Cheltenham good and bad ride of the week

Plentyofice

Though Mccoy on Noble prince was superb and Ruby on Big bucks

I'm not one for knocking jockeys as they are true brilliant sportsmen but have to admit I was a bit disappointed by Unaccompanied getting blocked twice. Opinions ?:(
Also for a horse backed so heavily "Dirar" was never put into the race ? Opinions:mad:

mdwexford

Have to watch it again but on first reactions i thought Lee gave KK a bad ride in the Ryanair.

dodzy

Ruby yesterday on Final approach. Superb.

abouttobebanned

I wasn't totally enamoured by mcnamara's ride on On the Fringe

Load of great rides...derek o connor's 2 wins in particular

Morgans

Possibly a little far back but dont think it would have made any difference. Timed to reach the leaders at the last, just had one going too strong.

Its easy when they win but Sir Des Champs, Divers, Hurricane Fly, Big Bucks, Buena Vista got particularly good rides.

Poor rides. Harder to pin point - think McCoy and Tizzard went too soon in the first race. And maybe the Henderson pair cut their own throats in the last but very enough hard luck stories.

Morgans

I did think about Beautiful Sound and Maguire.

I think they went too quick for him over 2m5f on good ground early and he couldn't really go much quicker early, jumping stickily. If he was detatched early on purpose, it was a clear jockey error. Giving the benefit of the doubt to the jockey, i think he did well to get placed, having looked at one stage likely to tail off. That said, connections are probably rueing the fact that they didnt have a jockey that knew the horse better.

Its a fine line. Sometimes the leaders come back sometimes they dont. Sir Des Champs got a little lucky but ended up winning with a lot in hand.

Big Daddy Cool

as a 16 time champion armchair jockey, its easy for me to say what was good and what was bad , especially if the horse wins or loses, yes mullins got sir des champs up yesterday, but it was very similar to the ride maguire gave beautiful sound on thursday and that was a shocker, according to their other races both horses like to be up with the pace, but both looked like they missed the start a bit, also taught carberry on dirar yesterday was'nt the best either, had ruby and McCoy around him at 1 stage, they kicked on coming down the hill, and he was still practically last and cruising in behind a wall of horses yet still finished 7th.

ive no doubt about my choice for ride of the week, that goes to derek o'connor on chicago grey.

poor ride: probably maguire on beautiful sound.

amiable

Does anyone else think Emmett Mullins got out of jail yesterday on Sir Des Champs?
IMO he had the horse too far back and was very lucky to get there in the end.
Still can't believe he did get there and i backed him:)

Juwwi

Alot of jockeys seemed to panic andgo forhome too early imo and should of been hungonto longer especially Maljamar in the cross country.

A few bad rides that spring to mind l taught were
Maljamar in the cross country

For Non Stop in the coral cup

Yesterday Alaivan in the county hurdle.

Timmy murphy on Great Endevour was another but l dont think there was much he could do realy with rare bob pulling up whenin the lead.


Junior is the only one l can remember that went for home early and won.

Best ride l taught was on Sizing Europe .

DDC1990

Great Ride from Willie Twiston Davies on Baby Run was almost ride of the week. Had the balls to stick him out from the whole way round had everyone bar Derek O'Connor burned off. Such an unlucky way to finish. Deserved at least a battle to the line. Heart wen out to the lad.

Nulty

Al Ferof and First Lieutenent are worth a mention.

Have to say that Kalahari King was not the greatest ride but would he have got past Albertas Run? I don't think so. Ferdy Murphy said (paraphrase) after the race:

"The Americans always say 'You can't beat the stats', well...Kalahari King has been placed at 3 festivals and Albertas Run has won at 3 festivals"

Folski

I think Emmet Mullins ride of SDC was terrible, I'm well aware that he got him up on the line and all but he he been beat by anything from a nost to a length we'd be cursing him! Great recovery though he never should have had him so far back. I'd either give my ROTW to either Ruby on Big Bucks/Final Approach or Derek O'Connor on Chicago Grey!

DB10

DDC1990 wrote: »

Great Ride from Willie Twiston Davies on Baby Run was almost ride of the week. Had the balls to stick him out from the whole way round had everyone bar Derek O'Connor burned off. Such an unlucky way to finish. Deserved at least a battle to the line. Heart wen out to the lad.

You must be taking the piss.

He had the best horse by a mile and tried to be a hero at the last fence. Worst ride of the week rather.

Nulty

Folski wrote: »

I think Emmet Mullins ride of SDC was terrible, I'm well aware that he got him up on the line and all but he he been beat by anything from a nost to a length we'd be cursing him! Great recovery though he never should have had him so far back. I'd either give my ROTW to either Ruby on Big Bucks/Final Approach or Derek O'Connor on Chicago Grey!

I wish it was an even worse ride! I had Son of Flicka who ran a blinder off top weight with a claimer on board.

UrbanSea

I was gutted,I was going to back Derek O'Connor's horse yesterday just because he was on it but didn't.

I know Pyro had backed Get me out of Here and didn't want to see him losing money,but I was absolutely delighted he got beaten on the line.
Backed him first time out this season and if that run wasn't a non tryer then I don't know what was.

Mr.Conners

Folski wrote: »

I think Emmet Mullins ride of SDC was terrible, I'm well aware that he got him up on the line and all but he he been beat by anything from a nost to a length we'd be cursing him! Great recovery though he never should have had him so far back. I'd either give my ROTW to either Ruby on Big Bucks/Final Approach or Derek O'Connor on Chicago Grey!

You are berating Emmet for his ride but Ruby's ride was almost identical was it not? Or did Emmet do something drastically wrong I missed?

If the horse doesn't want to travel at the gallop they are going the jockey can do little, better to try and get a tune out of them close to home which is what Emmet and Ruby did brilliantly.

Winning Ways Racing

These are only my opinions but they might be controversial:

Carberry was terrible on Son Amix but Ruby was worse on Sivota. O'Farrell was good on the winner though. Clearly Ruby and Paul knew nothing about Buena Vista as you cannot give him that much of a head start. He's like Lough Derg, does not stop.

Ruby got lucky on Final Approach and gave it only a marginally better ride than Sivota.

Emmet Mullins did nothing wrong on Sir Des Champs. He was flat out a long way from home and he was minding him rather than being clever.

Graham Lee rode identical races on Kalahari and Divers. He likes going round the inside at Cheltenham and coming late. Worked on one, not the other.

I thought Geraghty gave Finians Rainbow a great ride but still got beaten. He was excellent on Bobs Worth. Not so sure about Zeb. Should have engaged earlier.

Sam Thomas did nothing wrong with Denman. Neither did Waley Cohen.

Puppy Power did absolutely nothing wrong on Oscars Well and Bostons Angel and the man is riding with a heap of confidence at the moment. Unlucky not to double up.

Flancrest

DB10 wrote: »

You must be taking the piss.

He had the best horse by a mile and tried to be a hero at the last fence. Worst ride of the week rather.

Agh for the love of be Jaysus not you again will you get over it. I'd nearly give you back the money you lost just so I don't have to see your stupid opinions every time I log on

wellpastit

I think Rubys best ride was on Kauto. I know he didnt win but Ruby almost dictated the race to get his horse into a rythm and the speed Ruby wanted to go not anyone else. He then sent him on with a circuit to go... He didnt win but he got his best chance due to Rubys race riding

Esroh

DB10 wrote: »

You must be taking the piss.

He had the best horse by a mile and tried to be a hero at the last fence. Worst ride of the week rather.

I read your comments yesterday as well. Have you ever ridden a race or even a fence at speed.
Put yourself in a 16 year olds shoes when he is hoping to do what his brother did last year and win the Amature Gold Cup on a horse owned by his mother.
So he got a rush of blood to his head at 16 and did ask for a big one when it was better to sit still.
Do you really think that he was thinking about your bet. Betting is a sideline benifit of racing. Ask the winning connection which they would take, a big place pay out on a bet or a winner at Cheltenham without any bet at all


Paul Townend did exactly the same on Quel Esprit in the RSA at the 3rd last asking for a big one. You dont seemed to have noticed is it because your pocket did not hurt that time

istabraq

Ruby on So Young was a bad ride he thought he was on a machine and waited too long to put it in the race until coming down to the last where he managed to get bumped and jumped poorly and lost his chance

cson

istabraq wrote: »

Ruby on So Young was a bad ride he thought he was on a machine and waited too long to put it in the race until coming down to the last where he managed to get bumped and jumped poorly and lost his chance

Wouldn't blame Ruby for that; Davy [the criminal] squeezed him out at the last hurdle.

brandon_flowers

I'd give Robbie Power my vote because I had both Oscars Well and Bostons Angel backed but thought his confidence would be shot after Oscars Wells standing on the last. He may not have won but he was after giving him every chance. I read somewhere where he went and had a can of Coke and a fag and went out and rode like nothing had happened.

Both of Derek O Connors winning rides were superb and I also thought McCoy gave Get Me Out of Here a super ride only to be done on the line.

The one that no one has mentoned is Daryl Jacob's ride on Zarkandar, OK he was on a machine but the overhead showed just how good he was at placing the horse nearest the horses who were going best.

minty16

Albertas Run was the ride of the week for me. Brilliantly judged, never travelled like the winner, but they were never getting near him at the end. Vintage Tony McCoy. Excellent.

Maljimar was given a shocker. Jacob far too confident with real staying types in behind him. Didn't give the horse the best chance he could by sitting for so long.

Good rides that spring to mind are Noble Prince, Chicago Grey and Sizing Europe.
Ones who could have done better are Sprinter Sacre, Baby Run, Finans Rainbow , Beautiful Sound and Unaccompanied.

RichieLawlor

Sam Waley Cohen deserves some plaudits for his ride on Long Run. any professional would be happy with that ride.

And Andrew Lynch on Sizing Europe was a fantastic ride.

kfallon

Best 'Justice' moment of the week was Get Me Out Of Here getting chinned on the line, horse had been a non-trier all season and it was just a stroke. His 'runs' at Ascot and Newbury were nothing short of disgraceful, they should have been hauled up in front of the stewards as soon as he crossed the finishing line on Friday tho I can imagine Jonjo:

"Well really he's a grand little hoss really and he improved really for a wind op and the better ground really!"

longshotvalue

kfallon wrote: »

Best 'Justice' moment of the week was Get Me Out Of Here getting chinned on the line, horse had been a non-trier all season and it was just a stroke. His 'runs' at Ascot and Newbury were nothing short of disgraceful, they should have been hauled up in front of the stewards as soon as he crossed the finishing line on Friday tho I can imagine Jonjo:

"Well really he's a grand little hoss really and he improved really for a wind op and the better ground really!"

In fairness a lot of horses are tagetted at the festival, if non triers were really punished there would be hardly anyone left. especially in ireland.

Very similiar to Beuna vista and Barizan. I loved seeing Buena vista win, but really he was a totally differant horse ,and altough it is somewhat related to ground he obviously wasnt fully tuned up until the day. The minute he shot of in front id loved to have seen the in running market on betfair, he had to be a very short fav at that stage..

mailburner

i'd totally written of barizan so that run came as a surprise to me.
didnt see gmoohs other runs but if it was that blantant then im
glad it was chinned

worst ride of the week for me was definitely beautiful sound which
i had backed also
not sure what the instructions were or maybe the jockey thought
he was going to win regardless of how far back the horse was.
That was so frustrating to watch to put it mildly
easily the best horse in that race though.
quite a few people on boards will agree the winner at 25s was
given the best ride they'd seen in a long long time though

minty16

Love to see Barizan off that mark over 2miles.

longshotvalue

minty16 wrote: »

Love to see Barizan off that mark over 2miles.

I just cant see him not getting something soon enough . Aintree or Punchestown will really suit him, he ran sensational last year in Punchestown.

hucklebuck

RichieLawlor wrote: »

Sam Waley Cohen deserves some plaudits for his ride on Long Run. any professional would be happy with that ride.

Is this a wind up? He got in close to one, clattered two and should have got a ban for careless riding after almost putting Pandorama through the railings, he looked and then cut across when there was no room. Long Run is a machine and won the Gold Cup because of this.

mdwexford

Have to watch it again but Sams ride looked fine to me.

How can you blame him for hitting fences, hes not the one jumping them. We all know the horse isnt the cleanest of jumpers yet.

premierstone

Have to agree with Richie and MD here, SWC gave the horse a peach of a ride and try and even for one second contemplate the pressure he was under it was a very impressive performance, sounds like to me your either a Denman/Kauto fan or just a bit bitter that Sam is fortunate enough that he's father was in a position to buy a horse like that and put him up on it, hardly the lads fault now is it??

hucklebuck

My point was for me it wasn't a peach of a ride due to a few mistakes, hardly knocking anyone. I also said Long Run was a machine.

Care to clarify what you call a good ride? For me it is a good round of jumping, getting the horse travelling and getting him first past the post. Sounds like your idea of a good ride is if the horse wins and that is it, plenty of good rides every day so!!

Paddy Brennan made a mistake and Imperial burst a blood vessel, Long Run got away with his.

I think Sam Thomas gave Denman a fantastic ride by the way.

Davy Russell on First Lieutenant was a good ride too.

hucklebuck

mdwexford wrote: »

Have to watch it again but Sams ride looked fine to me.

How can you blame him for hitting fences, hes not the one jumping them. We all know the horse isnt the cleanest of jumpers yet.

So any horse that falls it's never the jockeys fault? I think his jumping has improved hugely, I thought he was excellent in the King George.

Colonel Sanders

Must admit I was one of Davy Russell's harshest critics when riding around Cheltenham

However following on from an excellent ride on Weapons Amnesty last year gave First Lieutenant a power packed ride this year also

McCoy was supreme on Albertas Run last year but was probably given an easy lead. No such easy lead this year but was great on the same horse again

Others that impressed me were Andrew Lynch on Sizing Europe & Derrick O'Connor on Chicago Grey

Thought Ruby was very poor on Sivota but hate to criticise one of the greatest NH jockeys ever

mdwexford

hucklebuck wrote: »

So any horse that falls it's never the jockeys fault? I think his jumping has improved hugely, I thought he was excellent in the King George.

Rarely is id say. It has improved but he still hits at least three per race and your heart is in your mouth the whole way round.

gscully

hucklebuck wrote: »

I think Sam Thomas gave Denman a fantastic ride by the way.

He may have ridden him without a mistake, but I think by keeping him on the outside, he lost valuable lengths. Same in the Hennessy. Diamond Harry's trainer said Denman gave them 12 lengths by staying on the outside. Denman would've finished a lot closer if he'd taken the inside line like Ruby & Kauto did.

premierstone

gscully wrote: »

He may have ridden him without a mistake, but I think by keeping him on the outside, he lost valuable lengths. Same in the Hennessy. Diamond Harry's trainer said Denman gave them 12 lengths by staying on the outside. Denman would've finished a lot closer if he'd taken the inside line like Ruby & Kauto did.

Different horses require different handling and Im sure there was a reason for him travelling on the outside, Paul Nicholls knows the horse better than any of us or indeed Nick Williams and Im sure Sam was riding to instructions and Sam himself has ridden the horse to win a Gold Cup, he was simply beaten by an up and coming superstar in the GC and by a horse he was giving nearly 2st in the hennesy.

gscully

premierstone wrote: »

Different horses require different handling and Im sure there was a reason for him travelling on the outside, Paul Nicholls knows the horse better than any of us or indeed Nick Williams and Im sure Sam was riding to instructions and Sam himself has ridden the horse to win a Gold Cup, he was simply beaten by an up and coming superstar in the GC and by a horse he was giving nearly 2st in the hennesy.

Yet Denman won his Gold Cup by sitting behind Neptune Collonges and then taking the pace up. At no time did he run wide then, so it's hardly a case of the track being too tight. He may not have won anyway, but running him wide gave him less of a chance. It's just my opinion though

Hulk Hands

I thought Derek O'Conner on Chicago Grey, Ruby on Al Ferof, Kauto Star and McCoy on Albertas were the best.

Timmy Murphy was rather poor on all his rides all week. Ghraeme Lee lost 10 lenghts at the start on Divers and got lucky. Also poor on KK. Ruby was rather poor on So Young, especially between 3 out and the last. Poorish on Sivota too. Hate to criticise the young lad but WTD went off too fast on Baby Run and the horse was spent when he fell.

hucklebuck

mdwexford wrote: »

Rarely is id say. It has improved but he still hits at least three per race and your heart is in your mouth the whole way round.

I wouldn't agree with rarely, most tracks require a good jumping rhythm which has to be set by the jockey, for example railway fences, you hit the first and it takes a real good jockey to ensure you don't hit the next 2.

Cohen is picking up more rides and the more he rides and the more races Long Run gets the better they should get. My mind is running away with me:eek:

premierstone

I think huclebuck you are putting far too much emphasis on the jockey with regard to jumping, some horse just cant jump or are sloppy jumpers doesnt matter what kind of rhythm you get them into they will make mistakes, the jockey cant physically lift them over the fences.

Hulk Hands

If Sam Waley-Cohen was named Tom Daly and was a simple young lad from Tramore rather than the son of a millionaire, people wouldn't have half as much of a problem with him

hucklebuck

premierstone wrote: »

I think huclebuck you are putting far too much emphasis on the jockey with regard to jumping, some horse just cant jump or are sloppy jumpers doesnt matter what kind of rhythm you get them into they will make mistakes, the jockey cant physically lift them over the fences.

I think you are putting too much emphasis on the horse, to take your argument where do you stand on Denman at Newbury last February? Was it a good ride by Mc Coy or is Denman a bad jumper?

hucklebuck

Hulk Hands wrote: »

If Sam Waley-Cohen was named Tom Daly and was a simple young lad from Tramore rather than the son of a millionaire, people wouldn't have half as much of a problem with him

I hope this isn't directed at me, I admit I did not think much of Cohen after the Paddy Power as I think so much of Long Run and I posted such. He gave him a peach of a ride in the King George and an alright ride in the Gold Cup, I never said it was a bad ride, I said it was not a good ride.

I don't know how much money Geraghty's dad has but I would still prefer to see Barry on Long Run and it's purely to see how good the horse really is.

Hulk Hands

hucklebuck wrote: »

I hope this isn't directed at me, I admit I did not think much of Cohen after the Paddy Power as I think so much of Long Run and I posted such. He gave him a peach of a ride in the King George and an alright ride in the Gold Cup, I never said it was a bad ride, I said it was not a good ride.

I don't know how much money Geraghty's dad has but I would still prefer to see Barry on Long Run and it's purely to see how good the horse really is.

Nah, it's directed at the racing public in general, even more so across the pond. If the owner was a normal farmer who bought one horse and stuck his son up on board...everyone would be calling it the most heartwarming story ever.

But because it the Waley Cohens and everthing is high profile, people throw in their snide digs. I think it's a good story. The only problem I had with Sam was when they withdraw Long Run from his Cheltenham prep last year because Sam wanted to ride another horse elsewhere. I thought it was wrong to restrict the horses development and treat it as Sam's plaything. Otherwise, I'd rather see him riding LR than anyone else.

Brian O'Connell is a worse jockey, but the owners of Dunguib would recieve far more criticism for jocking him off than the WC's would for replacing Sam.

HigginsJ

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Nah, it's directed at the racing public in general, even more so across the pond. If the owner was a normal farmer who bought one horse and stuck his son up on board...everyone would be calling it the most heartwarming story ever.

But because it the Waley Cohens and everthing is high profile, people throw in their snide digs. I think it's a good story. The only problem I had with Sam was when they withdraw Long Run from his Cheltenham prep last year because Sam wanted to ride another horse elsewhere. I thought it was wrong to restrict the horses development and treat it as Sam's plaything. Otherwise, I'd rather see him riding LR than anyone else.

Brian O'Connell is a worse jockey, but the owners of Dunguib would recieve far more criticism for jocking him off than the WC's would for replacing Sam.

No-one would criticise them for jocking off O'Connell. Needs to be tried at this stage. Especially if he goes novice chasing next year. Get proper jockey on board.