1. Willie ****er the trainer. Why the **** did he run Douvan? He looked terrible before the race. Lacking in muscle at the back. Couldn't jump (unsurprisingly) and looked tucked up at the finish. What a ****er if he couldn't tell that Douvan wasn't right. And what a ****er if he knew yet still raced him. ****ing ****er. Gone right off him. 2. Idiot commentators, raving about him in the pre parade. "What a wonderful specimen, looks like the perfect specimen". What the **** are they on. Looked anything but. Unbelievable.
I'm a big Ruby fan but you can add him to the ****er crew. Apparntly he thought he might have pulled a ligament after the first jump. Really, well ****ing pull him up then. He wasn't right before he started Ruby. He was jumping big to begin with because he wasn't right and was frightened. I really wonder sometimes
Unfortunately I only caught the race on my i-phone Ron. I am wondering whether the excellent RUK team picked up on anything before the race? Their coverage yesterday was excellent, went round the paddock before every race. If Douvan looked as bad as you say I am sure they would have picked up on it. Did anyone watch on RUK?
Ron, thought the same as yourself. The way he jumped the first didn't look right. and I agree with your thoughts on Ruby. If he knew he didn't feel right, then pull him up. Very surprised at Ruby to be honest, thought he was better than that. I was actually all over Fox Norton, and thought I was in with a big shout after half a mile.
You could tell very early on that he wasn't going with customary fluency. Didn't see the paddock myself- was it blatant Ron?
Afraid so Toppy. I had told my wife and daughter, who were elsewhere, that the best 2mile chaser on the planet was running today. So they watched the race and both commented on his lack of muscle behind and that he just didn't look right. Myself, I'm not so detailed. To me, he just didn't look right, and a million miles from what could be described as the perfect specimen. I just hope that between them (Mullins and Walsh) they haven't ruined a potential champion.
Can only agree with you totally Ron. I think the phrase is 'run up light'. He looked like a horse recovering from a negative physical event and not a horse trained to the moment. I turned to my wife and said look at those ribs, he looks spare.
I could not believe how they were raving on about him. Thought he was the worst looking horse in the field.
I'd be interested to hear what ruby has to say on the telly this morning, that's if he shows his face
To some extent the writing has been on the wall all winter with Mullins form. The defeats of Nicholls Canyon and Djakadam over Christmas were the biggest indications for me. The repeated withdrawals of Annie Power and Faugheen also didn't augur well and then we had the news of the dodgy gallops he'd had installed. At the end of all that you would have thought they may have come out and said something, maybe not sent the horses across to Cheltenham? I thought Melon ran OK, just bumped into one, but I think the others have been disappointing to say the least. They aren't machines but when everything from one yard runs badly then you do have to wonder. I wouldn't touch any of his this week but it is tough for those on ante post.
Dunno how true it is, but the Hull Daily Mail has an article where some guy had 400,000 on Altior, then came back to the same bookie and dropped half a million on Douvan. I wonder how he feels about Willie?
He had 375k on Douvan. Worth finding Star Sports' twitter feed as they are trolling the high street firms about laying bets
As a mediocre analyst of horse flesh, I cannot give a realistic appraisal of Douvan’s appearance before the race but he did not look unfit to race by the limited measures that I apply. During the race he jumped less than fluently and made enough mistakes in the first half-dozen fences to suggest that he was not going to win effortlessly as the form would have indicated. As the race continued, it became obvious that he was going to struggle to win. I adjudged that the quick ground might be the problem since I could not see signs of distress suggesting something was amiss with the horse. I cannot say that I give any credence to the commentary given by ITV as they tend to be soporific, providing fawning servile industry opinion that suits their populist channel advertising criteria. Watching The Opening Show this week has proved to be only marginally more intellectually challenging than watching Jeremy Kyle – thank goodness I am back at work next week!