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I remember watching a race and the partner of a friend of mine getting hysterical, nearly to the point of tears, and saying “why is he allowed to whip that poor horse like that?”.
The horse in question was being ridden out hands and heels without the whip ever being used. Many people have no idea what they are actually watching and go in with a pre-conceived bias.
I must admit though, I sometimes wince watching Luke Morris ride. If his whip went any higher in the air it would pop up on the air traffic controllers radar.
The last thing we need to be doing at the moment is interrogating the few owners that are left in the game for simply running their horses.
Usually it will be the trainer who tells them that the horse has had enough and the best thing to do is retire. Unfortunately though, most trainers have a huge conflict of interest because, simply put, they need the money.
Grand Turina won two races back to back barely 14 months ago and ran respectably in a couple of class 3’s not long after that. OK, he then ran three stinkers back to back before today but there are plenty of horses of all ages who do that.
It was horrible to see what happened today but it’s not possible to eliminate risk from National Hunt racing.
Who knows how long he will stay sound for.
Strike while the iron is hot and go for the Gold Cup.
I’m mad keen on Marie’s Rock, hopefully she will go here instead of the Mares.
This lot look an average bunch to me and with the 7lb allowance I think she’ll be a tough nut to crack.
He was hardly going to say “that was crap, we need a miracle in the Arkle” though, was he?
“A line through Eldorado Allen to Bravemansgame may prove instructive, sir.”
Yes of course, which does nothing but highlight the flaws within the rating system.
Let me put it another way:
If Protektorat, who has won a massive two of his last 13 races, is legitimately a 170+ rated chaser then I’m a hot scotch egg.
I’m tearing my hair out trying to work this race out, usually have my colours nailed to the mast by the turn of the year but that went by the wayside when LHP was scratched.
Galopin far too short.
BMG/Ahoy Senor/Noble Yeats/Sounds Russian all beating each other.
A Plus Tard has had a terrible prep.
Protektorat is inconsistent and not quite sure how he has achieved his lofty rating of 170.
Minella Indo has all the stats against him.
Stattler thumped by GDC over fences and hurdles.
God knows what to make of Hewick and Conflated.
The big outsiders don’t make much appeal either.
My brain hurts
Miserable old sod sitting at home in his pants covered in Hob Nob crumbs “Cor look at this class 6 donkey running on the sand at Wolverhampton, I can thieve a miniscule profit from my 50p filthy e/w single”
Every single one of them, with the bets getting more and more reckless depending on how many £11 double Jamesons I have consumed in the members marquee
Stakes kept to an absolute minimum in the bumper and cross country though, garbage races that I don’t ever remember getting the winner in!
If you can’t let yourself go a bit during Cheltenham week, when can you?!
What he did is certainly questionable but a 12 year ban is completely out of order in my opinion.
You see non triers every day of the week and absolutely nothing is done.
Meanwhile if you leave one of your horses to starve to death the punishment is getting your licence suspended for just 15 months.
Nice to see Irish racing has it’s priorities in order…
Indeed, in previous years they have started him out in February when the ground gets a bit better so I was hoping to see him entered somewhere in the next few weeks.
I thought it might be at Wetherby on Saturday but they have swerved that for whatever reason.
Does anyone know if David Kemp is planning to run Law of Gold in this?
I can’t seem to find any news, as he is only priced up by 3 firms though I suppose not but he did give Vaucelet a good race at Stratford last year and ran ok in the 2020 edition (along with a stinker in 2021).
Wouldn’t expect him to win but would like to see him have another crack at it and you never know, this can be a funny old race.
Right up there with Sir Alex Ferguson’s “wrong colour shirts” excuse when his team got a pasting away at Southampton…absolute codswallop.
He even says the horse has jumped the same fences at home so he’s clasping at straws with that one I’m afraid.
“Only because Edwardstone was patently ridden to beat Energumene. By the time Tom Cannon realised EDG wasn’t stopping, his horse had seven or eight lengths to find and the effort of making up so much ground between the last two fences told close home.”
Given the above, would it be fair to say that EDG would have beaten Edwardstone at Kempton as well considering he was held up even further off the pace that day? If so, it seems mad that Edwardstone is such a significantly shorter price for the CC than a horse that has beaten him twice in the last month.
I’m not saying Edwardstone can’t win in March but I wouldn’t want to be piling in at 2/1 to find out!
EDG has now beaten all the top UK challengers bar Greaneteen (if you can even consider him a top contender) and the best Irish horse as well.
TTM makes a valid point about being beaten in handicaps but I think there were valid excuses for those, big weight and bottomless ground in the Grand Annual where he still wasn’t beaten far and the change of tactics in October which clearly didn’t work and took the horses best asset away.
It’s wide open and any of the front four in the betting could potentially win in March but I just feel the market is still underestimating him.
EDG beat them fair and square today didn’t he?
If so 6/1 seems an absolute gift here, especially if you are an e/w thief.
The fly in the ointment could be Blue Lord but he’s got a big task to turn the form around with Edwardstone, let alone the other two.
Yeah I was being sarcastic (apologies, lowest form of wit and all that) and I know it is a very regular topic of yours!
Some of us still enjoy it though and it does grate a bit after a while being told what an idiot you are.
Of course we could all watch it from the comfort of our own homes and save some money but you could say that about any sporting event and to be honest sitting in my living room with a can of Skol while my missus waffles on about how Suzy from the office is such a bitch doesn’t really appeal.
There are loads of things I would change about the festival. Yes, the drinks prices are scandalous for a start and a small percentage of the people there are morons (you are bound to get a few in an 80k crowd) but for me it’s still the best 4 days of the year.
