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*Poster of the Year
Stilvi, yeats
*Villain of the Year
Animal Aid (do we need a reason?)
*One To Watch in 2016
Tea For Three
*Racing Journalist of the Year
Nancy Sexton
*Riding Performance of the Year
Sean Bowen on Just A Par in the Whitbread
I think this is a daft thread. Last season was one of huge overachievement for the Nicholls yard. As the championship races at the Cheltenham Festival exposed, there are very few top quality star performers at Ditcheat nowadays. Considering that lack of ‘raw materials’, it was astonishing that Nicholls was able to put together that run of Saturday victories.
In my view, that was a better achievement than anything achieved in the era of Kauto Star, Denman, Master Minded, Twist Magic et al.
With the lack of go-to G1 winners at his disposal, Nicholls had to hit a dry spell sooner or later. Even in this ‘dry’ period, Nicholls has pulled some rabbits out of the hat:
– Prolific summer novice chaser Dormello Mo
– The seemingly exposed Sound Investment improved again to win the Old Roan and place in the Paddy Power
– Career best from former scoundrel Vibrato Valtat in the Haldon Gold Cup
– Back-to-back feature race wins from Irving, who is not the hardiest soulFor his next trick, could he perform a brain transplant on Emerging Talent?
I haven’t watched it yet, but the whole premise of this film makes me feel cynical. To me, these kind of productions are similar to Piers Morgan’s Life Stories or sporting autobiographies. You read or watch because you want to find out what makes these immensely talented, unique, great people who they are. You want to understand their secrets and better your own life. You want to feel like the person is off-camera, letting their guard down and being completely open. They rarely are. Both the ‘tell-all interview’ and the sporting autobiography are (without exception in all I have read or watched) always disappointments. You have to be thick if you come away feeling anything other than cheated out of your £9.99, 60 minutes or whatever you committed.
I get a similar vibe from ‘Being AP’. Surely the whole thing is choreographed to make the subject look good or convey a certain image. Given the timing alongside his retirement, one has to suspect McCoy was looking to earn a little extra ‘camera time’ to press his prospects of finding work in the media. I presume McCoy was the ultimate moderator throughout – anything unfavourable or at all unscripted was cut. Maybe there is high emotion (or hyperbole) at times, but I doubt this is an intimate portrait of the man.
I won’t make a special attempt to watch this, but might give it a go one day. I’m disillusioned with the whole genre and, while hope this is the rare exception, I doubt it.
I’m in favour of racehorses being raced too. Full marks to Fire Fighting for such a great performance.
To paraphrase Phil Hellmuth and Freddie Flintoff, though: where will he be in two years?
If Drill Sergeant, Bowdler’s Magic, Record Breaker, Tartan Gigha, Tartan Gunna and other old Johnston stable stalwarts are good indicators, he’ll probably be sulking round at the back of low-grade handicaps or handicap hurdles.
Johnston has a knack for keeping them going for one (or maybe 1.5) extremely long season(s), but the mileage catches up with them sooner rather than later.
People aren’t looking deep enough into the real reason for such depressing field sizes in these major events. Look at the list of injured/dead horses who would be competing if they were able to.
The breed is getting weaker by the year, the average amount of races per career is getting smaller under both codes and the breeding industry remains as irresponsible as ever. If we continue to allow rampant inbreeding and fail to prevent crocks from passing on their genes, then this situation will get worse until we reach a point where the damage to the breed is irreversible.
Leicester has a few decent races – I remember Jack The Giant racing there a few years ago. It attracts a few decent novice chasers too.
Besides, quality of racing is not necessarily an indicator of the racecourse quality. Personally I think Ludlow’s configuration is appalling (too sharp, too flat, uninviting and soft fences), but that course does quite well from the fixture list.
Leicester has its charms, particularly the testing fences in the home straight.
Thanks Matron. I don’t agree with that analysis, but I know I am biased here. I trust your judgement so I’m sure you’ve given it plenty of thought. :)
I don’t think arbing should be promoted on a public forum. Is there any sort of moderation policy about this?
TYF,
Polly Peachum.
But agree they mostly need inhalers or lung transplants.
Even Polly isn’t immune imo – her fast ground dependence might not be action-related…
Never trust a horse by Shantou – they are absolutely riddled with breathing issues. Can you name one that didn’t degenerate into a wheezing hellishly-inconsistent wreck?
The future isn’t bright for this one.
Simply Ned is a hound, albeit a very talented one.
Everything seems to be falling into place for a feel-good Sprinter Sacre win. Dodging Bullets is injured, Vibrato Valtat ran in the Haldon Gold Cup, Special Tiara ran in Ireland…
If poor old Savello is coming into the equation, you know the opposition are thin on the ground. Presumably Next Sensation (possibly an e/w bet himself?) will beat Mr Mole to the early lead as well.
This could be Sprinter Sacre’s ‘Well Chief’ moment.
I suppose Many Clouds was always going to turn up half-fit at the weekend. It’s a long season and his priority list is as follows:
1. GRAND NATIONAL
2. ‘2nd Division’ 3m Chases e.g. the Pillar, the Denman Chase…
3. Unrealistic ‘out of his league’ races like the Betfair Chase and Gold CupIf Many Clouds was fine-tuned for the Charlie Hall in October, he’d stand very little chance of running to his best in the Grand National or picking up any of those other pots.
Joe, are you saying that Lasix makes a horse lose 10-20lbs of sweat and urine within four hours?
How can anyone justify subjecting a horse to that?
David O’Meara using lasix on Mondialiste was also quite revealing.
He is a master at taking horses from top flight trainers and improving them by 5-15lbs. I’m not suggesting anything libelous myself, but O’Meara missed a chance to silence the “they’re all on the juice” conspiracy theorists here.
Ok, I’ll pretend to have a clue:
19:30 – Airoforce nb (Birchwood)
2010 – Tapiture (Liam’s Map)
2050 – Pricedtoperfection (Alice Springs)
2135 – Got Lucky NAP (Wedding Toast)Hopefully connections of Cue Card and Dynaste realise that their chasers are not going to be winning Grade 1s this season with Coneygree, Vautour, Don Poli and co covering all the bases.
This is their chance to snaffle a big race – they need to be arrive 100% fit. I’ll be giving Cue Card another go. He’s a very lean horse, who Colin Tizzard has no trouble getting fit first time out. He has banged in a few winners lately too.