I didn't realise that Moyes brought in Phil Neville as assistant. He's always seemed to have a chip on his shoulder re Man U. What on earth is he doing there? Everton's best season comes after losing those two, and Fellaney. Say no more.
Desert Colours @ 10/3 (GP) 16:35 HANDICAP 7f 30y The trainers son in law (future) tells me the 4 timer is assured. Fantastic shout Heis and thanks for passing it on although the four timer was 10 days ago. Five timer today lol. Unlucky with Ballycasey Beefy, thought that was in the bag. Jumping really well until two out.
Bookies closed over here in Eire today,what about over yonder?!ended up backing a few online and lost a few quid which I prob wouldn't have handed over if I was in a betting shop.alcohol didn't help though,too many temptations on a day off I guess!
Cheers Mick. I was pretty gutted when he hit the deck and I recall the same thing happening Noble Prince in this race 3 years ago when I'd a sizeable wager on him too...Think it was the same fence too
Was travelling nicely then got hampered and was picked up alrite after that then was just getting in to the race, was bit unlukcy imo but that's racing
Think he's a fantastic jumper 99% of the time Bob, he was brilliant at Cheltenham too, but he has a tendency to throw in a complete howler when seemingly under no pressure which is clearly worrying backing him in the future! I hope you're wrong about Mullins chasers, as my new signature testifies. Hopefully this one can jump fences the way he jumps hurdles
I think Vautour as well but look at his record with these seemingly brilliant animals. They all throw in a crap jump or three at some point. Funnily enough I have never been more impressed with his teams jumping than at Cheltenham where Ballycasey and Champagne Fever produced great rounds. However, the list of failed chasers is pretty long and it's got a lot to do with their jumping.
And it's not the threat of a fall that hurts. It's the mental impact upon the horse. That was a fairly heavy fall today.
Not sure Bob on that one. I wouldn't disagree with you on it but I wouldn't necessarily buy into that either as it's a broad generalisation. Sure a few have disappointed but even Nicholls has plenty that have jumping errors and he's widely acknowledged as being near the top in training chasers. He also came within a whisker of landing the Gold Cup which ain't bad for one who can't train chasers to jump!
I'm not saying that. What i'm saying is his chasers are not reliable jumpers. Especially the ones who have big reputations as hurdlers. The list is long but starts with Quel Esprit and Boston Bob.
Quel Esprit is a fragile jumper, true (similar to Ballycasey in that he can look very good on the main) but you're namesake hasn't done too bad if you can forgive him the last fence RSA fall? The best example for your argument I'd suggest is Mikhael D'haguent However he has what is known as 'kissing spine syndrome' which is a condition which affected my namesake too and fundamentally makes it very difficult for a horse to make a shape over a fence, ie arch its back. That's the problem he had/has. Plenty more falls could be attributed to jockeys 'miscommunicating' with the animal on its approach to a fence. If you watch Davy Casey, he tends to deck more Mullins horses than Paul or Ruby and I don't see that as a coincidence. When he was legged up on Briar Hill my heart sank and look what happened there... Best of all Mr Casey's on my Irish National selection tomorrow. Shrewd huh
It's a whole mile further than he has ever been before so stamina is definitely being taken on trust. Longsdon is hoping the extra distance may mean a slower pace than at Cheltenham and mean his jumping wont come under such scrutiny again. Class animal and a race novices have won in the past so I wouldn't rule him out!
Kissing Spine is a very serious condition, butsayin that in some cases it is tolerated by most racehorses and doesn't cause any hassle to them whilse in racing. my ex racer has now unfortunately retired of all riding due to it, its where the spiky bone bits on the spine get to close together and start rubbing together especially when they move. There different grades of it and the worst cases is they cant move without it causin pain let alone shaping over a fence. My boy just cant have any pressure on its back e.g. saddle etc.. but lives out in the field enjoyin a life of relaxtion- (the horse in my avatar)
