I imagine that it will have already been published here but I am cleaning the computer and I have found this that always seemed to me very funny
A friend of mine was down at Willie's yard today-said alot of his horses are scoping dirty but didn't go as far to say there is a bug in the yard. Said alot of his best young horses have yet to race and is considering running them next season instead.Worked Annamix hard on the gallops. Not big info but thought I'd share anyway
Entries unveiled for the four novices' chases at The Festival: https://myemail.constantcontact.com...gners.html?soid=1110108263682&aid=XAQlBT6tTrE
Battleoverdoyen is due out this weekend. I have backed him at 7/4 for Saturday's race and at 6/1 for the Ballymore. I am pretty confident he'll be sitting favourite for the Ballymore by Sunday and the team involved with the horse seem very excited about his long term prospects. Probably see him in an RSA one day. Ballymore Battleoverdoyen 6/1 won't last if he wins on Saturday.
Sorry, I never saw the last post. Elliott said he felt three runs in six weeks was enough for the horse but he confirmed that the Ballymore is the target for Battleoverdoyen. The trainer landed the race anyway with Commander Of Fleet, who had only been 4th of 4 behind Quick Grabim in a race that also featured Aramon, who ran very well, going down narrowly this weekend. Pity Quick Grabim met with a setback, as he looks a talent. It's all about potential with Battleoverdoyen, as the form thus far is nothing special, but he struck me as a horse with immense potential. Champ is 7/2 now and that looks a bit tight.
Gordy didn't want to risk him on that ground yday and is happy for him to go straight to the festival without another run.
I was quite pleased with Aramon at the weekend. He went down by only a head behind Klassical Dream when conceding him 1 lb and it seemed a race where he might well have got it on another day. Some will ponder whether the result might have been different if the jockeys were swapped. Gordon Elliott's Vision D'Honneur had been vying for favourite in the early betting for the race but it was Ruby's pick Klassical Dream who went off narrow favourite at 9/4. Aramon travelled well during the race and perhaps that may be an asset to him on another day. As it was, he just got headed late in the day, with the Elliot horse six lengths adrift. Aramon confirmed form with Joey's Triplicate from their previous encounter and seems to have improved past him now. Obviously would have preferred to see Aramon win but at 16/1 for the Supreme I am reasonably confident of a good run if the ground is on the good side. I thought he might have contracted to single figures but he is still available at 12/1 in places. There is some dubiety about which ones are going Supreme or Triumph and once that is made clearer I reckon Aramon could be half the odds I invested at. A contender hopefully.
Are we to believe a one pound weight difference among half ton horses is really going to make a difference? unless a horse is at its racing weight it could be carrying any amount of “excess “ , never mind if it’s had a crap before the race , too much is made of minuscule weight difference without the other facts , never mind what jockeys do in a race , going , distance and course .......
Not much point in handicapping horses at all if the weight makes no difference. How many horses lose narrowly in the course of a year? In Racing there are many factors but several of them are ones we cannot predict. I would rather have a horse be 1 lb better in next time than waive it off. Every factor helps.
Every pound helps. One thing that really irks me is jockeys racing on the wide outside like it really doesnt matter. How many yards further is that let alone the odd pound of weight or two!
does the trainer weigh the horse on race day ? if it’s carrying 20kg of excess weight , then a lb is irrelevant , what determines a “ racing weight” ? , i recall mark johnston banging on about this and wanting the weights declared publicly .....but you’re right stick , some horses are made to travel further than others , which far outweighs a pound weight .....
That drives me mad when jockeys do that, Barry Geraghty is a prime suspect hence why I'm always hesitant to back anything he rides at the festivel.JP is a very patient man indeed, he'd be out the door if he was riding for the o'Leary brothers!
Rudely only the other week my mate was half a pound under and he had to eat a sandwich on the scales to make the weight and that was a ptp. With the travelling wide sometimes you have to do it to get your ground or keep out the way of the pack but it does make a difference.
Forever Changes https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/feb/04/cheltenham-festival-changes-reduce-risk-horses-jockeys
Programme timing changes too - the Grand Annual will no longer be the last race of the festival, it is swapping time slots with the Martin Pipe conditionals race. Also on the Tuesday the 4-miler and the Close Brothers novice chase are swapping time slots, so the 4-miler is now the last race on day 1.
Rudey, we seem to be talking about 2 different things here. The jockey's weight (including saddle) has been argued about on here quite a bit in the past, and I think the general view is a jockey's weight being nearest to the weight being carried probably optimises the effort the jockey can bring to bear A jockey carrying 7lbs of deadweight lead is felt to be at a disadvantage. But it didn't stop Willie Carson weighing something like 7&half stone yet be champion jockey several times. His other advantage (other than being a really good jockey) was that he had a larger pick of presumably well-weighted horses in handicaps. I think you and Mark Johnston were originally talking about something else and that is the horse's weight. Just like any athlete there must be a best racing weight for a horse (may change with age). I'm sure trainers weigh horses regularly and especially prior to a race, as well as immediately after a race (a horse can lose quite a bit of weight in a race). Every horse, like every boxer must have a fighting weight: the weight at which their performance is optimised. These weights are not published and it seems a good idea if they were. However it would probably be meaningless to us when it first appeared as you need to build up the experience of weights over different races. The other factor is muscle. A horse that weighs 540kg but is short of fitness (less muscled) will look much heavier than a horse who is trained to peak fitness (more muscled). I believe when a trainer says 'I have something to work on' he means he can build more muscle on the horse.So if they published raceday weights we'd have to build up that experience of these weights but also bear in mind how fit they are (a paddock visit is rarely wasted). I'm sure you're the same as everyone who when they go on holiday feel they've put weight on yet when you get home you realise you're effectively the same weight, just a slightly different shape (less muscled). At 2017 Cheltenham Ron felt that one of Mullin's horses looked underwieght. I agreed with him but we were ridiculed on here (not unusual for me). I think in this case the horse was overtrained. I'd love to have had his previous weights and his weight that day; it would have been instructive. I'd certainly be supportive of Mark Johnston's initiative. Apparently Prince Philip was dragged along to the gallops one day and said the the Queen ' but they look like they need a good meal (he could see their ribs)' to which the Queen replied 'that's because they're fit'.
