Wings Of Eagles certainly had few miles on the clock Ron and he wasn't beaten by far in the Irish Derby. I still feel that Cracksman would have won both Derbies had he had more experience or softer ground. I had backed Cracksman at 14/1 for Epsom and done Venice Beach as an ante-post outsider at 25/1. I felt Cracksman had a really ungainly action at the time and compared his style to the athlete Peter Elliott who never seemed to be travelling in his middle distance races but often dug in in gritty fashion to win with tears almost streaming down a face contorted by the effort. Cracksman was never a backable price after his Irish Derby defeat at the hands of Capri and I went 0/2 on him with my dough. Jonah or what? A good horse Cracksman but I feel his wins in very soft conditions were somewhat overrated and I thought the 125 rating he ended his career on was more appropriate than the 130 figure he once had.
Only just caught up with MdO's reappearance the other day. Looked to be travelling very nicely when making race ending mistake at the 3rd last. Jacob then let him come home in his own time. I note he's entered in the Stayers at Cheltenham. That would require a huge leap of faith but he'd be of interest to me in one of the 2.5 mile handicap hurdles of his current mark. 20s for the Coral Cup.
