I do agree with your first two sentences. Not sure Sheikh Mo and Coolmore are particularly to blame but they've taken advantage of what I think is the mismanagement of racing by the BHA and their like in Ireland and France. I also think there must be a limit on stallion coverings. In the golden age of racing they usually had a max of 40 coverings. Everyone has got greedy and benefit from Geese being called Swans and it's the pattern that reinforces that.
What a disaster. The only thing I got right was to ignore Paddington at odds on. But then Michael Tabor told that to everyone watching ITV Racing. That it was far too short; not that I had said it
I knew my bet had lost on Grappa Nonino before the field got to the winning post first time around. Either Saffie Osborne was riding to instruction to hold her mount up last or (more likely) she totally missed the kick. She finished a well beaten sixth in a race where the first four home were always up with the lead in a moderately run affair. I was not of the opinion that Ballymount Boy was any good thing in the Acomb despite being 13lb top-rated by Timeform. For me the problem was that he was not being rated on what he had done but on the effort of the horse that beat him at Goodwood in completely different conditions. All he was doing was staying on in what may turn out to have been an ordinary renewal of the race; although the winner should get better stepping up in trip. Fair play to Continuous winning the Great Voltigeur. He put Castle Way in his place fair and square but I am not sure what the plan was for Frankie on Gregory. He missed the kick but then obviously decided that Artistic Star was going too slow up front and took over. So what are we to make of that from the view of the St Leger? Continuous now the favourite, Gregory out to 6/1; but did Frankie lose the race getting into a contest for the lead? I read that John Gosden thinks it was a “perfect trial” but surely it would only have been perfect if he had won. Thirty five minutes after getting the pace so wrong, Frankie made very sure in the Juddmonte International as Mostahdaf fly-jumped the start: He made no mistake from the front and the Paddington Group 1 train stopped at four. Does that tell us everything we needed to know about the Classic generation? I picked five horses out to look for in the closing nursery and four of them filled the first four places and the other one was sixth. With a low draw so advantageous at York in sprints, no surprise that Blue Prince (drawn 18) did not get in on the action with Zoulu Chief (drawn 5), Starlust (8), Room Service (9) and Zabriskie Point (3).
