Douvan and Faugheen hit (bomb proof) as would be Vautour in the Ryanair but he won't run in this unless it's heavy ground. I'd happily take the field against all the others.
It was already wide open. He was a terrible price. Irish were getting carried away by that stumble and recovery.
Hmmmm, I wonder was the initial damage done that day he stumbled and won. Sadly, this type of injury has a high rate of repeating itself if/when the horse returns to full work as the repair tissue is never as strong as the original. It's a common injury to horses jumping at speed and hopefully Killultagh Vic can make a full recovery and be a success again on the track someday.
Whilst everyone was hailing Ruby as a genius that day, I was absolutely astounded (and tbh quite disgusted) that he didn't immediately pull the horse up. If you look at the still photos of the horse crumpled after landing I think it is safe to say that Ruby had no way of assessing whether the horse had sustained an injury or not. He should have pulled the horse up immediately. Yes, favourite backers would have been livid but surely the welfare of the horse comes first? Riding an aggressive finish after an incident like that was irresponsible in my opinion. I just hope the horse makes it back to the track at some point.
I can't agree Oddy, he gave the horse the opportunity to pick up and he rocketed home. It wasn't as if he went hard on the horse either, he just got him to run on to the line. If you pull a horse up after it has a bad jump, you'd never have Wichita Lineman, Synchronised et al winning the races they did. You have to give the horse a chance to show whether they are fine or not. Willie stated yesterday that the horse came back from that race ok, and they couldn't tell if there was anything wrong with him until yesterday. He could have done the damage in his box.
If you think about why horses run though Nass (flight animals) I'm not sure how Ruby (or anyone else for that matter) can make a split-second judgement on the horses welfare based on the fact that he felt OK and kept running. Looking at the picture below, it seems pretty logical to think he may have damaged suspensory ligaments in this incident. Should he maybe have been checked more thoroughly before stepping up his work? please log in to view this image
I don't buy it Oddy, Ruby is a horseman of how ever many years experience, and he knows that its more important for the horse to be well than to win a small race. He gave the horse time to pick up and he did, it wasn't like he was in full AP mode and picked the horse up and carried it home. If the horse hadn't shown willing, he'd have pulled him up.
It's a tough one, and I don't think it was a super ride in terms of doing miracles. He even said the same on the morning line, he just was able to stay on the horse and it did the rest itself with a little asking.
Difference from a bad jump going through the top of a fence or even nodding on landing and crumbling on landing which KV did, you could see his legs were crunched under him and for that split second his weight was probably all on all thrm that combined with the force some kind of damage was expected! I know none was found till he started working but occasionally they can be worst injuries But then I get your point Ruby is one hell of a horseman and didn't really ask much off him the run was pretty much all him but then that's adrenaline for you Tough subject really to say what is right but I do have to agree with oddy
Is it just me or has VAUTOUR snuck in to second favourite 3/1 for the Champion Chase personally I think and would love to see him run in this, he would bowl along in front really put the pressure on UDS and he more than likely crash out with that sort of pressure! But surely Willie won't jeopardise a guarantee win (only way UDS looses is if Ruby ends up on the ground) and put two of his stars against each other! But that would be a race and half to see
No jockey can know whether their mount is okay after a blunder – if they keep going, the horse could end up worse off, so how can us armchair jockeys criticise? They could introduce a rule ordering jockeys to pull up. This is exactly why ante-post betting on the jump racing scene is such a big risk. A big contender is ruled out and the market is shaken up.
TNO 8/1 minus the fav...1/4 odds 1,2,3. Yes please...easy dosh...lets just hope 8..or even 5 line up.
