Tag Archive for: Goshen

Monday Musings: You Can’t Make ’em Drink

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You can take a horse to Ascot, but you can’t make him run, writes Tony Stafford. This November 2022 re-working of the old proverb, where opportunities are spurned by those to whom they are presented, fitted nicely into events at that most wonderful of British racecourses last weekend.

Top hats and fashion in high summer or Barbour jackets and a hot toddy as winter takes hold, are all the same to the British public, enticed by Ascot’s Royal-ness but equally by the imaginative marketing of its executive.

Often admission prices are moderated even if that doesn’t hold for the catering. I wasn’t there on Saturday and while some of the 14 equine absentees from the seven races, leaving a total to run of 30, will have gone to the track, their trainers for the most part will have made the decision not to allow valuable animals to run on ground faster than had been anticipated.

The magnet was the £615k total money on offer. The advertised amount beforehand might well have been more, but for some time now where there are fewer runners than available prizes – or indeed if non-finishers result in that happening – the old way of bumping up the winner’s prize no longer applies.

In any case, 615 grand was a fair enticement and even such as Michael Buckley, owner of the one horse everyone wanted to see on Saturday, would have liked to have picked up the £56,000 Coral Hurdle for an exhibition round by Constitution Hill.

Not so Nicky Henderson, trainer of the horse that, in three runs culminating in that scintillating 22-length demolition of stablemate Jonbon in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, has even supplanted the unbeaten and present dual title-holder Honeysuckle in Champion Hurdle betting.

Henderson resisted the temptation of sending him on to Aintree last spring for the near guarantee of another big pot, but in hindsight, maybe the experience of connections of two more of Saturday’s elite absentees fully vindicated his decision.

Both Edwardstone, due to run in the 2m1f Hurst Park Handicap Chase (£65k to the winner) and L’Homme Presse, one of three pulled out of the Chanelle Pharma 1965 Chase, 39k; like Constitution Hill, were novice winners at the Festival.

L’Homme Presse won the Brown Advisory Chase over just a shade beyond three miles on the fifth start of a hitherto unbeaten season. Edwardstone’s coincidental fifth unbeaten run of 2021-2 came in the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the minimum trip that week.

Both, unlike the Henderson star, did go on to Aintree in April and each lost his winning sequence, Edwardstone only second to the Irish-trained Gentleman De Mee and L’Homme Presse finishing a well-beaten third of four behind Ahoy Senor.

The pair collected a few bob in defeat and brought the duo’s earnings for the season respectively to £245k (Edwardstone) and £225k for Venetia Williams’ horse. That little bit of money in the bank helped no doubt in Alan King’s and Ms Williams’ pitch to the owners that the wisest course on Saturday was to stand aside.

So far Constitution Hill has barely scratched the surface of the riches in store, those three victories amounting to £125k. But Buckley has seen it all before while Henderson still agonises about the time he allowed Altior to run in a three-horse race but a virtual match at Ascot over 2m4f. He believes adamantly that not only did it ruin Altior, but also his one serious opponent Cyrname and still regrets that he was persuaded in part by the clamour within the media for the race to be staged.

He will now need to shuffle his pack to bring the pre-Champion Hurdle lead-up for this horse, and previous winner Epatante, up to date. J P McManus’ mare has had the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday pencilled in for her return to action, as it has for the past two years.

She won it easily in 2020 but last year had to accept a share of the prize with Hughie Morrison’s versatile toughie Not So Sleepy. With options at the top level rather limited, who is to say that the Henderson big two might not take each other on? It wouldn’t be the first time the trainer has done that.

Indeed, he allowed Constitution Hill and McManus’ Jonbon to meet, just as six years earlier Altior and J P’s Buveur D’Air crossed swords in the same Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Altior came out comfortably on top then with his team-mate in third. Henderson was adamant after the race that he would send Altior straight over fences which he did the following autumn with extravagant success. Buveur D’Air meanwhile remained over hurdles and won the Champion Hurdle in each of the next two seasons. Obviously, the best hurdler of his era was wasting his time winning his first 14 steeplechases!

The Cyrname defeat was followed with one more win, but two further defeats suggested not only was Henderson right about Altior’s being bottomed that day at Ascot, but also that it couldn’t be justified running on Saturday as the over-efficient Ascot drainage system allied to the very low water table after the summer drought, makes for rapid changes in surfaces after rain and then dry spells.

One man’s meat – it’s ages since I used or even thought of a proverb; how about a fool and his money, etc, says Mrs S? – is another man’s opportunity. Gary Moore, king of opportunism in racing, got an unexpected dividend with stable favourite Goshen.

It was entirely in character that this man, who along with Alan King can win any type of race any time of year – there are others who we should mention, of course, in the cause of wokeness – should not balk at opposing the putative champ, even if his horse had a reputation to repair.

Clearly not enjoying his first experience of chasing last month even though it was at Ascot, his favourite track, there had to have been a chance that being smashed up by Constitution Hill would leave the sort of scar in Goshen that Henderson feared for his horse.

In the event he was left with only the three to beat in the Coral Hurdle, and you would never have thought he had been away. As to Gary Moore, he also won the main back-up race to the Betfair Chase at Haydock with the ultra-tough Botox Has. I can’t wait to see this powerful six-year-old try chases, which must surely be on the agenda in the future.

Amid all the riches on offer for the remaining Ascot 30, the 0-130 handicap hurdle for mares was worth a derisory £6,753 to the winner. But that apart, I know, it was the happy culmination of five years’ expectation and some disappointments along the road for the proprietor of this website who also happens to be the man who finds most of my many errors each week.

Coquelicot runs in the colours of Geegeez.co.uk PA, and she was winning her fifth race in 14 under a fine ride by Rex Dingle. Matt Bisogno’s sponsorship of the jockey and support for the mare’s trainer Anthony Honeyball has been as constant as the many years I’ve been penning these words.

Matt related from the winner’s circle afterwards that Saturday provided the thrill of his racing life and he sent the photo of a proud younger-looking editor holding the Soldier Of Fortune filly’s bridle right after he bought her five years ago today (Monday) for €26k at Arqana’s Autumn Mixed sale. I hope he puts it atop this week’s posting.

Coquelicot, bought as a yearling at Arqana in November 2017

Coquelicot, bought as a yearling at Arqana, November 21st 2017

 

Coquelicot and Rex Dingle win the Mariner System Mares' Handicap Hurdle in the geezgeez colours at Ascot. 19/11/2022 Pic Steve Davies/Racingfotos.com

Coquelicot and Rex Dingle win the Mariner System Mares' Handicap Hurdle in the geegeez colours at Ascot. 19/11/2022 Pic Steve Davies/Racingfotos.com

A half-sister to Melbourne Cup second and, before that, Ebor winner Hearbreak City, she has a future as a broodmare awaiting her, but plenty of winning to be done in the meantime. Matt has had lots of winners with his syndicates, but never a day like Saturday. As he says: “Didn’t those big horses run? I hadn’t noticed!” Not really folks!

The big races will be coming on apace now and on the same day as the Fighting Fifth, Newbury’s highlight is the newly-designated Coral (recently Ladbroke, same firm) Gold Cup Chase – but still, to oldies like me, the Hennessy which it was until 2017. Sam Thomas is a trainer I rate very highly, and he couples a sure touch with his plans to a degree of patience.

In former times when analysing the race, I always started with the second-season chasers, and in particular the seven-year-olds and it was scary how big a proportion of winners at the time did fit that profile.

Protektorat, whose skilled handling by the Skeltons brought a wonderful win in the Betfair Chase, by 11 lengths from Eldorado Allen, is that age, but I doubt Dan will want to send him back out even for the chance of £142k. Now there are much bigger fish to fry and maybe at last we have a proper chaser after the time of Kauto Star and Denman to see off the Irish next March.

Sam Thomas was on Denman when he won the 2007 Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup as a seven-year-old and rode him into third two years later. Ruby Walsh got on him for the second win in between. Now as a trainer, down on 10st5lb and a rating of 141 he has Our Power, a comfortable winner at Ascot three weeks ago on his return, from the useful Danny Kirwan.

Victory for him would be a tonic for Sam’s main supporter and Our Power’s part-owner, Dai Walters, who was badly injured recently in a helicopter crash when Thomas was also a passenger. It all has a ring to it. This is one horse that will go to the races and happily stop to drink in the glory.

- TS

Monday Musings: The New Abnormal

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Just nine days ago my over-riding thought as I contemplated the very strong card at Kempton was still how awful it was that Goshen had been cruelly robbed of his rightful crowning as the best four-year-old hurdler in memory, writes Tony Stafford. Sympathies for Gary and all the Moore family and the owners were intruding ahead of the general feeling that I’d witnessed one of the great four days of Cheltenham.

Just over a week later, along with everyone in the country, if not the world, apart of course from China where it started and where they now claim there have been no new cases for several days - sure! – even Goshen has been put at the back of the brain.

Looking back, there we were, between 53,000 on the first day and 65,000 on Friday talking, greeting and breathing on each other. A good proportion of racegoers at any time are in the older age group. Now 1.5 million of us senior citizens around the country are to receive letters telling us to stay at home for three months to help “damp down” in Boris’s words, the dreaded Coronavirus.

I’ve already effectively remained in the house under instruction from my wife, who will not be receiving such a letter. My only relief from the embargo has been three short taxi-service one-way trips to drop her at shops that have been denuded of fresh meat and fish, bread, pasta, toilet and kitchen rolls and household products. She did yesterday, though, and much to my amazement, come home triumphantly brandishing a copy of the Racing Post, cost £3.90. I wonder what the publication’s 110 journalistic employees are doing to keep that listing vessel above water?

Every day for the past week I’ve been pondering whether I’ve had it, got it or am incubating it ready to transmit to anyone I meet – which pretty much begins and ends with Mrs S. Yesterday she started a daily exercise session, prompted by my difficulty with putting on my socks without sitting down. It couldn’t have been too taxing, but today and on subsequent days it will be ramped up. Whatever you can say about people born and brought up in the old USSR, especially in Siberia, they can be pretty relentless!

I was thinking last Tuesday that the UK racing no-spectator model might work, but that stopped after one day. Then on Wednesday the Irish decided to race on crowd-free, so on Saturday we had Thurles on Racing TV and South Africa’s two meetings on Sky Sports Racing. Somehow, my copy of the Racing Post arrived in time to have a look at the 4.10 from Thurles in which a horse I’d seen run well recently over two miles, stepped up in trip and class for a beginners’ chase.

He’d previously won a hurdle over three miles and was trained by Joseph O’Brien, so more than enough reason to have a good look. I thought he would be around 6-1, checked and found he was double those odds, and had a tiny tickle. Backed down to 9-1, Thermistocles proved once again that young Mr O’Brien can win any race over any discipline at any level and sound jumping and stamina enabled this eight-year-old to beat a strong field with some comfort.

Sky Sports Racing also had yesterday’s Sha Tin card which started at 5 a.m. and featured, almost four hours later, the Hong Kong Derby with its £1 million-plus first prize. Local jockey C Y Ho was entrusted with the ride on the 3-4 favourite Golden Sixty and as he brought him towards the straight he was right at the back of the 14-strong field; meanwhile Aussie rider Blake Shinn sent the 290-1 shot Playa Del Puente into a long lead on the inside. Ho and Golden Sixty came wide, gradually gained ground, but still had at least three lengths to find a furlong out.

Instead of the frenzied tumult had the Sha Tin stands been as usual full of punters, there must have been almost an eerie silence that accompanied the favourite’s continued run which bore fruit three strides from the finish.  The Australian-bred Golden Sixty, a son of Medaglia d’Oro, has now won ten of 11 career starts, and never had a winning margin more than just over two lengths in any of them.

While everything is on hold here – I can imagine just how frustrated the few UK trainers nowadays that concentrate on early juveniles must be feeling – Ireland actually stages its first turf Flat meeting of the year today at Naas. Joseph and his father Aidan both had entries in the first two-year-old race of 2020 in Europe but Aidan’s runner, Lipizzaner, participates.

In between the sparse live fare available, there have been some interesting offerings on the specialist channels and one commentator for whom my regard has grown greatly in recent months has been Mick Fitzgerald. I confess it took ages to get past that gratingly-harsh accent but in a long discussion with John Hunt on Sky Sports Racing the other day he spoke very intelligently on the challenges facing trainers and jockeys, not to mention owners. His thoughts, not least his compassion, equated to the attitude of the Prime Minister and Chancellor as they announced the tightening up of measures to stop the virus.

But now I must return to Goshen. Anyone who saw the Triumph Hurdle on Friday the 13th of March will have been convinced that the margin – some say a dozen lengths – that he held over his toiling rivals coming to the last where he made his calamitous, race-ending mistake, would have been considerably extended by the line.

David Dickinson, the BHA handicapper responsible for two-mile hurdle assessments, had the job of putting the race on a numerical footing. We don’t see the Irish ratings, so the two horses that finished first and second under sufferance, Burning Victory and Aspire Tower, the latter who had a 152 mark pre-race, do not appear on the BHA ratings list.

But Allmankind, Navajo Pass and Sir Psycho, who finished third, fourth and fifth, went into Cheltenham on ratings respectively of 148, 139 and 147 and finished within a couple of lengths, close behind the second who was almost three lengths adrift of the winning Willie Mullins-trained filly.

Dickinson has left Allmankind and Sir Psycho on their existing marks, choosing to raise Navajo Pass to 147, which neatly makes this race a true ratings barometer. If Allmankind is 148 then presumably Aspire Tower could be dropped to 149 from 152 in Ireland and then the winner 152 (less the 7lb filly allowance she benefited from) thus around 145. Of the others Solo, rated 157 after his Kempton Adonis Hurdle romp, ran a stinker and has dropped to 152.

So what to do with Goshen? He was 151 going into the race and on the way he just scooted away from as we have seen some already decent opposition into an overwhelming last-flight superiority, I thought it the best performance (until he exited of course) ever by a four-year-old. I think it was probably only challenged by Our Conor’s 15-length victory seven years earlier which brought a 161 rating.

If the eventual winner had been male, the rating would be 152 and she was hardly going to reduce the margin, yet Dickinson has bottled it! He has chosen to raise Goshen to only 158, in other words suggesting he would have beaten the runner-up by six lengths. Ridiculous, indeed shameful! Not only have Goshen’s connections been robbed of a massive prize and well-earned recognition, the performance has been dimmed for no other reason than small-mindedness.

Goshen should have got at least 165 as I suggested here last week, and that would only have reflected his maintaining the margin to the line, when that seemed a conservative prospect. It’s not an easy job, I realise that, but when it hits you between the eyes, have the decency to admit it!

- TS