The Horse racing thread

[thewobbler]

DH, this weather snap has seen the cancellation of every major fixture, and most all weather fixtures in the UK, yet you still want to hold the HRI responsible for Leopardstown not making it? Catch a grip man. There are some things in this world that aren't actually the fault of administrators.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

DH, this weather snap has seen the cancellation of every major fixture, and most all weather fixtures in the UK, yet you still want to hold the HRI responsible for Leopardstown not making it? Catch a grip man. There are some things in this world that aren't actually the fault of administrators.

I don't think that criticism of DH is really fair. All he is saying is that facilities which appear to be readily available for English tracks (i.e. racing covers) should also be at the disposal of the leading tracks in Ireland. That's a fair point to make surely though obviously there would have been many cancellations in any case due to the inclement weather conditions.

[Donnellys Hollow]

DH, this weather snap has seen the cancellation of every major fixture, and most all weather fixtures in the UK, yet you still want to hold the HRI responsible for Leopardstown not making it? Catch a grip man. There are some things in this world that aren't actually the fault of administrators.

Of course it's freakish weather and we'd have little chance of racing anyway but it still does not excuse the lack of frost covers in this country. When you consider the amount of money that was ploughed into racing during the last ten years the set up at most tracks is still farcical - medical facilities, catering facilities, saunas, covers etc. Have a read of Ruby's book to see how far behind the UK we are over here.

There are jobs at stake here. Leopardstown like all other tracks would have an extensive groundstaff employed. I read during the week that this meeting alone makes up half of the track's annual revenue so it's not looking good for them. Small yards are struggling big time to keep their heads above water and I'm sure most jockeys are struggling. It's grand for the likes of Walsh, Geraghty and Carberry but for the journeyman jockey I'm sure this month has been a disaster. There's only been four days racing in the past five weeks so these lads aren't earning their riding fees. Mallow was raceable for most of the past month yet there was no effort to put on a few extra meetings there. Similarly, I'm sure a few all-bumper cards could have been tried at Dundalk.

HRI are an absolute joke. Kavanagh is laughing all the way to the bank with his 'performance related' bonuses while all the small yards up and down the country are barely keeping themselves going.

[Abble]

whats the state of affairs for tomorrows racing til i get out for some pints ?

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

whats the state of affairs for tomorrows racing til i get out for some pints ?

Nothing but an All Weather card at Southwell

http://horses.sportinglife.com/Meetings/0,12496,26-12-2010%5E1,00.html

[winsamsoon]

No tips just thank fook something is on. On Geraghty here @12's

[beer baron]

Tipping up to Leopardstown tomoro!Any winners for me?DH i'm looking at you!

[Donnellys Hollow]

I've had more success at Limerick than I have had at Leopardstown today. I'd say Leopardstown is bordering on unraceable. Most horses are walking up the home straight. Great to see Pandorama back to form all the same.

The Hurricane Fly / Zaidpour double will be popular but it could be skinny enough in that ground even though both of them should handle it grand. The Big Zeb / Golden Silver / Captain Cee Bee race could turn into a tactical affair. I wouldn't like to have a bet in that without knowing if Scotsirish will lead or not. Could be a race to play in-running.

Our Girl Salley e/w in the mares hurdle will probably be my main bet tomorrow.

[bridge fan]

the panda done it well today and sum price too 

[the greatest jockey]

dont see how zeb cannot win, 6/4 is a gift, venalmar and catch me both interetsing in the big handicap. zaidpours a certainty but not a betting propostion as is big bucks. hurricane fly is 8/13 to beat solwhit again, hope he wins the big one at cheltenham, only worry is that most of his form is with solwhit who was put firmly in his place at cheltenham last year

[Donnellys Hollow]

Solwhit wasn't right at Cheltenham last season. Had mucus in his lungs a few weeks after the Irish Champion Hurdle and was on antibiotics right up until the time he arrived in the Cottswolds.

Hurricane Fly will simply outclass them provided he gets to Cheltenham. He's one of those very rare horses who can translate his blue blood flat pedigree to the national hunt game. It really is astonishing that a horse with so much speed can stay 2m4 in heavy ground over timber. He beat Literato on the flat and he went on to win the Champion Stakes at Newmarket. He also finished within a few lengths of Lawman who won the French Derby. The only horse I can recall with such a classy flat pedigree to really take to hurdles was Istabraq who was a half-brother to Secreto who won the Epsom Derby for David O'Brien in the '80s. Others like Washington Irving (5th in the '08 Derby), Mountain (6th in the '06 Derby), Salford City (5th in the '04 Derby), Acropolis (4th in the '04 Arc) were pure useless over jumps.

Menorah, Peddlers Cross and Binocular are all very good horses in their own right but if Hurricane Fly gets there his year, he'll eat them all. No horse will be able to live with his turn of foot after the second last.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Tip for Sydney Des Pictons in the Bumper at Leopardstown. This source can be a bit of a mixed bag so don't be putting all the New Year's Eve drinking fund on him.

[sammymaguire]

Great shout DH, she done it really well under a good Geraghty ride

[Donnellys Hollow]

 

Fine lookin filly!

[Donnellys Hollow]

First Lieutenant bet. Never seemed to be travelling comfortably and Russell seemed to let him lose his place in the last mile.
He had won on the ground before so that can't really be an excuse.

From irishracing.com: Odds-on shot First Lieutenant's ride from Davy Russell was always going to attract attention, having stayed on for a never dangerous third, but Russell subsequently confirmed the suspicion that his mount hated today's ground.

He later reported to the Stewards that First Lieutenant "stumbled on the far side, lost his place and was hating the ground thereafter." Closer inspection of First Lieutenant's run confirms Russell's report that his mount did stumble on the back straight.

DH I have never sat on a horse so I would never slate a jockey for a ride but from looking at that ride today I would not have been too happy with it if I was Mouse Morris. As a man who knows a thing or 2, what was your opinion of Russells ride?

I am right in saying that he won his first race on Soft ground? The RacingPost had it as Soft to Yielding today although I read there on the Irish racing site that is was Soft to Heavy.

I reckon Fairyhouse just made a complete balls of the ground. Incredible number of horses today were stumbling and losing their action which suggests there were plenty of false patches - not good enough from Fairyhouse.

FL is by Presenting out of a Fourstars Allstar mare so he shouldn't be too inconvenienced by cut in the ground. It's tempting to write off that run due to subsequent events but in truth he's probably just not as good as his p2p reputation (and price-tag!) suggested. He may have injured himself when stumbling so you just don't know.

How the feck did I leave that one go unbacked today? Should have trusted my initial instincts instead of buying into the Zaidpour hype.

First Lieutenant could well be a future Gold Cup winner.