There might be a valid point about revisiting the official assessments. Golden Horn was rated something like 126 for spread-eagling the Derby field by five lengths and more. The Eclipse form was probably assessed using The Grey Gatsby but he has disappointed twice since (including today) so he may have regressed since last year. That would mean that this year’s three year olds are quite ordinary but also raises questions about some of the key older horses.
Agreed...the handicapper can only use approximation and seek a reliable benchmark..TGG has been that..until recently. Carruthers was a great friend of the h'capper in assessing NH horses because he always ran in the top races and ran to within a couple of pounds of his best every time...he was the benchmark used for a couple of seasons.
The head on shows the decision is a disgrace, on what planet should that be thrown out? Bondi Beach was hanging all over her and the filly responded. Handbags at best and makes the sport look like La Ligas diving fairies. Colm tried to bully the filly but his horse was a bottle merchant and was the one who ended up getting bullied and beaten, thats the way I see it.
Here is my view after a little time to reflect. St Leger This enquiry takes in two incidents. Incident 1 Atzeni is entirely at fault and C o'D is simply race riding and doing so smartly. However I feel from this incident Bondi Beach has enough time to go past and does not prove the winner on merit by doing so. Incident 2 Both horses start on a straight line but Bondi starts to hang left under a strong drive by CD with his whip in his right. Atzeni getting pushed left with contact and decides to put his whip in his left hand to ask her to hold her ground. The horse is brave and does so willingly to the extent she bumps Bondi, but only on account of him coming across in the first place, so for me this incident is nullified in that if you want to push people CD don't cry when you get pushed back. Did CD get a ban? he should have as his horse veers left under a drive, he continues to use his whip when the rules state he should put his whip down and do all possible to correct his horse. Conclusion Atzeni should have got a ban for the first incident, CD a smaller ban for the second as he never put his whip down to correct the horse as Atzeni did his. The result should have stood as Bondi had enough time to go past from the first incident and didn't , the second was of his own causing and no promotion should take place on account of this. Irish Champion Stakes Golden Hawn veers right through no fault of FD but impedes the other horse robbing him of all chance. Were these two horses to have finished 1st and 2nd then this should be reversed without issue. As it is it is entirely unsatisfactory to allow Found to take the prize as she was in effect third best in the race. I would allow Golden Hawn to keep the race but create a new rule that the prize money can be deducted from the purse and given to the Third horse to compensate the difference between 3rd and second. I recognise this is quite left field but allows for the fact that we must have rules and sometimes in the case of the interfered with horse not securing 2nd and no enquiry being able to award them the race this does not mean some form of recompense cannot be levied. I also feel precedent should be able to be quoted in defence as this in time will create the all important consistency, for as we know we will see a repeat of this scenario soon and nothing will happen.
Ron,not sure you have an audio feed,but CO'D articulated that he was barged twice by the filly..once just inside the two,the manoever that cost AA a 3 day holiday,and again inside the distance. The first barge cost BB ground more than then the 6 inches he was beaten..AA refuesed a chance to rebut the contention by CO'D that this move was wreckless..nuff said. The whole AA defence was that it was 6 of one...I'm staggered that people cannot see his move that got him banned and his later lack of control cost BB the race or at least contravened the rules.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The filly is effected by the bumps as well, and how much did she lose from BB hanging all over her first when Colm attempted to box her in and again on the run in when both are in the clear. The filly overcame adversity to win, the loser had every chance to go past and was held, he even had the advantage when she was boxed but hes a slow animal with little heart apparently.
Blue with all due respect it doesn't matter if the first incident happened after the stalls. I feel like i'm talking to the moon! The facts are clear..the first bump,never mind the second,cost BB more than the couple of inches he was beaten by...AA's suspension proves he interferred with the eventual winner in a serious manner and broke the rules of racing...his diffidence in rebutting this claim in the stewards room says it all. Blue,you have rightly been a champion of the rules and yet when get a cut and dried,under all rules,you defer. Strange.
You could keep it logical as well instead of using a complete guess ie how much the bumps cost BB. If you want to make guesses about that then take into consideration what went against the filly as well and what that might have cost her. No one has to guess to say the winner deserved to win the race.
The decision was a 1/100 chance, other factors have effected the verdict today. Colm won it in the stewards room against a non native english speaker.
Jesus Eddie!..come on! The stewards might be bad but not that bad..remember Paul Barton?..I do as a 9 y-o riding Petere Scott to win the Welsh National. I was a non native English speaker until the age of four..can you tell
before the first bump, which imo was more of a coming together that the filly got the best of, BB is hanging across forcing her into a box, you can see BB starts on the outside of Storm The Stars and ends up behind him before the bump, if he had stayed straight in the first place nothing would have happened
Anyhow..Beckett ranting after the event did him few favours..I couldn't have seen Cecil,Stoute,Gosden,Weld et al being so histrionic. There won't be an appeal. The Sheikh will want to preserve his sporting reputation....and he knows the judgement was equitable. Don't forget the Al Thani's bought into Ruler of the World when they were starting in the game and have a good realtionship with the Coolmore "lads" and like to use their stallions. At the end of the day,a filly wining the Leger on appeal isn't important to them going forward.
The "first bump" was the one that got AA 3 days for careless riding and the one when he was asked by the stewards would he like to comment on after CO'D testimony...he said no..nuff said.
Beckett was spot on after the event and after the recent US disgrace it would be harsh to judge him. Astonishing and lack of consistency was the only way to describe it, it wasnt a rant. Id rather see people acting like it actually matters than some false above it all public persona bullshit that you might get from the likes of Stoute, because im sure they never lose the plot in private.
When they went past the post I was delighted at the result despite having backed a loser. My mindset was "what a gutsy filly". It was a battle and a fight but in my view Colm went looking for it and his horse was found wanting. Poor outcome in my opinion.
