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A special word for Tom Queally as well. He was heavily crticised by many myself included for the ride he gave Frankel at Ascot but in the Sussex he gave the horse a magnificent ride and was coolness itself. Before the race he looked way cooler than he did at Ascot where he looked a nervous wreck. Not today, he actually left it later than I thought he would to ask Frankel to stretch. Well done Tom.
And he was incredibly humble after the race.
Notice that you’ve omitted RDLP’s rating – is that because he would have to have shown 5lbs or more improvement – in his 22nd race – to justify the theory that Canford Cliffs ran to his best.
Your reasoning goes astray because you fail to factor in that
Canford Cliffs
was ridden to try and win the race, whilst
Rio de la Plata
was ridden to pick up the pieces. He’s therefore flattered by his proximity to the Hannon horse, as you rightly say – but not because Canford Cliffs ran below his best. He tried his best, and it broke him. His finishing so close to Rio de la Plata reflects that fact.
In this case, relative ratings are pretty much irrelevant.
So Rio De La Plata was not even trying and got with in 3 lengths of Canford Cliffs and 8 of Frankel……….
Frankel is an absolute superstar, but any open minded person can see Canford Cliffs was off his game yesterday.
As far as I am concerned Frankel rated 135.
What is going on ?
How does a race like this and the King George attract such small fields ?
Sure they are classy fields but surely UK racing can find more runners for these races ?
Hello.
When was the Arc opened up for geldings ?
I notice in the results at Racing Post that Duncan is a gelding.
I would imagine being a trainer is a much more glamorous career than being a VET.
If you have the choice i know which i’d rather be.
How much did Godolphin pay for the likes of Jealous Again, Fast Company, Delegator and others along the way ?
The people that sold these horses would have re-invested in the industry.
Whilst it is disapaointing these horses are not reaching their full potential, it must not be all bad with apercentage of the money being re-invested ?
I think its just people trying to find his rightful spot in the pantheon of horse racing.
Makes for good reading even if i don’t always agree.
Yeats rates with racing’s true greats
Tim Habel
June 20, 2009 12:00amIF LONGEVITY is one of the key benchmarks for racehorse greatness then Irish stayer Yeats reached immortality at Royal Ascot yesterday.
Yeats chalked up his fourth successive win in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup (4000m), the supreme test of stamina in world racing.
The Royal Ascot crowd of 68,921 willed the Aidan O’Brien-trained stayer over the line when challenged about 200m out by runner-up Patkai.
The remarkable aspect of the feat is the fact Yeats is an eight-year-old entire.
Most horses of his ilk would have been at stud long ago.
Yeats’ victory was the first for an eight-year-old in the staying showpiece in more than a century.
But where does the achievement rate on a global scale?
English newspapers showered accolades on Yeats with Racing Post declaring him the "greatest flat stayer of all time".
In Europe, no doubt, but Makybe Diva’s Melbourne Cup hat-trick with a heavier weight each year in bigger fields, and with 58kg in the final year, a record for a mare, surely tops it. It’s a view shared by Makybe Diva’s trainer for her second and third Cup wins, Lee Freedman."It (Yeats) is an outstanding effort. Keeping it in perspective it is weight-for-age, he wasn’t giving weight away like Makybe Diva," Freedman said.
"But the performance to win that race four years in a row at his age and as an entire . . . he’s an icon over there.
"It’s a similar feat to her (Makybe Diva). I don’t think you’ll see another horse win three Melbourne Cups or win four Ascot Gold Cups," he said.
Australians only saw Yeats once when he lugged 58kg and ran seventh in the 2006 Melbourne Cup.
"He struck firm ground, and had top weight. He’s not really a handicapper, he’s a weight-for-age horse," Freedman said.
That failure shouldn’t detract from the fact Yeats is a super stayer in a country slanted to staying contests, where here, in the main, the sprinter is king.
The super stayer’s rider yesterday, Johnny Murtagh, was keen to make it a real test of stamina and made his move at the 1000m. He struck for home 600m out to win by 3 1/2 lengths.
Yeats started $2.50 favourite and has been installed $6 joint favourite with Patkai with William Hill to win again next year.
That seems unlikely. The Goodwood Cup on July 31 is likely to be his final race.
Owner John Magnier said: "There comes a time when it’s not right for them to go on any more."
O’Brien was quick to pay tribute to his champion: "Unbelievable, that’s all I can say. I was so sick this morning as I really believed this couldn’t happen. History is very hard to change, we knew we had a wonderful horse but usually fairytales don’t come true."
O’Brien told Sport 927 yesterday of Yeats’ rare ability to push through the "red zone", a measurement of a horse’s heart and lung capacity.
"He’s an unbelievable horse and we knew there would never be another one of him," he said.Whilst it is great sport and magnificant theatre, how great are the ranks of 4000m horses ?
150 years ago horses were aimed at the Gold Cup as a career defining moment, that is certainly not the case today is it ?
Crikeys in another 150 years 2000m, even in your neck of the woods, will probably be considered a marathon journey.
Just looking on his forum the group on there have gone ballistic.
Whilst he has never endeared himself to Australia i have always found him interesting and do not mind backing his runners.
