‘softer’ than they once were so why is it then that we seem to have a heightned problem with the second last? Yes its never been the easiest fence and some modifications have already been made to the take off and landing, but it seems we are getting more problems there than ever before.
I won’t pretend to have any stats to hand, but I have the feeling that we are seeing more fallers at that fence from horses from particular stables and certain jockeys. Does anyone else sense the same thing? Essentially too many falls (not all), are coming from a basic lack of respect at a time that some jockeys are trying to steal a few vital yards at an important point in the race, and actually making fences easier is potentially having the opposite effect than the one intended.
