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The pace would have been slow and Frankel would have hated it. Like asking Usain Bolt to go the pace of a pensioner. For the sake of the horse, it was a good decision. Look at Dawn Approach now, we may not see him again until August, if ever.
Instead, he may have won the Irish 2000, St James Palace, Eclipse etc and his lasting legacy might have him as one of the greats. now, they hope to repair his confidence as he is still a very young horse. Why risk that with Frankel? If they felt there was a good chance, they would have gone for it. The trainers instinct is usually right. Jim Bolger’s instinct was not to run Dawn Approach, until Sheik Mo decided he wanted to.
My last comment to you as this is a Leger thread but I thought it might be fun to play you at your own pathetic game:
Your memory serves you poorly. HRE ran 7 times winning 4. I suppose they felt they didn’t quite have enough stallions? :shock
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So Coolmore is a business but Juddmonte isn’t? Frankel ran and won a classic. I am checking STS form but can’t find his 4 year old record anywhere. I think they retired him before he had the chance to race without WFA or on adverse ground conditions. What might have been hey Andy if they hadn’t DUCKED a 4 year old campaign?
Adieu
Jonibake, Coolmore wouldn’t have wanted to retire HRE, but what alternative did they have.
Disappoint about 150 breeders at last minute who expected their horse to be covered by George Washington. With no chance at that stage to book another stallion of similar quality. HRE had a similar type backgreound in terms of breeding, so he made a good last minute replacement.
It would have been a commercial disaster, to watch all those breeders desert Coolmore as they’d have felt pissed off and not used their stallions in future year. so, it’s not just a 1 year sporting decision. It could have undermined their whole operation at Coolmore
Besides, they keep plenty of horses in training afer 3. For example, Dylan thomas, Duke of Marmalde, Treasure Beach, Cape Blanco, F&G, Yeats, SNA. To lambast them for making a sensible business decision is a bit tough regarding HRE.
Small field this year, but I think it’ll be a really good race.
Price for Camelot is too short, but can’t look beyond him. Th formbook through Fencing and French Fifteen suggests that Camelot has the beating of him
Fencing was 6L behind at Newmarket and 2 1/2 L at Doncaster, which Camelot won easily. Bonfire was 4 3/4 l in front in the Dante
Bonfire lost to French Fiteen by 1 3/4 L last year and obviously Camelot beat him over a distance he’d have wanted further on as well as better ground in the 2000 guineas.
But, not much in it and we don’t know how they will handle Epsom
Always makes me annoyed when people slag this horse off. I don’t quite get why people have to be so adamant. Ok, he’s no Sea the Stars, but he’s a 4 time Group 1 winner – winning at 2, 3 and 4 at G1 level over 10F-12F. There are no crap 4 time G1 winners and he has earned those wins.
Interesting decision by Coolmore. they seem very reluctant to have additional Montjeu blood on their stallion roster. Not sure what benefit this will add to his stud career
Hopefully Racing will sort itself out with the fixtures in the next few years.
I’d personally like to see a break in the National Hunt season. Maybe take a month off at the end of the season & then, have some goood race meets, rather the usual rubbish that happens before the start of the "real" season.
Then, from a flat point of view, I would like to see some seriously major racing days scattered across the season and advertised as flagship days. They almost do it but not quite.
For example, Guineas weekend, followed by Derby weekend, Royal Ascot, King George meeting, July meeting etc.
But, my issue is the total quality of racing on these days. On derby day, you will get some serious muck as well as the Derby. Saturday of Royal Ascot has some large handicaps, conditions races etc, which are very hard to bet on.
We should be selling the quality of all racing on these days – lets have meetings that attract all the best 2yos / 3yos / Older horses to the same meetings. Also, builds up familiarity to the irregular racing fan as he may check in on the flagship days.
Why not have some days that are "star" days designed for 1m, 1m2f, 1m4f, maybe a sprint for 3/4 year olds then some 2yo races. Perhaps at least 2 of these races could be Group 1, 2 could be Group 2, then 2 could be Group 3
Therefore, re-structure the year around these core meetings above. Maybe space out the dates between them all. Seems stupid to me that a horse running on derby day in the Derby, for example, is unlikely to run at Royal Ascot, due to difference in timing. Lets have Workforce at Royal Ascot – entice him there.
Or work with the Irish Derby organisers to have a "flagship" weekend on a later date for 1m,1m2f, 1m4f – fillies, colts etc on the sunday with Royal Ascot having sprints & major handicaps on the Saturday & incorporate it into the racing package.
Guineas meeting to Epsom is about right. so why not have one at start of May (Guineas),Start of June (Epsom), start of July (Royal Ascot), start of August (King George), Start of September (Newmarket festival), start of October (Arc weekend), Start of November (Breeders Cup).
You would probably have to re-allocate Juddmonte, Coral Eclipse, Irish Guineas etc into the schedule differently. Maybe they could become part of a mid week type focus every wednesday with Chester festival, Doncaster, york (Dante) etc , while the other ones happened near weekends.
Then, the smaller meetings can work around these with Racing emphasising the quality of product and aiming for focussed TV coverage of their product.
That went on a bit, but wanted to say it for a while & never got around to it
I’ve just been pondering where all the O’Brien horses come from. Given that they are all by Coolmore stallions, do they have an option to purchase when a mare goes to one of them, are they all home bred or do they make offers on what seem to be the best foals? I really have no idea.
I don’t think they have an option on their horses. they charge a fee for foal of stallion rates on their website. Then, they bid for them if sold at a later date.
In the last 5-10 years, they have started investing more into their own mares /fillies. They certainly seem to produce more good ones now for the racecourse than they did a while back.
I guess it gives them rights over well bred colts / fillies if they produce them themselves with their own mares
don’t get the controversy. Seems to be bureacracy gone mad
It was well know he had a damaged heel before the race & must have jarred it slightly on the ground. It didn’t afect his performance, but APOB’s staff wanted to get it cleaned up and comfort him.
Vet checked him & then wanted to do it again. What if Cape Blanco had a hairline fracture? Walking on it wasn’t going to make it better.
Also, what happens if they miss the ferry / flight home? Where does the horse stay / the staff stay? For the vet to say what exactly?
Also, would Coolmore really risk the health of a valuable racehorse? He could be worth millions to them
I can think of at least 2 occasions where Murtagh got it wrong last year – Beethoven in Dewhurst (Chose Steinbeck) & Jan Vermeer (Choose Midas Touch) in that Frech G1
Interesting comments guys. Something about SNA’s run wasn’t quite right – certainly the slow-fast timings wouldn’t have been perfect for him, given he’s more middle distance based.
But, for all that he only finished 3 1/2 lengths back against milers. To put this in perspective against other AOB horses / collmore stallions and their performance in the 2000 guineas.
duke of Marmalade (4th / 2.5 lengths)
RVW (4th / 2.5 lengths)
Giants Causeway (2nd / 3.5 lengths)
Oratorio (4th / 2 1/4 lengths)
Mastercraftsman (5th / 5 1/4 lengths)Some perspective really & shows he may still be top class. He actually finished about the same distance behind as Giants Causeway did in his guineas & we know how that ended up.
I wasn’t too surprised he lost. I never felt he’d have been fit enough, as it sounds like he was lacking some condition recently and they needed to get some race time in.
First time out in heavy conditions, carrying more weight than the others all contributed to him being beaten.
Johnny looked like he made a move with him & he just didn’t have the kick to do itAlso, there was no pace in the race as Ballydoyle did not have a pace maker. F&G would be better suited by constant fast pace rather than a slowly run race. Instant acceleration isn’t his strong point.
