I dropped a note to the Alan King team yesterday enquiring about the wellbeing of Invictus, who took Ascot's Reynoldstown Chase in February (beating Bobs Worth) and was as low as 6/1 for the RSA before missing the festival due to injury. Here's the response I received: "Thank you for your email regarding Invictus. He is making very good progress from his injury but we are not going to rush him and therefore he will not run this coming season. He is still only a young horse and I think he will be worth waiting for and lets hope he developes into a Gold Cup horse next season. Kind regards Alan" Obviously the injury was more serious than was apparrent at the time and unfortunately we won't see this exciting chaser again until the winter of 2013. Thought I'd pass this on, also in case any of you NH fans were already looking at compiling some early ante post bets. Here's hoping the horse makes a full recovery and what a nice man Alan King is to respon so promptly.
That was nice of him. Glad to know the horse is on the road to recovery and that they aren't rushing him.
I like Alan King alot. He always seems likable when interviewed and is a very talented trainer. It was great to see him back to form last season
Cheers Oddy for that. I'm a big fan and had a sizeable wedge on him when he won at Plumpton in the Winter.Alan King's seems a decent guy. How many horses miss a Season and come back to compete at the top level...very few. Can anyone remember any NH horse missing a whole season and returning to achieve high levels of performance?..Dawn Run springs to mind but struggling to recall many others. Hopefully Invictus bucks the trend.
Looked a serious chaser in the making and the RSA was worse off without him. I hope he can bounce back. When you consider Weapons Amnesty's struggles it does make you worry.
ones i can remember are riverside theatre, inglis drever, well chief, burton port, so it can be done. sure there are quite a few more top class come backs too.
Not sure Hawkeye that Riverside Theatre and Inglis Drever missed a whole season but you could be correct. My memory of Well Chief is that he did come back successfully as you state but not sure he ever got within 12lb's of his prime on performance.
Burton Port missed a whole season before coming back better than ever. Well Chief as Dex says, and also as Dex says, the other 2 didn't miss a whole season.
That's really great, Oddy, that Alan King responded so promptly. Very informative too. You know, the Godolphin people take an awful lot of knocks on here and, more especially, on the old BBC 606 forum ('Godawful', and all that). I must have emailed them at least three times and on each occasion they have responded immediately with clear and concise answers to my questions. In the UK at least, they are not bad people at all. Alan King too, seems to be a good guy, for sure.
I know that you were bitterly disappointed when Invictus was ruled out for his crack at the RSA Oddy so thats a real nice touch from Alan King towards your question. Lets hope he can make a good recovery and come back to what looks like in his trainers eyes to being a really good prospect...
Those were just some names i thought of without researching them. On closer inspection Inglis Drever was off for 333 days, and riverside theatre 364. As you 2 pointed out Well Chief's form was no where near as good.
Thanks for the information Oddy. A shame that he misses a year and hope he comes back just as good after his break. I must confess that he was in the 'oppose' category as far as I'm concerned but a promising chaser nonetheless.
Oddy, I can certainly remember you being a huge fan of this horse and it’s good to see the old boy is on the way back. I note that he only has a rating of 149, which to me seems fairly low, so when Invictus does return connections may be keen to exploit this perch before moving into ‘Open’ Graded company. Could the 2013 Hennessy be a long-term aim, perhaps???
Very possible Sir Barney. I know Bobs Worth had excuses for his defeat in the Reynoldstown but I still think it was a very impressive victory by Invictus, achieved with the minimum of fuss. 149 would certainly be a very attractive mark for the Hennessey, although I wonder if Alan King is still uncertain about his best trip? He had talked about him as a Ryanair horse but he certainly wan't stopping at the end of 3 miles at Ascot. I suppose the Paddy Power Gold Cup could also be a potential early season target, but I'd then like to see him entered in the King George
