cheltenham,4 55: CUBOMANIA has been on the go for some time now,but is still not showing any signs of tiring,and he ran a respectable race last time out,in a grade 3 novice chase at punchestown in third.so,with his yard also in top form,will run his race again surely..
Who predicted it would rain ALL day at Cheltenham? In the lucky last just lumped on Master Debonair 9/1..but I have had a few sherberts..
Speculative ew bet in the last at Kempton King Kevin 40/1. Isn't the worst 40/1 shot I've ever seen and although it's last few runs haven't been what you would call great, the horse is certainly capable of winning a race like this. You dont have to go back too far to see much better form so it wouldn't be the biggest of surprises should it put up a good showing
3 decent winners today, and not one of them did I bother putting in Ron's competition. Bloody typical
Like me last week Maestro. I put Foolaad as my single selection in Leg 4 of the Scoop 6 last week. Won at 14/1 but didn't think to put in the Sat 6 comp; not even ew
I would most deffo agree about the ’16 Lowther being the wrong race for Fair Eva – I would have put in the Moyglare, personally. But you are miles wide of the mark if you think Mr Charlton had any say where she went, after the ‘Princess Margaret’, as that would have been decided by the owner or perhaps more likely Lord Teddy and the rest of his management team. In these huge behemoth operations the trainers are there to train, nothing else, and the management there to plot what races they contest (in fairness to Lord Teddy et al they got it wrong with Fair Eva but their % of bad decisions is far lower than that of the McManus crew who seemingly operate at something like 97% re bad decisions). And in Juddmonte you have a management team very, very hands on who go their way rather than what the trainer thinks – for instance Barrington’s boy was in ’17 publically critised by Lord Teddy when he dared to suggest that the ‘Rockfel’ was next for one of his inmates as they already had one earmarked, from another stable, for that event! Mr Charlton is one of my favourite Flat trainers but has simply not had the class of horses he deserves this term but when he gets a good one there are only couple at his high standard in my opinion. You can’t win the British Grand Prix on a pushbike and all that. No-one knows what will happen next term but I’d wager ’19 will see a significant turnaround in his fortunes as he’s some lovely once raced 2YOs currently at Beckhampton – the standouts being Fashion Star (as I’ve said before could be a superstar), Tempus, Lady Adelaide, what a lovely name for a filly by the way, and Red Impression. I’d be surprised if at least one of them didn’t go in at the highest level next season. As I said at the weekend though whether or not Herculean remains at Beckhampton in ’19 must be under some doubt given his owners penchant for sending horses like him to race in the US as 4YOs.
It's all about getting winners for me and I haven't found it a good idea to be following the Charlton stable. As an individual I couldn't do a job where I had no input into what to do best in order to maximise success and thus make me look like I was good at my job. If Charlton is happy to be the forelock tugging serf then that is his prerogative. Likewise, if the Juddmonte operation don't want to listen to trainers and jockeys then they are likely to make many more mistakes. I recall Lester Piggott getting copious instructions from an owner about how to ride a horse in a particular race. As the rather portly gentleman droned on and on, Piggott had had enough and said "OK, I'll give you the silks and you can ride the ****ing thing yourself" Anyway, I don't follow Charlton because I am not impressed with the results he gets. It can't all be about quality of horse in a given season. The man has been training for a generation and his best season was probably his first one. Each to their own but Herculean is simply another Frankel who has not come on from it's early promise in my observation.
From personal experience, very briefly had shares in a horse trained by him (2 runs then injured and retired), I would not recommend him as a trainer to anyone. Previously had horses with Kevin Ryan and Mick Appleby and had a great experience with both. With Charlton it couldn't have been any different.
