Thanks for that Smokey.Tara Tavey in the last should be thereabouts in the last
Thanks for that Smokey.Tara Tavey in the last should be thereabouts in the last
I completely disagree old boy. I'd taken into consideration the run agaist Bobs Worth but there's plenty of holes in that. I don't think running Bobs Worth to a length anywhere other than at Cheltenham is top, top class form especially when it's over 20 furlongs. I think Bobs Worth was having his first run of the season that day and Cue Card was totally match fit after running a couple of times in the weeks leading up to it. It's good form, definitely, but it's also definitely half a mile plus shorter than Bobs Worths best trip and is Cue Card's best trip. So again I'd say Cue Cards real grade one form came to light after the Cheltenham run as a novice chaser as opposed to really showing just how good he was before the Arkle. I'm not saying Apache and Valseur will be better than Cue Card but they've got actually got significantly better credentials than CC over fences at this stage of their chasing careers.

So your dismissing Bobs Worths form because it was his first run of the season and it was at Newbury? Is this the same Bobs Worth who won a Hennessy Gold Cup on his seasonal debut the following season. As far as it not being Bobs Worths trip, it is true he was better over further, but he wasn't slow, he beat Rock On Ruby in a 2 and a half mile hurdle race after all. Cue Card also conceded 7 pounds that day, so don't ignore that fact.
You normally know your onions when it comes to the horses, but I think your judgement is clouded when it comes to Sprinter Sacre. You dismissed him as a novice chaser, so you won't give the horse any credit.
Don't just take a line through Cue Card in that Arkle, Menorah was beat 29 lengths and Al Ferof was beat by 33. It was without doubt one of the hottest Arkles in living memory, and it was billed that way for months beforehand.
I also don't agree that 2 and half was Cue Cards best trip, Cue Card would have been an Arkle and Champion Chase winner had it not been for Sprinter Sacre. So I think Cue Cards best trip was always 2 miles, he just went up in trip to face easier opposition, as he knew he had no hope of stopping Sprinter Sacre.![]()
Just watching today's replays and I must say, having lumped on Don Cossack for the Ryanair I feel a little hard done by. Having pecked on landing at the end of the back straight he was just coming back into it towards 2 out and got completely sandwiched between Johns Spirit and Hidden Cyclone. Cooper almost had to pull him up yet he still ran on well for 3rd. Given a good clear jump 2 out I'm sure he would've been challengine Uxizandre over the last. Ah well, that's the rub of the green. Delighted for AP that he got a winner.

You misunderstood.
I'm not dismissing Bobs Worth's form at all. It was a terrific run over an inadequate trip, on seasonal reappearance. In the circumstances you'd expect Cue Card to win, no?
I'm a Cue Card fan but it's clear he didn't produce his top runs till after the Arkle. Nothing wrong with that. He's still class in my eyes.
I backed Sprinter Sacre for the Arkle at 12/1 so I certainly didn't dismiss him BUT I definitely expected Peddlers Cross to be able to beat him. Got it totally wrong and it hurt financially at the time even with finding the winner at 12's.

Okay, he showed his best form in the Arkle and thereafter. That's a little pedantic Shergs.
Again, it doesn't detract from my original point that Valseur and Apache are both grade one novice chase winners before the Arkle so their form is superior, at the moment, to what Cue Card produced. They did lose by 15ls today as well as opposed to Cue Card's 7length beating by Sprinter. So, not only has Vautour beaten grade one novice chase winners in his Arkle he's done it by 15 lengths. That's unbelievable form and certainly worth the superlatives we've thrown around today.

That is a very simplistic way of looking at things, just because it is classed as a G1 it doesn't make the form automatically superior to all lower grade races. Sprinter Sacre wasn't even a G1 winning chaser before that Arkle as he hadn't run in any. However Al Ferof was, and he was beat 32 lengths by SS in the race. There are also a lot more G1 novice events in Ireland than there are over here, and that's where those G1s where won.
You can't compare distances over different trips, as obviously the further they go the further the distances are likely to be. However you can compare how much authority they showed over there rivals, and how good there rivals where.
SS won his Arkle far easier than the 7 lengths suggest, he didn't come off the bridle, and the whip was not needed. He could have won by a lot further than he did. As the commentator said, with distain he wins the Arkle.
Vautour today won a lower quality of race, (the Arkle or The JLT?) and was whipped numerous times. Had SS been in that race, he would have breezed past him pulling a cart.
Don't get me wrong I like Vautour a lot, and he won me a few quid today, but comparing him to SS is laughable![]()
Vautour being whipped has nothing to do with relative ability but okay, I can't be arsed. If that's what you think then fine.

In evaluating Sprinter Sacre's Arkle victory, it should be remembered that Al Ferof absolutely belted the open ditch at the end of the back straight (I know because I backed him). Put paid to any chance he had.

