Forum Replies Created
- Posts
I can’t say why Lyreen Wonder didn’t run again, but he did get up from the fall and was taken to Leahurst Veterinary Hospital where X-rays were clear though he was sore.
It’s very sad. I’d just tweeted after his injury about how an awful lot of horses seem to breakdown badly in bumpers compared to other flat (in the sense of no obstacles) races and had barely pressed send when the same thing happened at Ffos Las. Maybe it’s just because races are more widely shown and information is widely available on the internet, but it seems that injuries are happening far more frequently than in the past.
RIP Roxborough
Always been summer jumping here in Ireland, some courses like Kilbeggan and Galway only race in the summer/autumn. I don’t have a problem with it myself, once there’s good grass cover and the ground has been watered it is often better than in march or april on courses where they’ve been racing all winter.
I like Stewart Machin, he’s accurate which is most important. Don’t have a problem with puns, he’s not only calling to the tv audience, he has to cater for the people on track and keep them entertained.
Most of the current commentators are ok, except for Jim McGrath who really needs to hang up the bins soon to rescue any reputation he once had. Mark Johnston and John Hunt by far the best. Hoiles is good and I liked the way he came out and apologised on tv and twitter last weekend for mixing up the horses in the Victoria Cup. He seemed genuinely upset over it. I quite like Gerry Hannon in Ireland, glad he got to share the Puchestown festival.
Flat – Black Caviar from Goldikova. Frankel extremely impressive, but will wait till he meets the older horses before I could call him best flat horse in the world.
2m Chaser – Big Zeb
Thanks for the HRI link Grey Desire, very informative. Does anyone know if there is similar available for the UK?
Don’t give them any ideas CarryOnKatie, they’re probably in the office now punching the air. I mean how many "kids" who knows what a Guinea is nowadays.
It’s wrong, though convenient, to claim this is only a vocal minority who know nothing about racing who wish to ban the whip, unless you regard the likes of Sir Peter O’Sullevan, John McCririck, Claire Balding, Ian Balding and John Francome as such.
I don’t see why Towcester shouldn’t be allowed give it a try, to prove whether racing can occur competitively without using the whip for encouragement. The whip is still going to be there so that negates the argument about safety, the jockey can use it to prevent mishaps, they just can’t use it to try to make the horse go quicker. I would’ve thought the pro whip would be more in favour of it occuring at Towcester, for if there’s one racecourse where a trial is most likely to fail it’s one with such a stiff uphill finish.
I would definitely vote yes.
Following the debate on twitter this afternoon between Matt, Graham Cunningham, Nick Luck, Jamie Osborne, Ger Lyons and many more it seemed to be pretty one sided. All were completely against it. From what I’ve read the RSPCA aren’t necessarily against using it either.
Personally I’d love to see Towcester allowed to at least test it out, there’s nothing to lose. If trainers don’t like it they don’t have to run there. I have ridden, though not competitively I hasten to add, so I do understand that there are times when you just have to resort to the whip. I guess some horses will be seriously disadvantaged, but on the other hand there are others who will find the playing field levelled eg Bookiesindex Boy.
The horse you are thinking of was Bible Lord, the chestnut who came down on the outside. Had a horrible fall, then to make matters worse was clattered by Nevada Royale who he brought down. When the camera angle changed he was still down. Richard Hoiles tweeted that he was still on the ground a while later, but they now say on the RP that he is ok and just had a bang on the head. Was delighted to read that.
Can’t believe nothing was killed today, they went so fast and some horrific falls. How Pickamus wasn’t killed at Beechers is beyond me, one of the worst falls I’ve seen in ages, yet he not only got up but carried on jumping behind the field. I was glad to see them watering because if they go like that tomorrow it could be disastrous.
I emailed a local radio station about a similar thing at Roscommon a couple of years back, but it wasn’t even mentioned. Veterinary attention seems to be very slow to get to injured horses in Ireland. Often it’s just the lads who fix the hurdles who look after the horses until the blue cross or vets arrive on the scene.
Generally animal welfare is not as highly valued in Ireland as in the UK, even the Green Party when in government did little to update our outdated laws. When, and it doesn’t happen very often, an animal welfare case goes to court the fines are paltry. So I don’t think the powers that be feel there will be much pressure in that area, at least not from this side of the Irish sea.
Looking back through his form, he had a worse run of PU with very similar comments to this in 2005 then suddenly found form and won some races in 2007. A ban on horses with that form would’ve prevented those wins, which is hardly fair. The favourite in yesterday’s race pulled up at the same flight and his 2nd time in 3 runs, should he be banned.
It drives me mad when people call for the likes of this horse, The Tatling et al to be retired. It’s none of your business. At the end of the day the owner/trainer pays an awful lot of money to look after the horse, enter it, bring it to the racecourse, pay jockey etc and they know best when it is time to retire. 14 is old, but far from ancient (Royal Bond ran twice in 2 days at Aintree and won at Killarney as a 15yo, Sonny Somers won twice at 18) and the racecourse vets would stop it running if they didn’t think it was up to it. Maybe the horse likes racing and hates being in a field.
.
I’m glad to see such sensible comments on here. It was a very exciting race and the winner is undoubtedly a very good horse, but some in the media have him as the next Arkle. He hasn’t even achieved anything like Kauto, Denman or Dessie yet, never mind Himself. That’s not to say he wont, but who knows what the future holds.
Yes it was a fast time, but so were all the other races yesterday. Zemsky won the Foxhunters in a time quicker than most Gold Cups. The winner beat two 11 year olds, admittedly high class ones, but nevertheless time takes it’s toll and blunts speed. Denman has run some great races of late but the fact remains he hasn’t won since November 2009 and his last win before that was in the 2008 Gold Cup. Kauto Star’s only win since the 2009 King George was his workmanlike victory in Down Royal from Sizing Europe, who probably didn’t stay the 3miles.
Very few have mentioned the fact that the reigning champ Imperial Commander was going as well as anything until the mistake at the 4th last which caused him to bleed. Had that not happened he may well have had a very big say in the final outcome.
So yes, a great race but best ever? not by a long way.
Paul Nicholls tweeted "Tricky Trickster very sore and gone for x rays. Update later." about 2 hours ago.
Hopefully nothing bad will show up in the xrays, best sight of the day was of him walking away.
As someone who loves animals, especially horses, the likes of Animal Aid disgust me and bring genuine animal welfare campaigns into disrepute. The spin they put on Lush Life’s last moments would do Goebbels proud. Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of racing knows that Lush Life was being brought to the equine centre in the hope of being saved, even in the photos the veterinary surgeons are clearly visible by their jackets. It always strikes me that the only group of people who seem to want racehorses killed, especially at the big meetings, are Animal Aid.
It annoys me that people who genuinely care about horses are giving funds to this organisation when they are needed by the likes of World Horse Welfare, where they will be spent on horses not politics.
