I know this may be a little premature as the horse may have one more run in him before being trotted off to stud. Although I usually feel horses get retired to stud too early in the case of Golden Horn it is perhaps understandable in that they have not wrapped him in cotton wool and allowed him to be tested fully in his three year old career. It would of course be good to be able to allow another generation of three years olds to arrive next year to gain some perspective but the horse has at least taken on what was there this year. I feel we had two potentially fantastic horses this year in Golden Horn and Gleneagles and I feel Gleneagles needs stay in training to prove himself as unfortunately he was not allowed to run enough this year to really allow an opinion to be tested. My instinct is that he also is very good, but I am not sure.
Back to Golden Horn and I feel he is a very high class horse and would put him in on par with Sea the Stars. There does appear little depth this year and so testing was difficult and this is the constant problem in measuring a horse and we have probably only three horses with which to build a case in The Grey Gatsby Flintshare and Treve. The three year olds look very ordinary this year and the three horses of promise looked from early to be Gleneagles, Jack Hobbs and Golden Horn. As Jack Hobbs has yet to be tested aside from GH he is hard to use and as Gleneagles was not allowed to run in the intended races in which they would clash he is of little use also. This leaves us with the three older horses previously named.
My view is that flintshare is a good marker as he runs consistently but is not a consistent winner at G1 level and more a placer. The Grey Gatsby falls into the same category leaving Treve as the real measure. Treve is a superb mare and although I must say even had she won her third Arc today I would not have placed her much higher than she already was she does lend a lot of credibility to Golden Horns rating. Treve was primed today, had ground which would have been perfectly ok even though not the type that gives her an advantage over others, and GH beat her well and fair and square.
Although it's hard to measure I like to see a horse win with style, this always gave Frankel the advantage with ratings profilers and always held Sea the stars back a little, within this measure GH did look impressive in the Derby and the Arc today but also looked quite ordinary in a couple of races.
I reckon a rating of around 138 - 140 and equitable to Sea the Stars.
What does anyone else think?
Back to Golden Horn and I feel he is a very high class horse and would put him in on par with Sea the Stars. There does appear little depth this year and so testing was difficult and this is the constant problem in measuring a horse and we have probably only three horses with which to build a case in The Grey Gatsby Flintshare and Treve. The three year olds look very ordinary this year and the three horses of promise looked from early to be Gleneagles, Jack Hobbs and Golden Horn. As Jack Hobbs has yet to be tested aside from GH he is hard to use and as Gleneagles was not allowed to run in the intended races in which they would clash he is of little use also. This leaves us with the three older horses previously named.
My view is that flintshare is a good marker as he runs consistently but is not a consistent winner at G1 level and more a placer. The Grey Gatsby falls into the same category leaving Treve as the real measure. Treve is a superb mare and although I must say even had she won her third Arc today I would not have placed her much higher than she already was she does lend a lot of credibility to Golden Horns rating. Treve was primed today, had ground which would have been perfectly ok even though not the type that gives her an advantage over others, and GH beat her well and fair and square.
Although it's hard to measure I like to see a horse win with style, this always gave Frankel the advantage with ratings profilers and always held Sea the stars back a little, within this measure GH did look impressive in the Derby and the Arc today but also looked quite ordinary in a couple of races.
I reckon a rating of around 138 - 140 and equitable to Sea the Stars.
What does anyone else think?
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). Dubai Millennium never won over 12f, his only attempt at the trip was in the Derby where he was coltish and faded to finish only 9th. He won G1s over 8f and 10f.
).