I can't stand when a jockey blames lack of pace for losing a race, can they not clock in their heads where they need to be to win and what time they must be doing. It's something I can't fathom. What was James Doyle expecting with the Ballydoyle inmates???... "They'll go off like a scalded cat and tee it up for us or the French one, yeah that's what they'll do"! Of course there going to try slow it down and make sure their number one gets the run he needs to win, so after 3 furlongs Doyle and co knew they weren't going fast yet they just sit there and do nothing. It infuriates me that a professional sportsperson leaves such huge detail to chance. If you're riding every day you should know what fractions you have to do to put the horse you are on in the position and going the speed he needs to go to win.
What is wrong with putting the stalls down the middle at Newmarket? So many horses getting held on the rail and being interfered with when making their effort.
Writing was on the wall about a furlong out when Ryan took up the rail! Looked very powerful! Hope he goes on this season and proves he can be a superstar but for now that will do
Few big bets landed on Slim Pickens then. Very easy. You can always trust the good doctor to land the money.
ive been a bit disappointed with Frankels so far, if you sent those mares to Acclamation or some other half decent stallion I doubt they would have done any worse at this point, a lot of his horses also are not straightforward - Seven Heavens and Monarchs Glen for example. I didnt expect him to produce one like him as you wont see another Frankel for 50 years, but I did expect a bit better than what we have seen so far, still early days and Mirage Dancer still to run.
For the Derby tonight two I fancied are Irish War Cry win and Tapwrit ew. Only have a paddy power account and unless I'm being a complete spaz I can't seem to find a market for tonight's meeting on Paddys website.
Its a bad Derby, im on Classic Empire at 9/1 but im not confident, think hes just about the best horse in the race. Hence is interesting at 14/1, the form of his Sunland Derby has worked out incredibly well and he could be overpriced. Hopefully the track is not as sloppy as last night.
Skybet are paying first six Ew which is a generous offer. Can't say I know much about the runners but Thunder Storm appeals for Godolphin having won UAE Derby on dirt and has the crafty frenchman Soumillon on board.Would be happy with place money tbh as it looks a minefield of a race to solve!
If you can get top 6 id say Sonneteer would be worth a play, the Oaks winner came from miles back last night and I could see this running past plenty late in the straight.
I backed ALWAYS DREAMING at 15/2 a few weeks ago when I thought I was invincible, cannot for the life of me remember why, I never touch International racing!
CORRECTION (Obviously...) When I got in the car to leave HQ, I put the radio on for ‘606’ and heard the tail end of BBC 5 Live ‘Sports Report’. They had got around to mentioning the afternoon’s horse racing action and they played an interview with record Guineas winning trainer Aidan O’Brien discussing Churchill’s victory with Cornelius Lysaght. Now what did the Irish maestro tell Cornelius to do?
I know that it is probably a bad idea to crab the form of a Classic just hours after it has been run but I am going to do so – and it is not just sour grapes because my selection was second! As has already been pointed out by SaveTheHumans, the midget numpties gifted the Ballydoyle contingent the perfect run of the race on the stands’ side whilst managing to get in each other’s way. I could not really claim that Barney Roy would have won with a clear run but I would not expect connections to decline the possibility of a rematch across the Irish Sea if one were offered. I assumed that no-hoper Top Score was in the race as a Godolphin pacemaker but he fluffed the start leaving it to Lancaster Bomber to repeat his Dewhurst task for the favourite. What bothers me about the race is that the time does not give the impression that this was a particularly good race, little more than three lengths covered the first seven home and I cannot fathom out what tactics half the field were employing. It certainly looked early in the race that Barney Roy was simply taking the obvious ploy of following Churchill and hoping to pounce late but did not bother to track over to the rail. Was Benoist on Al Wukair under the delusion that this was going to pan out like a typical French race (crawl followed by a three furlong sprint)? As the runners were going to post for the Guineas, I bumped into somebody I know who has a horse with a former jockey turned trainer and he told me that the trainer had spoken to Ryan Moore and he said Churchill would not get beaten – just twenty minutes too late to save my money on the runner-up! All in all it was a disappointing afternoon for the Frankel progeny and some of three year olds appear to be showing an alarming tendency to be too headstrong and keen. Their father could get away with it because he was so much better than the rest but they cannot. I am surprised that nobody has been on yet touting Seventh Heaven for this year’s Arc after her facile success against a French horse that has never won on fast ground and three horses rated ten pounds inferior to her.
I can see your point, but riding a horse isn't like driving a car, they have a mind of their own, you can't just go the speed you want to. Especially when we are talking about early season 3 year olds. These horses spend their early lives learning how to settle, and the way they do this is getting them to follow a lead horse. When most colts see daylight they run at the pace they want to run it, not the pace the jockey wants them to run it. So the jockey just ends up battling with the horse, wasting far to much energy in the process. Barney Roy might well get closer to Churchill if they meet again, as he's still inexperienced. I actually think he could well beat him in something like the St James's Palace or the Sussex, but today he didn't quite have the know how to be a threat to him. Churchill has been there and done it, that's why he was champion 2yo, and I think his experience showed.
They did used to put the stalls in the middle on the Rowley Mile but for some reason they have stopped doing so and now they only have them in the ‘centre’ for races that start around the bend on the July course (such as the Jockey Club Stakes), which is pretty pointless since they are obviously going to come across to the rail to turn onto the Rowley Mile! Curiously, in the mile handicap that concluded Saturday’s proceedings, the field came down the middle of the course.
I would tend to agree that the form of the race doesn't look all that strong. I think when that many horses finish in a heap together, it is more likely that the form is not up to standard, rather than them all being exceptional horses. It looked like a finish to a mile handicap, rather than a Guineas. Churchill stood out a little, but even he was flat to the boards to beat 3 others half a length. The lack of pace probably contributed to this a little, but I think if there was an exceptional miler in the race then he would have stamped his authority on that lot, a lot more impressively than Churchill did.
