At least O’Brien had the sense to save the money on declaring the horse and hoping that it would dry up by Wednesday. With 48 hour declarations for the big Group 1 contests, he had to decide two days beforehand whether it was going to be suitable going because he had to pay to stay in. If he paid and the going did not change he would have been looking for a vet to fiddle a certificate to avoid getting in trouble on Wednesday. Gosden will have avoided being fined for withdrawing Golden Horn because the going changed from Good to Firm to Soft after they had declared but he still blew the final declaration fee, which I think was about £2,000.
Agreed Last year it was too firm and Kingman was always doubtful. This year they can get their toe in and suddenly they are unable to run. Let's rip up the turf courses and have standard going every day.
Well that may be the case Archers. I wonder if all is not well with Gleneagles and the going has been used as a convenient excuse. I'd have thought good to soft would be meat and drink to a Galileo.
I suggested on Saturday it was about time Ascot put a Tapeta course in. It would certainly stop the Chumpions Day mudfest. Feel Gleneagles was pulled out too early. There doesn't look like much rain today and tomorrow and the going at Goodwood seems to be drying out. It looks like Coolmore are running chicken again. They are too invested in Gleneagles stud fee and him remaining unbeaten than actually taking on horses and having a 'race'. Whatever happened to the sport of horse racing? Trainers and owners seem to be running scared of competition.
this season's top class flat racehorses seem a bit on the fragile side... I wonder how many non runners we are going to get on Champions Day
I was thinking more along the lines of let's forget about the flat season and just have National Hunt racing.
Maybe Coolmooore are coming out in sympathy with the likes of Barney and boycotting the meeting in protest at the hijacking of the names of the races by the Qataris
It suits me fine if they want to do away with the turf at Ascot: that would be another course where I would never have a bet. Soon the sport would become a complete non betting event. If they go with Tapeta at Newmarket and Sandown as well, I could quit attending racing altogether. Chumpions Day is at the wrong time of year but the idiots that thought of it could not have it in September without agreement from the Irish and French, who both had conflicting fixtures.
Serious? That Ascot forms pure dirt. A G3 arsechaser of a mare and Cougar Mountain close in behind... I agree it's pathetic Gleneagles won't run as he'd absolutely nothing to fear. What price 'a mystery injury' a la Kingman and Australia retires him..
The Ascot form probably was nothing special. Toormore has just scrabbled home in a Group 2 at Goodwood. I would say that the Irish 2000 Guineas form was nothing special either. Looking at the ratings based on career performances, Solow has run up a pretty impressive winning streak and he is known to be very good on easy ground. Gleneagles ordinary win at The Curragh on easy ground only managed him an official rating of 122, two pounds behind Solow.
Aye but they won't be running off levels so Gleneagles should be well clear when thats reflected, no? And surely Gleneagles ran to a higher mark at Ascot than he did in that messy Irish Guineas?
Its not been a great season by any stretch but its not a big surprise. Last years 2yos did not look up to much, the Guineas looked poor beforehand and the Derby, while probably the best form around, lacked depth. 3 top class 3yos have emerged in Golden Horn, Gleneagles and Jack Hobbs but the problem is there is nothing to debate, Golden Horn is clearly the best and the only real talking point created this season was whether he would stay in the Derby. The older horses have always looked average at best even before a ball was kicked. Its the opinions and disagreements that make it, even on the jumps, eg The New One Champion Hurdle debate, without these disagreements it can feel boring. Last season there was quite a few things that sparked debate, Kingman losing in the Guineas, Taghrooda getting beat at York, Australia getting beat in the Irish Champion, we have not had anything major this season. I would rather watch cricket or F1 than some of the jump racing that gets talked about on here, bad bad animals on horrendous looking bog courses, but thats just me and I know some people like it. The domination of the sport by Willie Mullins is hardly exciting either so jump racing is not infallible.
The domination by one stable doesn't particularly bother me. It just so happens at this particular point in time Mullins holds all the aces, not so long ago it was Nicholls. I'm sure Barney will remind us of the time it was old boy Nicky, but that's before my time watching racing! I suppose such domination mightn't please some, for various reasons. Personally I just enjoy watching Champions like Faugheen, Vautour, Douvan, etc do their stuff and even if people don't like watching 2/5 shots canter round I don't mind, as I don't watch the sport purely to gamble, though if I can make a few bob all the better! Watching champions doing strutting their stuff, that's my thing. The longevity of the jumpers seals the deal for me, and most on here I'd say. But I do like some flat, some seasons are better than others, this ones just pure rank and the lack of activity in this place says it all really. I've no idea if this years 2 year olds are any good to be honest, so next summer could be the same I'm guessing?
