Sorry. Just listened to interview with AOB. That is the most "Listens" I have ever heard in one interview (13 I think) But listen, Gleneagles is the best miler he's had.
I don't even think Gleneagles has that much speed, he seems to win all his races by grinding it out and staying on strongly in the last furlong. So I'd say his best trip will likely be 10 furlongs. He has not won any race to my eye like a miler with loads of speed
Listen, Ron, it was not Rishi doing that interview, so that “Listen” record could well be pummelled if Gleneagles goes for the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
To be fair, he may also have broken a record for the most number of words strung together without saying "Listen". Credit where credit is due
He's hard to take seriously nowadays. Every horse he has he talks up as having speed just to sell them as stallions at a variety of trips. I'd like to see him just have a beer and an honest chat about racing some day, rather than keep pushing profiles of his horses. I wonder if he ever described Battle Of Marengo as having plenty speed?
The other stunt they like to pull, is to have their horses entered in loads of races even if they have no intention of ever running them in half of them, just to try to fool people into believing the horse is incredibly versatile. Does he really expect people to believe that they where genuinely considering running the likes of So You Think in the Queen Anne, up against Frankel
Yes he was, Cyc, the best I've ever seen in a lifetime of watching racing (whenever I could!). Yet there are still people who 'knock' him (should have raced him here, should have raced him there, etc.). It is a strange world we live in. Isn't it extraordinary that Black Caviar raced at the same time as Frankel? Shame they didn't have a bash at 7f (surely the only fair distance for both of them?) against each other, somewhere? I honestly think that Frankel's trainer and owner got it exactly right, from the word "go". They didn't have to listen to grandstand "experts", and didn't.
I always listen to AOB, because he insists that I do, and I am such a polite son-of-a-bitch.............
It was a pity that Arazi did not 'train on' from two to three because the performance in the BC Juvenile at Ch. Downs was breathtaking. Still watch every few months!
No one has ever questioned Frankels ability, he was for me the best race horse I have ever seen. But I will question the way his connections campaigned him. And I will question them for not booking a top jockey for him. A horse that stayed a mile easily on his debut on soft ground as a 2yo, isn't stepped up in trip until his penultimate start as a 4yo. This was largely because Queally couldn't switch him off, and connections feared he'd pull his chances away over longer trips. Frankel proved his stamina over 10 furlongs on soft ground on his final start, whilst his full brother stayed 12 furlongs. Frankel will be remembered by me as the most talented horse I've ever seen, but he certainly didn't achieve the most, thanks to being badly managed by connections
Brilliant he was, versatile he wasn't. Well he may well have been but we never got to find out - unfortunately. Brigadier Gerrard was undoubtedly a miler but he won a KG. I reckon Frankel could have done so also but we'll never know.
..........This sort of nitpicking I do not agree with that at all, but that's life. I repeat, Frankel was very well managed by "connections", that's why he remained unbeaten.
Not being able or more like allowed to run a mile and a half isn't just not picking. The ultimate test of a 3 year old in this country has always been wether they can stay a mile and a half and win the Derby. Whilst I accept Frankel was the most talented, the fact he was never allowed to see if he could win the Derby like his sire Galileo will always be held against him when we talk about the greatest horses of all time. Remaining unbeaten isn't everything, Secretariat lost 6 times for example, and it hasn't taken away from his legacy
I would never knock Frankel. Fantastic horse that gave us all goose pimples. It is possible for a horse to remain unbeaten if connections keep it away from anything that might beat it. One can't blame connections for keeping him at his best distance and achieving the highest ever rating in the process. People like Shergs and me are just greedy and would like to have seen him run in a top 12f race and win. Either the Derby or any other 12f race beating the Derby winner. I was very disappointed he didn't come to France; that would have been a family outing to remember.
I remain absolutely convinced that Frankel would have absolutely decimated any mile and a half field, switched off at the back, easing past them one by one in the latter stages. His demolition of Farrh and St Nicholas Abbey at York, practically on the bridle, paints a pretty telling picture.
