cracking day today

[brockguy]

im off to leopardstown.. i really wanna see how good aran concerto is. havent seen any of his races yet, but Meade is so high on him. There a few other good supporting cards and the Hennessy of course.

Youve also got a great card over at Newbury with all the top 2 milers, Kauto, Denman and the Tote Gold Trophy. I havent had a great look, but will have a small bit on Kawango at a massive price..
Throw in the Rugby and the Football and you have some sporting day.

[Unstable]

Did you see Kauto Star today?

He can't make those sort of mistakes at Cheltenham if he is to win the Gold Cup, the fances are far too stiff there to be able to get away with mistakes like that.

When he is really racing he seems to have to make mistakes.

I think the fences will catch him out at Cheltenham, you can't back a horse at 7/4 for the Gold Cup when his jumping still isn't sound.

[brockguy]

He wins or falls.. Bookies will surely offer a price on him falling.. He made a howler at the last, but the strange thing was that he didnt really look like falling. I agree, though that he can't possibly do that at cheltenham..

Well Chief looked very good today, could bounce at Cheltenham though..
Was so happy for the Beef today, what a great performance, the place went mental when he got up on the line..
Whyso Mayo looked very very good in the Hunters Chase.. He'll be tough to beat again at Cheltenham.
Aran Concerto looked class but still not totally convinced, I would have liked Catch Me to have finished.

[Unstable]

Originally Posted by brockguy

He wins or falls.. Bookies will surely offer a price on him falling.. He made a howler at the last, but the strange thing was that he didnt really look like falling. I agree, though that he can't possibly do that at cheltenham..

Well Chief looked very good today, could bounce at Cheltenham though..
Was so happy for the Beef today, what a great performance, the place went mental when he got up on the line..
Whyso Mayo looked very very good in the Hunters Chase.. He'll be tough to beat again at Cheltenham.
Aran Concerto looked class but still not totally convinced, I would have liked Catch Me to have finished.

I think many jocks would have come off Kauto today, Ruby is class. I doubt he's looking forward to riding him over those tricky downhill fences though!!!!! I know i wouldn't!

Well Chief was different class today, i backed him thinking if he was close to beig fit he would win well with the weight he was getting. He beat Azertyuiop and was only beaten by the great Moscow in the champion chase a couple of years ago. 4 weeks til the festival, so the bounce factor shouldnt be too much of an issue, if it was 2weeks then they might have a problem.

I was really Impressed with Aran Concerto today, don't forget, Leading Run himself is a very nice horse, was the best bumper horse i have seen in a long time and is still a graded hurdler. The way Aran Concerto picked up really impressed me. which race do you think he will go for at the festival now?

[brockguy]

Originally Posted by NoChanceToDance

I think many jocks would have come off Kauto today, Ruby is class. I doubt he's looking forward to riding him over those tricky downhill fences though!!!!! I know i wouldn't!

Well Chief was different class today, i backed him thinking if he was close to beig fit he would win well with the weight he was getting. He beat Azertyuiop and was only beaten by the great Moscow in the champion chase a couple of years ago. 4 weeks til the festival, so the bounce factor shouldnt be too much of an issue, if it was 2weeks then they might have a problem.

I was really Impressed with Aran Concerto today, don't forget, Leading Run himself is a very nice horse, was the best bumper horse i have seen in a long time and is still a graded hurdler. The way Aran Concerto picked up really impressed me. which race do you think he will go for at the festival now?

I'd say they'll go for the 2m5 race with Aran unless the ground is very soft.

Well Chief certainly looks the best 2m winner at the moment. But so many doubts over the others. Voy Por fell so we dont know how he would have fared (though i dont think he was entirely happy yesterday), Foreman didnt run a lick. The irish 2milers are an odd bunch. I had high hopes for Sporazene but his jumping again let him down yesterday and wih Ashleybrook flying off, was always under pressure.

[Unstable]

I would have liked to have seen VPU complete the race just see what would have happened between him and Well Chief.

Foremand did run a shocker considering he is usually a very consistant sort.

I think the 2m5f race would be the best option for Aran. What do you think about Perce Rock. I can't understand why they ran him last week, he had such a hard race in the Tolworth and i don't understand why they dropped him in trip. With a break i think he could give Aran Concerto something to think about at the festival (if he still goes).

Really rated him last year, i backed him in the champion bumper and he was staying on too late over that trip, so it baffled me that they were dropping him back in trip.

[Hwjb]

Originally Posted by NoChanceToDance

I think many jocks would have come off Kauto today, Ruby is class. I doubt he's looking forward to riding him over those tricky downhill fences though!!!!! I know i wouldn't!

Well Chief was different class today, i backed him thinking if he was close to beig fit he would win well with the weight he was getting. He beat Azertyuiop and was only beaten by the great Moscow in the champion chase a couple of years ago. 4 weeks til the festival, so the bounce factor shouldnt be too much of an issue, if it was 2weeks then they might have a problem.

I was really Impressed with Aran Concerto today, don't forget, Leading Run himself is a very nice horse, was the best bumper horse i have seen in a long time and is still a graded hurdler. The way Aran Concerto picked up really impressed me. which race do you think he will go for at the festival now?

I reckon Ruby will be looking forward to the prospect of riding Kauto Star at those downhill fences immensely if he's travelling as strongly as he has for 99% of his 5 races so far this season and he has the Gold Cup at his mercy!!!

I think there's a real danger that the media fears regarding KS's jumping are going to overshadow the brilliance of his achievements in bringing up the 5-timer this season. He's over a stone clear of his closest challengers - and lets not forget that the British duo Exotic and Listener have had jumping problems of their own in the past.
Similarly I would be far more concerned about the fact that War of Attrition has lost his last 3 races than I would that Kauto Star has made a couple of (serious) errors in winning.


For me it's a close run thing as to whether Kauto or Well Chief are the banker of the meeting. That horse is similarly far clear of his field on ratings, and if all goes well over the next few weeks surely he wins. He was actually running about a stone behind his best form in winning at the weekend, but without the likes of Moscow Flyer and Azertyuiop around it seems unlikely that he'll needs to reproduce his form of 2 seasons ago.

Aran Concerto didn't really tell us anything new and remains a most exciting prospect. He doesn't look short on speed, but his pedigree suggests 20f+ will provide his optimum test. The old SunAlliance has to be the race for him.

Whilst on the subject, I'm struggling to believe that Lounaos is still such a big price (11/2) for the Triumph. For all that Katchit is likeable, he's lacking in scope, and Lounaos has considerably better form to his name. There's no way he'd be that big if he were trained by Noel Meade, for example. Mountain is likely to do better but is far too short anyway, and Degas Art is probably the one towards the top of the betting who I'd fear most.

[Unstable]

Originally Posted by Hwjb

I reckon Ruby will be looking forward to the prospect of riding Kauto Star at those downhill fences immensely if he's travelling as strongly as he has for 99% of his 5 races so far this season and he has the Gold Cup at his mercy!!!

I think there's a real danger that the media fears regarding KS's jumping are going to overshadow the brilliance of his achievements in bringing up the 5-timer this season. He's over a stone clear of his closest challengers - and lets not forget that the British duo Exotic and Listener have had jumping problems of their own in the past.
Similarly I would be far more concerned about the fact that War of Attrition has lost his last 3 races than I would that Kauto Star has made a couple of (serious) errors in winning.


For me it's a close run thing as to whether Kauto or Well Chief are the banker of the meeting. That horse is similarly far clear of his field on ratings, and if all goes well over the next few weeks surely he wins. He was actually running about a stone behind his best form in winning at the weekend, but without the likes of Moscow Flyer and Azertyuiop around it seems unlikely that he'll needs to reproduce his form of 2 seasons ago.

Aran Concerto didn't really tell us anything new and remains a most exciting prospect. He doesn't look short on speed, but his pedigree suggests 20f+ will provide his optimum test. The old SunAlliance has to be the race for him.

Whilst on the subject, I'm struggling to believe that Lounaos is still such a big price (11/2) for the Triumph. For all that Katchit is likeable, he's lacking in scope, and Lounaos has considerably better form to his name. There's no way he'd be that big if he were trained by Noel Meade, for example. Mountain is likely to do better but is far too short anyway, and Degas Art is probably the one towards the top of the betting who I'd fear most.

I agree about Kauto, and i probably overshadowed his performances with his blunders, but still. With the fences being much stiffer at chelters, and with him making mistakes in most of his chase starts, i would prefer to be backing him not to complete. Nicholls has said he will make things better, but he has also said that he never makes mistakes at home, so if he never makes at home, how can he improve him??

Is it the third or second last that has caused many horses problems at Cheltenham, in the past? I can never remember.

I see Aran has been well backed for the Supreme just lately (although i havent looked at the old sunalliance race market lately), maybe they are seriously considering a tilt at the supreme....... in my opinion it is a better race to win.

I think Well Chief will win, although i think a fully recovered and fit VPU will be a very big danger and i think WC will drift on the day.

As far as the Triumph goes, i always get dragged into this race head first. I backed Jayo at a massive price before he dotted up first time, I aslo backed Tritonix months and months ago and got on Mountain at 20's, which i think is fair. If i'm honest, i expect mountain to win. His win at Sandown wasn't visually impressive but if he hadn't have jumped slowly towards the finish, he would have won 4lengths maybe more, and if someone like Murphy was on board i'm sure he would have won 'hard held' McCoy makes things look like slightly harder than they actually are.