2022 Mares Hurdle

[Stormez]

You don’t get to be one of the worlds best in your chosen profession without having a bit about you. Yes this isn’t his day job and he is loving the adventure but he is very used to laying out a target way way in advance and aiming for that day. I am just saying don’t be surprised if he’s got this all planned even if it feels he might not....and he doesn’t seem like a legend he is one imo

Yeah he definitely knows how to ‘prep’ one.

[Saxon Warrior]

You don’t get to be one of the worlds best in your chosen profession without having a bit about you. Yes this isn’t his day job and he is loving the adventure but he is very used to laying out a target way way in advance and aiming for that day. I am just saying don’t be surprised if he’s got this all planned even if it feels he might not....and he doesn’t seem like a legend he is one imo

Prepping HHU for which race?

At Cheltenham or elsewhere?

[Rooster Booster]

Prepping HHU for which race?

At Cheltenham or elsewhere?

I must admit you have given me food for thought. For it to be a long term plan he would want to remove as many variables that he cannot control as he can imo. The British handicapper would reasonably be one of those variables as he can try and get his mark down but it’s still in the lap of the gods to some extent and being a previous festival winner it’s unclear how the handicapper might respond especially as I fear they may be on red alert to anything that looks like an Irish plot. I believe he would have set out his target race soon after last years Coral And I think it is this race. I understand why his choice of races might suggest another handicap plot but this guy is used to winning at the very elite level in his own sphere and I don’t think he’ll be able to resist the lure of arguably the most prestigious Mares race in the calendar. It would be like Mullins training the winner of the Irish greyhound derby . All that said your argument is a sound one and possibly is more logical than mine.

[ComplyOrDie]

Her next entry will reveal more.

I'm not saying she going to the Coral Cup.
Off 150 they wouldn't bother.
Its the race choices that interest me, including Saturday.

This for me too.

Like she's being campaigned to get her mark back down, although I can't imagine it will go unnoticed.

I take it Richie Condon hasn't ridden out his 7lb claim, that he was able to use last season, yet?

[Istabraq]

This for me too.

Like she's being campaigned to get her mark back down, although I can't imagine it will go unnoticed.

I take it Richie Condon hasn't ridden out his 7lb claim, that he was able to use last season, yet?

Surely the way to get your mark down is by running down the field in big handicaps, not small graded fields ?

[Quevega]

The talk of him attempting to bring her mark down is Moot IMO
Be a pretty dumb thing to set out to do, with this horse (trying to get the mark down to run in a festival handicap that is)
If it happens it's by happenstance and not design.
He's just placing her in races where they think she is favourably weighted, and has a chance to win.
This seems clear to me.
Whatever excuses she has for her 2 runs this season, she doesn't look a 150 rated mare to me - not even fucking close.

The jockey allowance and a perfect ride and soft lead in the coral cup has led to her receiving too high a mark vs her ability.
I wouldn't rule her out of the mares as it looks weaker this year than for many years at the moment, and anything in the 140's would have a chance on the day.

[ComplyOrDie]

Surely the way to get your mark down is by running down the field in big handicaps, not small graded fields ?

Certainly the 'old skool' way for the likes of JP runners etc... but I guess each trainer is different. They can say she's been tried and not good enough in graded events now, and possibly go for a handicap next time out. It will all add up to an eventual drop in the weights, I guess. She's been running over, in what I believe to be, inadequate distances too.

[ComplyOrDie]

If it happens it's by happenstance and not design.

This just covers your opinion either way, not much chance of anyone on here gathering the proof required to prove otherwise.

[Quevega]

This just covers your opinion either way, not much chance of anyone on here gathering the proof required to prove otherwise.

Which is why it's not worth discussing.
No one can be sure.
But in my opinion anyone who thinks he's being smart trying to get the mark down for a festival handicap is off track.

[FinalFurlong91]

This just covers your opinion either way, not much chance of anyone on here gathering the proof required to prove otherwise.

She did get backed drown from 14s to 6s on Saturday, doesnt suggest she was running to get her mark down

[Istabraq]

The talk of him attempting to bring her mark down is Moot IMO
Be a pretty dumb thing to set out to do, with this horse (trying to get the mark down to run in a festival handicap that is)

Also we're talking about an Irish horse making the costly trip over for a small yard, if their plan was to work her mark that's something they should be able to do much closer to home though I can see the attraction in showing the UK handicapper your form or lack of, ultimately finishing around 10l behind a 5yo on the up and a 155 rated 6yo won't have had the handicapper rushing to mark her down...

[Quevega]

Also we're talking about an Irish horse making the costly trip over for a small yard, if their plan was to work her mark that's something they should be able to do much closer to home though I can see the attraction in showing the UK handicapper your form or lack of, ultimately finishing around 10l behind a 5yo on the up and a 155 rated 6yo won't have had the handicapper rushing to mark her down...

Yeah, I was being politically correct and biting my tongue a bit.
I wouldn't with Q anon as they are fucking sicko's.
The handicap plotting theories get a bit like that on here sometimes.
Which is completely understandable and not dangerous to society, and so I was being kind.

[ComplyOrDie]

Which is why it's not worth discussing.
No one can be sure.
But in my opinion anyone who thinks he's being smart trying to get the mark down for a festival handicap is off track.

That's fair enough.

With regards to her 'soft lead' you mention, you made me go back and check (so thanks for that) I actually don't think it was that soft. It was a standing start, she was rousted along to the first hurdle and to take up the lead and it's not as if she was bunching them all up, there was a fair enough gap, I think she was attempting to make it a test (she's by Yeats, so stamina on that side of her breeding as well). I'm also not having 25 other jockeys getting the pace wrong, they clearly thought she would come back to them and instead she scooted further clear. I think she's not being given enough credit myself, except by the handicapper, who put her up 12lbs

The 2nd, 3rd and 4th throughout the early parts of the race, which included a 3rd fav, ended up finishing 18th, 21st & PU. There was one horse who tried taking her on (3min 46secs into the replay on Racing TV) with 7f to go and he ended up 21st (albeit was a 33/1 shot). At this same time the horses in behind were well within striking distance, IMO, and she found absolutely plenty, she increased the tempo again and they couldn't go with her.

She was as strong at the line as she was throughout the race, and if she can turn up in that same form again, even with a rise of around 8lbs or so, by the time the festival comes around, I think she is a proper contender for the race yet again.

I didn't back her for the Coral Cup, so i'ts not as if she's a cliff horse or a horse i'm totally in love with, but I did really like the performance and my initial thoughts were how she could end up going back for the same race the following season (depending on her rise in the weights and campaign).

Sorry, I've decided to go off course, to a degree

[ComplyOrDie]

She did get backed drown from 14s to 6s on Saturday, doesnt suggest she was running to get her mark down

I mean she wouldn't be the first gamble to go amiss and then end up in a handicap. No real substance to this, none of us know where this money came from and I suspect in a 7 runner race, where a couple of others were fairly weak in the betting, it wouldn't take a whole load for the 16's to disappear.

[Quevega]

That's fair enough.

With regards to her 'soft lead' you mention, you made me go back and check (so thanks for that) I actually don't think it was that soft. It was a standing start, she was rousted along to the first hurdle and to take up the lead and it's not as if she was bunching them all up, there was a fair enough gap, I think she was attempting to make it a test (she's by Yeats, so stamina on that side of her breeding as well). I'm also not having 25 other jockeys getting the pace wrong, they clearly thought she would come back to them and instead she scooted further clear. I think she's not being given enough credit myself, except by the handicapper, who put her up 12lbs

The 2nd, 3rd and 4th throughout the early parts of the race, which included a 3rd fav, ended up finishing 18th, 21st & PU. There was one horse who tried taking her on (3min 46secs into the replay on Racing TV) with 7f to go and he ended up 21st (albeit was a 33/1 shot). At this same time the horses in behind were well within striking distance, IMO, and she found absolutely plenty, she increased the tempo again and they couldn't go with her.

She was as strong at the line as she was throughout the race, and if she can turn up in that same form again, even with a rise of around 8lbs or so, by the time the festival comes around, I think she is a proper contender for the race yet again.

I didn't back her for the Coral Cup, so i'ts not as if she's a cliff horse or a horse i'm totally in love with, but I did really like the performance and my initial thoughts were how she could end up going back for the same race the following season (depending on her rise in the weights and campaign).

Sorry, I've decided to go off course, to a degree

At Cineworld now but good case vs the soft lead
ibthink from memory the soft lead was more towards the end when she quickened and the other contenders were caught out.
but even then I’d agree that she wasn’t stopping
I think the race was slower than Bob who carried a lot more weight