Gold Cup 2021

[Quevega]

Whilst it obviously wouldn’t happen and would kill pretty much all of our good long term multiples on here... that would at least mean we’d never have to here the phrases ‘2022’, ‘betting calculator’ and ‘550/1’ ever again.

Be worth every penny.

[Pendil]

Charter Party for the Duke Nicholson won on the back of a handicap win in 1988 and got me out of a hole on my First visit to Cheltenham.
Hope I am not alone in thinking ABP winning a 3rd Gold Cup ls more boring than Best Mate.
I hope the connections run RP selfishly, but also to add a bit of zing to the race

[Istabraq]

Pendil

The great thing about NH racing is the affiliation we develop with returning heroes but the problem with Best Mate and Al Boum Photo is their infrequent visits to a racecourse.
I was brought up on the likes of Desert Orchid who ran 7/8 times a year throughout his career building up a huge following, it’s just impossible to have the same relationship with horses that only go 2/3 times a year.
Terrible to think that if ABP is successful in his bid for history that educated followers of the game have limited respect for him...

[Evesham Road]

I think if we want to attract new people into racing and for it to be seen in any way as a sport then we have to fight for the stars of the sport to operate at the highest possible level and pit their wits against each other.

The vast majority of sports give you no choice as you are graded or banded according to ability and your ability determines your opponent. This is done to ensure competition and competition ensures interest and appeal. The more racing allows for or worse still advocates reduced competition by providing easier options the less viable it becomes as a going concern imo.

A sport that allows a 166 rated opponent to compete against vastly inferior opponents has an intrinsic problem that will forever limit its ability to fully reach its potential imo. As the poster child of the NH season The Cheltenham festival should be the olympics not the fa cup.

I sort of see your point here, but for around a century, the FA Cup was arguably the pinnacle of what was and still is by some distance the most popular sport in this country. And now, the endless promotion of the 'stars' of that sport competing against one another, to the detriment of the many many others competing in their more normal or less glamorous way, is what is driving many of those with a long term passion for that sport away from the sanitised and somewhat shallow product it has as a result become.

It's not that your point isn't valid, on some levels I think ti is, just an interesting example you ended with, which made me consider what you had said in a different way.

There's a careful balance to be found.

[Rooster Booster]

I sort of see your point here, but for around a century, the FA Cup was arguably the pinnacle of what was and still is by some distance the most popular sport in this country. And now, the endless promotion of the 'stars' of that sport competing against one another, to the detriment of the many many others competing in their more normal or less glamorous way, is what is driving many of those with a long term passion for that sport away from the sanitised and somewhat shallow product it has as a result become.

It's not that your point isn't valid, on some levels I think ti is, just an interesting example you ended with, which made me consider what you had said in a different way.

There's a careful balance to be found.

Yes I take your point. My reference to the Olympics / FA Cup was to emphasise that the appeal of the Cheltenham festival is seeing the best against the best whereas the romance or appeal of the FA Cup for many is to see David against Goliath I.e the exact opposite.

So watching the preliminary heats of the olympics (athletics, swimming) is a lot less interesting (watching the best athletes coast through to the next round) than watching the semis and final when our juices start flowing as only then are the best against the best.

[Spectre]

Pendil

The great thing about NH racing is the affiliation we develop with returning heroes but the problem with Best Mate and Al Boum Photo is their infrequent visits to a racecourse.
I was brought up on the likes of Desert Orchid who ran 7/8 times a year throughout his career building up a huge following, it’s just impossible to have the same relationship with horses that only go 2/3 times a year.
Terrible to think that if ABP is successful in his bid for history that educated followers of the game have limited respect for him...

I think that's absolutely right. Although I know I shouldn't, that's how I feel. I should want to see Al Boum Photo taking his own bit of history, but I can't warm to him at all, and I actually want to see him beaten. It's a bit like Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry as World Snooker Champions. They were so incredibly boring in every imaginable way that I always wanted them to be beaten. That's how I feel about al Boum Photo.

I know Willie, and Hen before him, were only ever doing the right thing by the horse, by giving Al Boum Photo and Best Mate the very best chance of winning, but I can honestly say neither really properly register with me in the way they should. Between the two of them winning their Gold Cup's we've had 14 different winners, and of those I'd easily rank Kauto Star and Denman well above them, and most other winners at least on par despite being lower rated and one-off winners.

[Block 205]

So Henderson's worried about the effect that running Santini on potentially heavy ground over 3m1.5f at Cheltenham on 30th Jan might have on his Gold Cup prospects, and is proposing that a better alternative might be running at Haydock (where you'd obviously never see the word 'heavy' in the going description) over 3m4.5f on 20th Feb (less than 4 weeks before the race).

He really has lost the plot hasn't he?

[Outlaw]

So Henderson's worried about the effect that running Santini on potentially heavy ground over 3m1.5f at Cheltenham on 30th Jan might have on his Gold Cup prospects, and is proposing that a better alternative might be running at Haydock (where you'd obviously never see the word 'heavy' in the going description) over 3m4.5f on 20th Feb (less than 4 weeks before the race).

He really has lost the plot hasn't he?

Crackers ain’t he, hard to justify apart from potentially easier rivals but that’s rebuffed by less time untill the GC and of course Haydocks likely poor underfoot conditions

[Block 205]

Crackers ain’t he, hard to justify apart from potentially easier rivals but that’s rebuffed by less time untill the GC and of course Haydocks likely poor underfoot conditions

He'd be carrying 11-12 at Haydock too as opposed to 11-06 at Cheltenham - seems bizarre to me.

[Spectre]

Is he though? I can't remember who posted it, but I'm sure there's a stat about horses running on heavy during the season (or was it from January), and they then don't go on to win graded races at the Festival.

[Istabraq]

Crackers ain’t he, hard to justify apart from potentially easier rivals but that’s rebuffed by less time untill the GC and of course Haydocks likely poor underfoot conditions

Didn’t he criticise the clerk for course set up a couple of years ago when he claimed the fences had grown too high ?

[Quevega]

Didn’t he criticise the clerk for course set up a couple of years ago when he claimed the fences had grown too high ?

He's become racing's biggest Bell-end.

And there's some proper mushroom heads competing for it.

[Istabraq]

Is he though? I can't remember who posted it, but I'm sure there's a stat about horses running on heavy during the season (or was it from January), and they then don't go on to win graded races at the Festival.

Gold Cup Spectre.
Horses don’t win a Gold Cup if they’ve run on ground officially described at Heavy.
Davy Russell explained this at a preview eve a few years ago...

[Spectre]

Gold Cup Spectre.
Horses don’t win a Gold Cup if they’ve run on ground officially described at Heavy.
Davy Russell explained this at a preview eve a few years ago...

Thanks Istabraq. Hendo perhaps not bonkers afterall.

[Istabraq]

Thanks Istabraq. Hendo perhaps not bonkers afterall.

No I still think he’s bonkers, ground wasn’t heavy in Oct, Nov and Dec, he just keeps rolling out excuse after excuse.

The only thing I will say is that a number of Hendo’s have scoped badly recently and he’s keen to downplay the impact it’s had on some of his stars...