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As far as I am aware they still have ‘schooling bumpers’ in Ireland so if you want a nice run round – at nobodys expense but your own – take your horse over there. Our races – whatever type – are governed by rules wherebye you seek to gain the best possible position. If that was not the case, contrary to what has been said, it is a very simple argument and the ban handed out to all and sundry should clearly stand and act as a warning to future transgressions. Is anyone really surprised that Murphy is involved?
On the Berwick Law thread I said that I was surprised that Lydia and Steve did not cast doubts over the merit of that ride. After yesterday I begin to wonder. She was gushing in her praise of his ride on Abragante – a horse who went off favourite and clearly had a ‘ton’ in hand. Are we really saying that no other jockey could have achieved the same result? I might sit up if he is taken out of his comfort zone and has to scrub one along for 3 miles.
Have to take the three from the golden era – Night Nurse, Monksfield and Sea Pigeon – Persian War best of the rest.
Just on the subject anybody remember seeing that Irish novice that bolted up at the Festival and then had to be put down in the Scottish Champion Hurdle – sorry can’t remember the name at present but was supposedly a world-beater.
Just reverting to the horse in question what kind of masterplan do we think Lungo has in mind? The stable has gone badly down the pan in the last couple of years and even at its peak the typical profile was for a horse to win weak bumpers and novice hurdles then dramatically step up in grade and get beaten. The sum total of Berwick Law’s ability may be little more than a Carlisle Novice Hurdle.
Not wishing to get into an argument over putting an ‘r’ into words, as a Yorkshireman I’ve been through this so many times with people, but the dictionary says you pronouncedthe middle bit of a word such as glass as you would barn so technically it would be glarss. Most people say warter not wat-er or farther and not fath-er (well except in most parts of Yorkshire)
How do you know Seb doesnt pronounce it as Sarnders Ive not heard many call him Sand-ers?
This argument will run for a while I can see it.
Thank you for that – most educational. I must read my dictionary again – thank the lord I didn’t take it up with the chap in Harrods when he directed me to the Glarssware Department. Are you also allowed to insert an ‘r’ into off like Julian used to do?
Excellent, I look forward to The Tiddlywinks Forum.
Do they do ‘bent’ tiddlywinks then?
Obviously, we don’t know exactly who is posting on here but I find it disappointing the number of apologists for trainers and those who don’t seem to give a monkeys about punters interests.
Stable Tour was pretty much as above – wasn’t due back until the end of October and hoping to go novice chasing around Christmas time – haven’t read any updates since. Trainer reckoned he wasn’t battle-hardened enough for Cheltenham – that might be true but if there is ever a spare going again I suspect AP won’t be first in line.
Just put in a word for Adrian Maguire. Personally I thought he was the best around until A P took over and injuries caught up with him. Despite all the winners don’t think A P has quite been same ever since the first bad injury either. Have to agree with those who think Ruby Walsh is probably the best there is today.
Thinking mainly about NH I won’t single anyone out but I dislike jockeys who drop horses out right at that back when they could sit six lengths closer and still achieve the same effect.
Not keen on Fallon – never been able to pick his ‘style’ – to me he can make a classic winner look like a selling plater. Always got the impression he could find trouble in a two horse race if he wanted to.
Suggestions of retirement are laughable. Perhaps one of the reasons the ‘spark’ has gone is that his 4/5 yo allowance has too. This is also a horse that has shown this season he he stays 2m+ on the Flat, that given there are plenty of options to try him at 20f+ over obstacles later in the season.
Perhaps you enjoy watching horses in decline – I certainly don’t. If a horse loses his enthusiasm he will find it difficult whatever the level – and from his current level there is only one way to go. The fact that the horse appears to have lost his way jumping fences clearly has nothing to do with any weight allowance – now I am not sure who is chuckling the most.
Just for those who can’t afford to buy a Racing Post – it is expensive – these are (presumably) Lungo’s comments on Berwick Law from the Stable Tour:-
‘He won both bumpers last season on heavy ground at Ayr and will make a lovely novice hurdler. We’ve been schooling him for two years and he jumps very well. When the ground becomes testing you will see him to best effect as he has terrific stamina. We will put a final edge on him when the ground becomes soft.’
If a horse has won two soft ground bumpers it would be reasonable to expect stamina not to be an issue. I like to think I know a little about pedigrees – I stress like to think – but when available previous racecourse performance is far more important in assessing a race. I doubt Lydia and Steve wasted a second looking up Berwick Law’s pedigree and I don’t blame them for that.
Sad to see the performance of Fair Along. The exuberance he showed not so long ago looks to have completely gone and once you could see he was in no mood to have a cut at his fences the writing was on the wall. Looks to me that the efforts to ride him with restraint have proved nothing short of a disaster. I know he isn’t old but if front running back over hurdles doesn’t work – and it seems unlikely as the pace seems to have gone – I think retirement looks the best option.
A few further points to consider where Berwick Law in particular and Len Lungo in general is concerned;
– Berwick Law was having his first run since March, his first try on a surface faster than heavy, and over a trip beyond 2m, so there was a great element of suck-it-and-see in running him yesterday,
– His pedigree doesn’t exactly scream proficiency at 2m4f – none of three other half-siblings to race over jumps have scored in plentiful tries between 2m-2m3f, one half-sibling to win on the Flat did so over no further than a mile, and his dam is an unraced half-sibling of a 1m2f-1m7f winner rather than being more obvious National Hunt-bred stock,
– Lungo had three other runners at Carlisle yesterday, all of whom were making their seasonal reappearances and all of whom were held up to varying degrees,
– Lungo has not saddled a winner since May, and the overriding sense derived from those that have run so far is that they have not all quite come to the boil as yet.
I would presume that some or all of these factors may have been considered before the stewards decided whether or not to haul in trainer or jockey, and before Lydia Hislop and Steve Mellish considered whether or not to view the performance any more harshly than they eventually did.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Very good but that just sounds like a load of excuses a lawyer might dream up at a trial or maybe you just wanted to delight everyone with your pedigree knowledge? Bottom line – pedigrees, trips or whatever the horse was never put in the race with any chance of winning.
Not that big in the monetary sense but a few I can remember:-
Hoh Leng 33/1 (Bunbury Cup)
Collier Bay 25/1 (Champion Hurdle)
Looks Like Trouble 40/1 (Sun Alliance Chase)One of the biggest disappointments was The Fellow at 50/1 in the Gold Cup but tempered by the fact I backed Garrison Savannah at 22/1 on the day.
Even if she does I would hope she wouldn’t let it cloud her judgement. Probably more surprised at Steve as he is usually not afraid to say what he thinks. If I remember he was at the forefront of the criticism of Mark Bradburne riding that Henry Daly novice whose name escapes me. Talking of Steve met him once at a Racing Club function and came accross as a really nice bloke – no signs of any sort of professional arrogance.
