Misses the break, could see it was slowly warming into the race then spencer gets it completely boxed in as always, loses it's momentum and then doesn't pick up. Someone tweet Olly or Qatar and tell them to stop picking this useless ****
Even if you did not think him as bad as your average punter I am devoid of ideas as to why an outfit such as Qatar racing, who investing as much as they are in the horses themselves would think him the man to employ as stable Jockey. He is one of those people that no one seems to recognise in the way the man in the street does and get unlimited chances despite never cutting it. He is like one of thise footballers who never do what is hoped despite their price tag yet there is always someone willing to pay huge money for them at another club. Nicholas Anelka comes to mind.
Interesting slant Chelsea. Why wouldn't he like rain as one of the biggest hitters in the event?..stops the lesser hitters getting "run" and means his brutish aerial hits are less likely to bounce off into the rough after their first impact Also,McIlroy hates fast running courses and loves the benign watered courses of the USA with their soft greens and target golf aspect.Suits his game.Since the rain is forecast to be accompanied by a mere zephyr,McIlroy could not have wet dreamed this opportunity. Whether he wins or not,he will not be blaming the conditions. Good post about the pack Beefy...he could shoot a couple of 72's from here and coast it...maybe easier said than done! When he won the US Open the conditions were the antithesis of what the USGA had in mind until freakish weather changed everything a couple of days before the event with huge unseasonal rainfall.Otherwise,McIlroy would never have been a contender. He has a great chance to make the most of his latest slice of luck with his draw. I remember Oosthuizen getting a similar break when he won at St Andrews,think he was -12 after 36 holes as well..McIlroy won't want to blow this.
ChelseaCOE2012 - I despair with JS , he can be a "genius" and win on the bridle looking intelligent with his ride from the back. HOWEVER as I found to my cost, he can trip the obvious winner, with the WHOLE FECKING RACECOURSE to pass by and bring his horse to the ground! JS is not a betting prop
I didn't really even have that much on it so it's not like I'm talking out of my pocket for once, I'm just getting so fed up of him, everytime i see him on something i fancy i immediately look twice, and Qatar has so many good horses and are missing out on so many winners because of him. Even the odd genius ride he does are getting fewer and further between and becoming very rare and it's usually when he's on a heavy favorite
Could be worse...you could have the hopeless and hapless Harry Bentley who gets up on many Qatari beasts at the mo. JS anyday if thats the choice!..no offence intended Harry!
I don't know if I am imagining it but he seems to have another trick in his repertoire at present, he seems to need at least two lorry widths gap before going through and will snatch up at the slightest look of it closing. Ryan Moore however will squeeze a horse through a gap only fit for a moped being ridden by a waif.
In my awful list Bentley, Spencer, Paul Booth, Dettori is also frustrating as hell My good list Fanning, Crowley, Kirby, Moore, O.Murphy The above 5 seem to always ride out the best they can, Hughes + Fallon are good but both do have their dodgy moments
He seems to be a good natural horseman but he doesn't seem to have the horse racing brain, he constantly leaves horses boxed in and dwells on them for so long and it's like he's slow to work a way out for them or come up with a plan and most of the time the horse has already lost that adrenaline rush / momentum built.
Yet he got that bloody horse home the other day, not run for about 600 days, rank outsider and beats my horse that was backed down to fav.
Interestingly I have just had a look at the Qatar Racing site which has an astonishing 187 horses listed in training. I am not entirely sure of their judgement however as besides hiring JS as their stable jockey of these horses the highest number to one trainer is 20 to Ollie Stevens and the second is 10 to Charlie Hills. It's true that Roger Varian does have 3 or 4, Michael Stoute appears to have been sent 1 whilst Richard Hannon has been sent 4. Now if you are sending 20 to Ollie stevens and 10 to Charlie Hills and 1 to Michael Stoute, anddddd hiring Jamie Spencer as your stable Jockey that does raise questions in my book. O.Stevens strike rate is 10%, C.Hills 13% whilst the other 3 trainers have 19% 19% and 17% and with more runners in the case of Stoute and Hannon. I believe the average for a racehorse in training is 16,000 per year which makes their bill £3million pound a year in training fees at a conservative estimate, before Jamie's wages are added on and the entourage. I guess this is small change for them however and also to put it into perspective those Sheikhs who buy into football clubs would only get one half reasonable player for all that outlay. The purchse price of these horses would have course been very high also however.
I believe one of the Al Thani's bought Malaga CF a few years ago and promised great things but left the club with huge debts,salaries unpaid and a still "statute" four year Euro ban. I'm also sure the bereaved of the 1000+ foreign workers/slaves (conservative estimate) who have so far perished in the building of their 2022 soiled World Cup adventure have yet to receive recourse in their plight for compensation/justice from the Dictators who shared Her Majesty's carriage at RA. Peachy bunch of chaps but according to a lot of people,great supporters of UK racing.
There is loads of Al Thani's though, the family run Qatar and they are all individually throwing money at different things, they are behind PSG. Joann Al Thani (Al Shaqab) is looking to buy instant success and doing it quite successfully so far, bought Treve because he wanted to win the Arc, Olympic Glory, Toronado other similar style buys and might have cracked it again with The Wow Signal this season, looks nailed on to be challenging for top 2yo. Fahad Al Thani (Qatar Racing/Pearl Bloodstock) a cousin of Joann I think, is playing the long game, he wont throw the cheque book at a horse like Joann will and is trying to build his own lines, he wants to breed a Derby winner as opposed to Joann who would rather buy one ready made. I doubt either was involved in Malaga, both are very young and I for one am happy that they like racing because you need guys like that with those resources to be coming into the game. Fahad in particular sounds like hes in it for the long haul, I could see Joann getting bored but as long as there is competition between them we can expect investment. Hamdan and Abdullah who I think are incredibly important in terms of the recent history of the flat game, are getting on now and wont be in the game forever, their colours and the history of class attached to them are what makes the flat what it is for me, the prestige, the quality, the families who come through in the same colours. We need people to come along with the potential to be the next Hamdan, or the next Abdullah, and build something like they did. It wasnt long ago they were saying Abdullah would be selling up and I would be very surprised if these new kids on the block werent trying to buy those lines. Im glad they believe in the prestige of UK racing because were it not for that history im sure they would be building in better run racing countries.
very cutting Badger, is that where the idea of carrot and stick came from Badger, two farmers, one whacking the donkey on the backside from one side of the fence whilst the other stands the other side with a big juicy carrot. Squealing with delight as he stumbles over it yelling in best yokel ' we have got the national winner here Jethro'. I agree totally Boris, It is the families and history that makes the flats history knit together and so if we have another patron of the sport in it for the long haul it can only be good. I love seeing the Hamdan and Juddmonte silks and miss the Generous and Mtoto silks along with the Sangsters blue and green colours. I do agree with Dex that these privileged nobles should be held to account however if not accepting the responsibility that comes with their power at home. They very much value public perception and so I am all in favour if their higher profile through sporting ventures allows there errors at home be highlighted. On the subject of colours The Qatar rich maroon are very nice.
Given the lack of interest on this board out of NH season I'd say you are in the minority thinking that.
Malaga was owned by Abdullah Al-Thani, who made a rather lame racism excuse as his reason for exiting. It could not have been anything to do with the authorities refusing him planning permission to build a lucrative marina complex in a virtually bankrupt country. Not sure where he would have got the building workers for that venture. Nobody bothered to mention the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club, which currently sponsors the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (a deal that runs to 2022). The QREC was established in 1975 by Mohamed Al-Thani so the family are not total newcomers.
