He doesn't have such an illustrious pedigree as Harbinger (although, like Harbinger, goes back to Ribot) and I'll be surprised if he is anywhere near as good. However, he's a progressive sort, trained by SMS, blossomed when given 12f on a sound surface. Like Harbinger, won the Hardwicke Stakes easily in fast time. I tend to agree with Joe that this is a G1 horse about to happen and will gallop them into the ground. However, as mentioned earlier, if it comes up soft, it's Noble Mission for me. Taghrooda is an unknown quality, and has a lovely pedigree, so has to be feared but with a gun to my head it's Telescope if the ground doesn't have soft in the description and Noble Mission if it does.
This race has long since lost it's lustre....sadly. Whoever wins from the preliminary entrants will hardly shock the markets for races that actually matter. Telescope v some moderate filly v an AO'B hack. Arse of a race and has been for some time. #putshelmeton.
Telescope vs Impressive Oaks winner vs last years Irish Guineas/BC Turf winner You also have this years Eclipse winner and last years Irish Derby winner. Might not be great horses but nothing to do with the race, the only horse that should be in it, that isnt, is Australia. Treve would have been in as well but for a poor show at Ascot and maybe Cirrus Des Aigles if he didnt get injured. 1998 Swain 1999 Daylami 2000 Montjeu 2001 Galileo 2002 Golan 2003 Alamshar 2004 Doyen 2005 Azamour 2006 Hurricane Run 2007 Dylan Thomas 2008 Duke of Marmalade 2009 Conduit 2010 Harbinger 2011 Nathaniel 2012 Danedream 2013 Novellist When did it become an arse of a race exactly? Cant see a winner that wasnt a class horse.
As far as I can see Tagroodha has done little wrong. Her form was belittled before the Oaks and look what happened there. If Stoute hadn't won with Harbinger would people be taking Telescope so seriously? Obviously a good colt but has something to find. Maybe he will. Can't see as he's not as well-bred as Harbinger. Galileo versus Dansili, I think Galileo takes that. And as much as I liked the Hornung family mares when trained by Murless and Cecil, the ...ing mares were always pretty good. Telescope also has the positive of having a strong Never Bend line. I agree with Joe, it's still a good race. Would be better if they properly classified the Irish Derby as a Group 2 race. Pawneese was the last 3yo filly to win it.
I think old girl Mother Nature is going to play a leading part in the contest with underfoot conditions a million miles away from certain at this stage. Depending on which weather forecaster you listen to Ascot on Saturday could be anything from ‘Firm’ with a capital ‘F’ to ‘Heavy’ with a capital ‘H’. TELESCOPE has been a fave of mine ever since he won his 2YO maiden and I wouldn’t want to look beyond him re the winner of the heat. Really came of age over course and distance last time but it’s a watching brief at the moment as he’d certainly prefer the word ‘good’ in the going descriptor (form reads -211211 when it is and -22 when it isn’t and one of those latter 2’s saw him 9 lengths off the winner). Re Taghrooda am somewhat surprised to see that connections have already announced that she’s off to the breeding sheds at the end of this season. Even if it is the owner’s usual policy it seems a bit daft to me to rush her out of training as early as she will be. In effect they are doing so with the hint, no more than a hint incidentally, of a possibility of breeding a champion from her. But in Taghrooda they already have a champion! Providing she holds her form for the rest of the campaign I would have thought another year or two on the track would have been the right call for Taghrooda prior to retirement at the age of 4 or 5. As I said 3 does seem very early to retire a filly who, at this stage, looks like she could if given the opportunity be a major player in top, top 10-12 furlong races for quite some time. She certainly looks on a par with The Fugue, at the same age, and look what old boy Gosden went on to achieve with her when given the opportunity. Sadly, it would appear that he won’t get the same chance with Taghrooda.
A group two winning older horse or a group one Oaks winning filly of the classic generation? I know which I would expect to be favourite. I can't be having this hype around Telescope, he didn't exactly beat much in the Hardwicke did he?
Eagle Top has been supplemented for £75,0000. Guaranteed runner. 8/1. Tremendous potential. For me, that's the each way bet of the season if you take the price now where you get three places irrespective of how many run. I love this bet. Hope it turns out to be a winner.
What is the hype about Telescope Nass? I haven't seen any. If Australia, CDA and Treve had been running I doubt many would be confident of Telescope winning. It's only in the absence of top opposition that he was made fav for the race. He now has the unbeaten Oaks winner to beat and won't want "Soft" in the ground description. I may be missing something but the only horse I can think of that has been hyped is Australia.
Another interesting angle to the race with Eagle Top running, its starting to look like a decent race. Good also that we can compare Eagle Top and Telescope on their runs over course and distance last time. [table="width: 100, class: grid, align: left"] [tr] [td][/td] [td]FinalTime[/td] [td]Last3F[/td] [td]First9F[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Eagle Top[/td] [td]2:27.98[/td] [td]37.8[/td] [td]1:50.18[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Telescope[/td] [td]2:27.45[/td] [td]37.25[/td] [td]1:50.20[/td] [/tr] [/table] Both horses ran the first 9 furlongs in almost exactly the same time, the interesting thing is that Telescope was sitting a comfortably travelling 3rd while Eagle Top was hard ridden in last, which suggests that the horses in front of him had gone too hard and when he came back on the bridle two out those horses were going nowhere. This is backed up by the fact that Scotland ran into 3rd from 2nd last, in doing so leaving his previous form well behind. He has always been well regarded by Balding but I think it was more a case of those in front going too fast, rather than him improving to that level and he is flattered. Adelaide and in particular Snow Sky probably deserve marking up, Scotland has ran past Snow Sky at the end but in a more conventionally run race id be amazed if he beat Snow Sky again. This is not to knock the winner though he might need a strongly run race to be seen at his best, everything we have seen from his so far points to that, he is not blessed with tactical speed or an instant change of gear but he has a high class engine when given a test that brings it into play. He has still only had 3 runs so we can expect improvement but he is probably short of top Group 1 class. Telescope as pointed out already, had run the first 9f in similar time but was doing it well within himself, he quickened noticeably when asked over 2f out continued to put distance between himself and Pethers Moon right to the line. He ran the last 3 furlongs over half a second quicker than Eagle Top, and put more distance between himself and rivals who had not ran as hard as Eagle Tops. It was a very professional performance, showing tactical speed, acceleration and stamina, it was out of the top drawer and the beaten horses have since shown that while short of top class, they are competetive at Group 2 level. To beat them in the way that he did suggests that we are now looking at a horse who is Group 1 class. We are likely to get a strongly run race here, although probably not to the extent of the King Edward, and it will be interesting to see what Eagle Top can do, he has to improve on the clock but the weight allowance gives him a chance to close the gap and he should not be far away, he will certainly be staying on when most have cried enough. But in Telescope we could be looking at the finished article now, tactically versatile and uncomplicated. He was given a rating of 123 for his Hardwicke win and on the book, he would have to run to 130+ to win this giving weight to the two 118 rated 3yo's who are open to improvement after only 3 runs. Personally, im not convinced he will have to improve much on his last run even though I do expect even better from him, he looks made for this 1m4 at Ascot just like Harbinger, if he is ever going to run to 130+, this will be the day and this the race.
Armed with news of the five day weather forecast, I think punters can safely scratch Noble Mission from calculations as all that they are likely to get in Berkshire is a few thundery showers later in the week. The rest of the week is warm and sunny, so the ground will be quick by Saturday. The addition of Eagle Top to the field by Lady Bamford is another welcome opportunity to see just how good the three year olds are against the older horses. John Gosden won with Nathaniel a couple of years ago and has two excellent chances to add another victory. My reservation about Taghrooda is largely down to a previous experience: Cast your minds back to 2005, when Hamdan Al Maktoum won the Epsom Oaks with an Unfuwain daughter of Midway Lady called Eswarah. As a two year old she was with Midway Lady’s trainer Ben Hanbury but never raced. When he retired, she moved to Michael Jarvis and won her first three starts as a three year old, the Oaks being the third. She then went for the King George, which was run at Newbury whilst Ascot was redeveloped, and was beaten out of sight – and she was not even one of the favourites. I do not think I will be backing her at the short odds on offer but I hope that she wins; and whatever happens, I do applaud her owner for being sporting and allowing her to take her chance rather than just sticking to the safe route (Irish Oaks, Yorkshire Oaks, etc) that most owners would have done.
Although this race should have Australia in it and in an ideal world one of the top French horses in Treve or CDA it is still one of the best races seen so far this year. Top prospect filly in Tagroodah, Group 1 eclipse winner, Michael Stoutes apple of his eye, Telescope, who had failed to prove himself until R. Ascot, Magician from Ballydoyle, and a dark horse in Eagle Top. My heart says Tagroodah but I fear Eagle Top for the simple reason that Gosden upped him from Handicap company to the Royal Ascot race and there was such confidence in him, add to that this supplementation and I think they feel they have a superstar. My prediction is that Eagle Top wins and Australia is not allowed anywhere near him for the rest of the season.
This is the list of entries as of today: Brown Panther Flintshire Hall of Mirrors Leitir Mor Magician Mukhadram Noble Mission Telescope Trading leather Romsdal Taghrooda Eagle Top That's 12. What's the most likely card on the day?
Like a few of these big flat races form could well go out the window and some 20/1 outsider wins it. Look at the Eclipse and the 2000G! It's take your turn to win on the flat. The King George you watch eating your turkey is much more exciting anyway
It will be interesting if Brown Panther runs as the horse has no chance of having the class to win the race if run at a regular pace and so his only chance is really to make it a huge test of stamina and hope he kills off enough to earn some prize money and hopefully a top three placing. This may really shake things up as some will be fine with that and some will be hoping to use a turn of foot which may not be possible if BP goes out from the start.
Telescope 6/4 Taghrooda 13/2 Magician 15/2 Eagle Top 8/1 Trading Leather 11/1 Flintshire 12/1 Mukhadram 12/1 Pacemaker 500/1 Class race with 5 Group 1 winners, race of the season so far as the King George should be, its a shame Australia didnt come here for a real test instead of that Irish Derby farce.
