It just wasn't meant to be in the last at Windsor! Call yourself champion jockey? Only consolation I had E.W. acc for all of Hughes mounts.
Good question Nass. My answer is two-fold... Nigel Twiston-Davies - What a waste of oxygen. Conversely, do Rebecca Curtis or Venetia Williams count as 'small' trainers?
Wasn't expecting NTD to be such a negative!! Venetia isn't a small trainer, she has bucketloads of horses. She did have a great season last year though, and RC is one of the best around for me.
A few seasons ago I bet many would have said Henry Cecil........then along came Frankel. I cant think of a single top jumps yard that you can slate too much but possibly the biggest underachievers from that bracket is the Pipe yard. Small trainers who are yet to get full recognition would include Longsdon, Honeyball, Candlish and Snowden. Worst yard vote would have gone to Henrietta Knight so by default the vote goes to Mick Channon!
Little harsh on NTD, he's trained the winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup in Imperial Commander. It remains to be seen whether The New One is good enough to win the Champion. As for Venetia Williams, no she's not a "small" trainer. But proved she can train at the highest level, racehorses like Teeton Mill and Lady Rebecca.
Twister does well, remember he isn't backed by one of the big owners, and he knows how to handle a really good horse. On the flat there are a number of trainers who don't seem to be able to do too well despite wealthy patrons - Varian and Brittan fall into that category for me. Conversely Mark Johnston and Richard Fahey are 2 Norther grafters who do really well. I also think John Gosden is a VERY talented trainer.
I am with you on the Channon yard on the flat also Stick, I am not sure what his patronage is like now but there was a time not too long ago he had a very decent bunch of owners producing very little. He seemed to have a good couple of seasons but not been able to go on. Although Amanda Perrett has had a reasonable season this year, over the last couple of years I wondered why she was producing so few winners, Marcus Tregonning also springs to mind who I cannot even find in the racing post figures. Ralph Beckett gets a huge positive in my book as he produces decent figures 19% from 250 runners and each time his horses run they seem to be in the right race for them, win or lose, James Fanshawe likewise. The best figure of those running a reasonable number of horses in the UK iS Jeremy Noseada at 24% from 158 runners. The real standout figure however is of Richard Hannons 19% from 880 runners which is exceptional. Sir Henry and now Lady Cecil have a great strike rate as do Sir Michael Stoute, John Gosden and William Hagges. Other stats to note on the poor side are the previously mentioned Mick Channon at 8% from 567 runners, Tim Easterby 9% from 595. The figures are hugely significant in my opinion as there are some fantastic trainers of a horse that you will not often see receiving a winners trophy at Royal Ascot or winning Classics but a high percentage indicates they know how to place their horses which to my mind is almost as important as the training itself, so often I look at the racing post and wonder why such and such a horse is running in a certain race. To share a few stats again on this point George Margason 22% from 105, David Simcock 19% from 350, James Tate 22% from 197 whilst any question about whether Roger Varian had what it takes to be in the top rank can be answered with a 19% from 269 and also £750,000 in prize money, the stats also confirm David O' Meara is indeed heading the same way. The trainer I still think there is more to come from is Marco Botti, he is doing perfectly well according to the stats but I think he will still get better.
Dufner is in control mate, very solid. How unlucky has McIlroy been though, he should be six or seven under today the way he has hit the ball. He has missed three birdie putts that I could have holed!
I backed furyk and Stenson before the tournament.....should have known that dufner would go and win fair play to the guy tho, deserved it with that final round!
In fact, I had small stakes on 8 golfers to win and 5 of them finished tied 8th or better and I still couldn't get the winner!
Pretty unlucky Brough but on a positive at least you weren't far off with your judgment I'm sure you will get the winner of one soon at that rate. Dufner played as good a final round as I can think of, driving was superb on that course and his iron play was pretty exceptional for the most part.
