Horse of the year - Dylan Thomas....

Colonel Sanders

voting ends today and I'd love to see Dylan get it. Everyone please send an e-mail to horseoftheyear@racingpost.co.uk with "Dylan Thomas" in the subject field.

If mdwexford is looking in I know you'll vote for Kauto so ignore this

mdwexford

Damn You Colonel Sanders!!!! :D

In all fairness though its between an average flat horse who was lucky to be around in a time when there was no decent horses or the best jumps horse of the past 20 years who destroyed everything and was champion at all distances which has not been done before as far i can remember. Plus the flat is rubbish and the jumps is best......

You know who to vote for folks.

ChuckProphet

i can't recall too many "average" flat horses previously winning the champion stakes, king george and arc in the same year!!

Colonel Sanders

ChuckProphet wrote: »

i can't recall too many "average" flat horses previously winning the champion stakes, king george and arc in the same year!!

Hear hear. champion stakes two years in a row beating ouija board the 1st year. Also wins the tatts gold cup. Arc win was against a competitive field (fair enough maybe the best horses in the field didn't fill the places) on unsuitable ground.

I understand MD's point about the opposition but I think its harsh to call DT 'average'.

Angles

have to disagree with this thread...dylan thomas is not the horse of the year, all the big races he has won the fields have cut up into poor quality events.going back he wasn't even the stable first string for the english derby..can't agree with fallon...horses i give special mention to on the flat this year.....

Manduro - best horse full stop

New Approach - by miles the best 2 yr old, with the attitude of a champion, puts the head down and drives to the line...

Finsceal Beo - champion 2 yr old who did not disappoint at the start of season, trainer inflicted a brutal campaign on her, she didn't deserve that.....

Peeping Fawn - my favourite, a real star, can't wait to see her out again..

Hawk Wing

Angles wrote: »

he wasn't even the stable first string for the english derby....

what has that got to do with anything? DT is a high quality horse, you don't win six group 1's by being consistently lucky

Colonel Sanders

Angles wrote: »

he wasn't even the stable first string for the english derby.

Doesn't make a difference, jockeys, trainers. bookmakers etc get it wrong all the time. Sinndar was one of the best middle distance horses of the last 10 trs but if you look through his form you will see a horse called Bernstein started 1/3ish to beat him in the national stakes. Look at both horses subsequent career records to see what my point is here..... Also I believe that race took place in 2006, talking about 2007 horse of the year. Winning the champion stakes for the 2nd year in a row as well as the king george, arc and tatts gold cup makes him a winner in my book. And before anyone asks maybe there is a slight tinge of patriotism here as well

Shan75

It doesn't matter if he wasn't the first string for the Derby.Neither was High Chaparral and he proved in the long run to be a far superior horse to Hawk Wing and is one of the best turf horses of the 21st Century, not that he ever gets the credit.Dylan I believe is similar though not as good.They both are essentially 12f horses but managed to win the champion over 10f at Leopardstown which is quite tight.HC no doubt beat a much better field.Also DT won the Arc on unsuitable ground having already had 7 races this year.A champion no doubt.The best turf horse this year and one of the best last year as well and not too far off the best of the last ten years.

mdwexford

Kauto Star took it down!!!

First jumps horse since One Man to do so, good to see the public recognise true greatness when they see it.

http://www.racingpost.co.uk/news/master.sd?psection=racingpost.co.uk&page=News&category=News&story_id=946440

Shan75

A deserved reward for a class horse.I thought this thread was about flat horse of the year(that will teach me to read the entire thing after the way I went on about DT) and if it had been then I think DT would have got it.Hopefully he will win the Hong Kong Vase in the morning so he can bow out in style.I have my money down anyway which I hope won't ruin his chance.6-4---A bit of a short price for my liking but if he is in good shape he is the best horse by a good few pounds.

Shan75

Well Dylan Thomas rather fades out.I read O'Brien's comments after the race and it sounded like he didn't care really and knew the horse had no chance before the race.What was the point of running him if he didn't even had a chance of competing or is this just more of the usual useless and nonsensical talk we always get from O'Brien.I don't know why they bother interviewing him at all as he never talks honestly before races and always seems to come out with the gem "He has great natural speed" no matter what horse he is talking about.Does he even know what this means?I am not doubting his ability as a trainer mind you but he just annoys me at times.

bluemarlin

so you'll be backing kauto for the coming season ?

Shan75

bluemarlin wrote: »

so you'll be backing kauto for the coming season ?

If you are asking me I would say no.I have never backed him before and I won't start now.I think he was fantastic last year but despite his record, for some strange reason, I still don't fully trust him.

mdwexford

Shan75 wrote: »

If you are asking me I would say no.I have never backed him before and I won't start now.

That is flawed thinking. If you aspire to be any way successful at backing horses you really shouldnt just decide to never back a certain horse ever. There are plenty of horses i am not a fan of and have never backed but in the right situation if they look the value i would back them.

Of course if your only in it for the fun/sport of it then none of the above applies.

Shan75

mdwexford wrote: »

That is flawed thinking. If you aspire to be any way successful at backing horses you really shouldnt just decide to never back a certain horse ever. There are plenty of horses i am not a fan of and have never backed but in the right situation if they look the value i would back them.

Of course if your only in it for the fun/sport of it then none of the above applies.

I'd agree with what you are saying but I feel I may have missed the boat in relation to Kauto Star and you are unlikely to get value by backing him now.I may have overstated the case slightly by declaring I would never back him.I might if I felt it was worth it but to be honest although in the main he jumps well I still would worry that one of his mistakes would cost him on the day I backed him.