Elliot's the biggest fiddler ever stick, i know he's in form lately but i generally stay away from alot of his. But surely he had him trying in the National?! I mean why wouldn't he? May look at him closely in a replay.
yeah i was on him and was very dissapointed with his performance-elliot is a fiidler alright,up there with mccain
The horse is ungenuine over the national fences, I fancied him as he's so well handicapped, but no good if the horse isn't putting it all in at his fences. Don't think you can point the finger at Elliot or Carberry there hardly going to deliberately lose in a race worth over 500k to the winner
In seriousness though i agree he just doesn't like jumping those fences, he looked really well handicapped but never went a yard , very frustrating for backers of him.
Chicago Grey will throw up the odd race like that every now and again. He will hang out the back and either stay on through the field and go close to winning or will just stay out the back and go nowhere!
Think he just ran a stinker at a venue that doesn't suit him....As KS points out,I find it hard to believe connections were not trying. I'm delighted that Always Waining got nowhere near yesterday...now there is a horse that should have been banned after every schooling run (bar 3) in the last 4 years!! As for Son Of Flicka.....
stick, maybe it's down to his rider. Paul Carberry and Timmy Murphy both have a couple of things in common. They're both fine jockeys but their preoccupation with " dropping horses out at the back" can lead to their mounts becoming very disinterested and detached very quickly. As regards the race itself, I found the result- and especially the last three or four fences- the most perplexing I have ever witnessed in the Grand National. We're probably all agreed that the race attracts the better horses nowadays, and winners over 11st will be commonplace. Notwithstanding the winner has always stayed well and ran a great race in the Scottish Grand National, his overall form and past jumping gave him no right to win on Saturday. I just can't recall so many horses being in contention on the second circuit but, given the favourable going, what happened to that classy bunch at the top of the handicap? Virtually none of them came through to the head of the field and, over the last few fences, they became strung out like washing; so much so that they were pulled up or lost touch. Apart from Teaforthree, the poor-looking bottom division slaughtered the good-looking top division.
Tam I think the majority of them just didn't stay. It's a monster trip and winning a Gold Cup is no guarantee that a horse will get the National trip. It's run at a fair clip these days, you can't just hunt a horse round. Regarding Chicago Grey, looks to me like they were trying to get his mark down for Punchestown ...................
Oddy, yes, it's run at a fair clip but I think you'll find that the previous three Nationals were run in very fast times, albeit on slightly better ground; and many higher weights contended. This time, too many 'higher weights' ran poorly, even those whose stamina seemed assured. I still find it baffling.
As I was there on Thursday Tam maybe I have the secret ............................... it was just too fecking cold
Must admit that to the old Chuckle eye the 2013 version of the old GN was a strange affair to watch. I’m not one to want half a dozen animals to fall at every fence but what sort of test to man and beast is the race if the first 7 fences are negotiated by all 40 runners! You wouldn’t get that on even the easiest of park courses! I thought Sam Waley-Cohen (who I was fortunate enough to pull in the coalface sweepstake and thus won a small return) rode a corker on Oscar Time and I’d hand top riding honours to the forum’s favourite Corinthian. In contrast though the handful, or so, of saddle monkeys who did end up on their backsides included McCoy, Geraghty and the Ruby boy! Maybe this will end the adulation of this trio (especially the first named) and lead people to realise that the most important factors re a horses chances are the horse itself and who trains it! The funniest thing re this years heat though has to be the hissy fit that the Geraghty lad has subsequently had over Roberto Goldback’s exit being declared an unseated rider! Cor blimey, ‘calm down dear’!
Tam....I see what your saying about Carberrys style, but Chicago Grey always runs his races from the back. When he won the 4 miler at the festival, in the amateurs riders race, he was stone last most of the way and then just picked his way through the field on the final circuit
The question now has to be have they gone too far and made it too easy? All the runners still standing going to the 8th fence - thats never happened in 166 years tells its own story ! In my mind its still a test but I do think that the softening of the fences to this plasticy material has made it soooooo much easier to jump a fence although in this day and age we dont have a choice! Barry Geraghty said he saw horses making mistakes where in the past they would have fallen... As for Chicago Grey, it looked like he didnt take to the fences....
Carberry is the best rider in England or Ireland at leading from the front. It's a common misconception that he only rides from the back.
Carberry's timing and decision making has always prevented him being classed as top class. Decent jockey that's about it though
