Bollocks. At least they are both holding their positions for the time being. I thought i'd be very unlucky not get one drawn decently. Never mind, as they say 'that's racing'. I can but wait, and hope i haven't done my dough. And if i have, i will let it go. I still think that St Nicholas Abbey is a decent EW shout. He's got a plum draw in 6 and think he might be able to dominate from near the head of affairs.
I would think he'd be handy. He looks a proper stayer to me and i think they should be making plenty of use of him.
I am really puzzled by Coolmore, I do wonder if they will try and make all with So You Think. I at this moment in time think we could be in for a muddling sort of race, but I need to sit down and try to work it all out!!!
Masked Marvel got a terrific draw. He can get handy and in a similar sort of position as he did in the St Leger- justy off the pace in about 4th or 5th and then he can try to make use of the stamina. St Nicholas Abbey I'm not sure about. With Joseph on board I wonder if he'll look to dictate it from the front, because hs is a complete stayer, but he might end up setting it up for the hold-up horses that way. I wish a more experienced big race jockey was on him, Joseph doesn't fill me with confidence, for all he is talented. Hoping the ground rides pretty fast as I think that will suit St Nic, jusding by his action- he was skipping off the good to firm surface at Chester and picked up remarkably well late on at Epsom. His poor performances thisd year have come on the slower ground in France and Ireland, and indeed the King George (though it was a good run off a slow pace)
'but I need to sit down and try to work it all out!!!' Nass - let us know when this is complete, should save me half the weekend...
They have to go forward with SYT. In Australia he showed blistering pace to lead in out premier WFA, middle distance race. If they walk early, it should play to the horse's strengths. I can't see a problem. If they go quick, he shouldn't be too far off the pace.
Grizzly I fear I may still be trying to work it out when they pass the finish line! It looks a pretty tough race this year, I just wonder if we may see a shock from the raiders from the East. Also if the ground is going to be fast then its going to be even more unpredictable for me. I think SYT and the 'force are the best two horses but things are going against them in the run up to the event.
If i was riding SYT i'd try and get to the lead and then try and back them all up behind me, and kick entering the straight. If he can do that then i'd be pretty confident he would win. But equally well i'd be pretty confident that they (the rest) won't let him get away with that. I think it's important that he races handy so that he can be in a position to use his turn of foot when required. Edit: And i also think that Coolmore might well try and boss the race from the front. They have SNA in a plum stall in 6, and then Treasure Beach in 12. If SNA can break well then he can get to the lead. Treasure Beach can pave a path for SYT to get to the inner. Then they could well have three horses at the front. Both SNA and Treasure Beach are good enough to take their chance anyway and they can lead the field until the straight. They then let SYT through, who skips a couple of lengths clear as everybody else trys to get past the other two Ballydoyle runners. They get past but it's all too late and SYT runs out the winner. Something like that?!
No worries Nass, clearly a tongue in cheek plea ! It's the ground that makes this year so unpredictable, and it's a situation Longchamp rarely find themselves in so who knows what plans they have re watering and whether they're any good at it ? Could be they flood the place....
Not a great shot, but Ed Dunlop has put this picture of Snow Fairy about to depart up on Twitter please log in to view this image
Ground will play into SF hands I would summise. I do hope Ed has got her ready for this (rather than being ready for HK or wherever she goes afterwards). I would love to see her run a big race, but I do feel that something will beat her. Anyone know as to why I can't see the card on the SL website?
Here is some interesting news for punters, especially fans of So You Think. Looking on the France Galop website, the declarations also show the coupling in the betting. Despite the fact that the original entries had St Nicholas Abbey, Treasure Beach and So You Think under the same ownership, only the former pair are coupled in the betting. The ownership details of So You Think have been ‘doctored’ to “Smith/Mme Magnier/Tabor/&Co” from “D. Smith/Mme J. Magnier/M. Tabor”. All of the top courses in France water to produce good ground for the top races, so they will be very well versed in turning on the taps. It might be worth watching Saturday’s racing if one of the racing channels covers it as this will give some indication to armchair punters of what the ground is like. Saturday’s Longchamp card is very disappointing, with five in the Prix Chaudenay and four in the Prix de Royallieu. At least there are eleven in the Prix Daniel Wildenstein and Prix Dollar so I have a chance of finding a decent priced winner... er, losing some Euros.
France-Galop is the best website to use at this stage: http://www2.france-galop.com/FGWeb/domaines/courses/courses_calendrier.aspx It is a very useful website to have in your "Favourites" so I'd advise bookmarking it - the tab marked "horses & key players" is great for looking up pedigrees and results/entries for particular horses.
"Looking on the France Galop website, the declarations also show the coupling in the betting. Despite the fact that the original entries had St Nicholas Abbey, Treasure Beach and So You Think under the same ownership, only the former pair are coupled in the betting. The ownership details of So You Think have been ‘doctored’ to “Smith/Mme Magnier/Tabor/&Co” from “D. Smith/Mme J. Magnier/M. Tabor”. I wonder if that has anything to do with billionaire Dato Tan Chin Nam still owning 49pc of the horse?
Fears that Workforce could miss the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Sunday because of fast ground have been calmed after connections walked the track. Sir Michael Stoute's four-year-old will attempt to become the first horse since Alleged (1977-78) to win back-to-back renewals of Europe's premier all-aged middle-distance race. He will have former champion jockey Ryan Moore on board after a timely recovery from a broken bone in his hand suffered at Glorious Goodwood, and Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, believes that is a massive bonus. At the draw, Workforce was handed stall eight, the same gate he won from 12 months ago. Grimthorpe said: "I hope it's as lucky as last year - he's fared better (in the draw) than some of the other fancied runners. We walked the track this morning and it is on the easy side of good. They put 10 millimetres on, so from that point of view we are fairly happy. "Depending on what the weather does they will consider putting more on and review the situation on Saturday night, and I'm hopeful of a happy outcome. "It's great to have Ryan back, for all the best reasons. He knows him, he's the only one to have ridden him, he knows what to expect. The horse is in very good shape, Sir Michael is very happy with him. There have not been many dual Arc winners and we've got a bit of work to do to join them." Ed Dunlop is not overjoyed with Snow Fairy's draw in stall 11, but he believes she has plenty going for her as she seeks to add Europe's most prestigious prize to her two Classics and her victories in major events in Japan and Hong Kong. "We're not in one to eight, but neither are So You Think or Sarafina, so that's what has happened. With her I don't think it's as essential as a horse who needs to be close to the pace. We've got what we've got, so we'll make the most of it," said the trainer. "I think she's adaptable trip-wise. We never really envisaged the ground would be suitable enough for her to run in the Arc, even though we put her in, so Mrs Patino (owner) is very excited. We're under no illusions that it's going to be very tough, but she deserves to be there." http://www.attheraces.com/article.a...force&ref=atrPA Racing Feed&nav=&sub=&day=Fri
