Yes was doing well until Aso collided with him and then he seemed to fold tamely. Hard to say though if that was as a result of the collision or that he wasn't good enough. Obviously the headgear worked on Two for Gold. . Well done Kim Bailey...the run of Mister Whitaker was noted..looked a good prep assuming he is Cheltenham bound. Has festival form as we all know..
The fences at Warwick take some jumping mind..Good to see Allmankind win as it sets up the Arkle lovely... Energumene won't get an easy lead in the race with Allmankind in the line up. I wonder how he will cope with that, as well as the undulations of Cheltenham that he wouldn't have experienced before? Shiskin will sit in behind and will get some pace to aim at..they might take each other on too much...with lots of pace on I only see that helping Shishkin.
You rarely will ever hear the likes of Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, or Aidan O'Brien for talk sake, give the reason their horse didn't perform was due to the idiosyncrasy of any given track. The reason these guys are the best in the world is because they leave no stone unturned in preparing their horses on all types of undulations and replica gallops that they have at their training facilities. Allmankind will make sure it is a good test on the day, I'd say the rest will be happy to sit in behind and let him go mad up front, if he is good enough to last, only time will tell. Not long left now until the Willie Mullins festival begins. I wonder will we get the crowd noise to replicate the Cheltenham roar this year.
I wonder how Shishkin will cope with running against more than 3 rivals and some of them with real talent? If he is good enough to win the Arkle then fair play but the way he has dodged any serious opponent over fences thus far has been pretty poor IMHO, His trainer permanently bemoans lack of opportunity for his stars and yet perhaps the brightest star in his stable is kept to non-events.
They’ve dodged him. He’s won two grade two chases and followed a very familiar route. I’m quick to mock Hendo but on this one he’s not the one to blame for the lack of competition.
To be fair, the culture now is to dodge the big opponents. I even heard Paul Nolan here saying he would just like to get a win into Latest Exhibition now, that he would rather win a race in Wexford or Cork than finish 2nd or 3rd to Monkfish again. It is understandable to some extent
I shouldn't think that will be a problem Oddy bearing in mind his winning run in the Supreme last season. He s won at the festival - the other two haven't. He s had 3 runs this season and class will tell in the Arkle..
