Racing today

AdorableAlice said:
It would not be his decision if the owner instructs the horse to run. DS would have to make a decision to do as he is told or move the horse on.

As much as I enjoy racing, it has to be remembered there is big money at stake and the better the horse the more the owners want from it. Owners are not emotionally involved with the horse and neither is the trainer in these big yards. No doubt they are proud of the horse, but it is the lad that knows the horse.
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Dan Skelton wants to win so obviously he doesn’t want the best horse to turn up and ive no idea how you can say Nicky Henderson isn’t emotionally involved?
 
AdorableAlice said:
It would not be his decision if the owner instructs the horse to run. DS would have to make a decision to do as he is told or move the horse on.

As much as I enjoy racing, it has to be remembered there is big money at stake and the better the horse the more the owners want from it. Owners are not emotionally involved with the horse and neither is the trainer in these big yards. No doubt they are proud of the horse, but it is the lad that knows the horse.
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Not all owners are like that there are quite a few out there that would want what's best for the horse and allow the trainer to decide.
 
bonny said:
Why can’t everyone wait until tomorrow when there is supposedly going to be a statement put out regarding his future?
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They said he’d school on Wednesday and then they’d make a decision at the weekend so I don’t know why they are stringing it out even longer!
My heart says they can’t run him but my head thinks MB doesn’t have the same heart as me.
 
I think it’s really just a big decision which is being played out in the public eye. Every horse entered will be having long discussions about the right way to go for their future but we are just focusing on one of them.
I wouldn’t want to be the one ultimately having to decide and I think there should be no judgement whichever way they call it.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Oh, there will rightly be judgement if they run him in the Champion Hurdle 😬.

Only someone with no interest in animal welfare would run him after his previous falls - and there are plenty of those in racing and/or getting their kicks out of betting.
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Spot on, its purely driven by their egos, summed up entirely by MB saying how itll lay ghosts to rest - yep for the egos involved not CH

And whats even more sickening is if he wins they will be heralded as heroes and the media will obsess even more
 
Crazy_cat_lady said:
I always thought NH was horse first, eg not running them if not sure of the ground but it feels like he and the owner are whipping each other's egos up and loving the whole circus. Doesn't help the media blowing smoke up their backsides, fuelling their egos even further. Youd think this was the best horse ever to have existed, and the only horse

They cannot use the word love around him then send him to the CH

Someone on a racing forum has also said if he does win, connections will be celebrated for their reckless decision. And of course, itll make them want to keep hurdling

Strongly disliking all connections and the associated circus at this point
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I used to think the same of NH ( or more accurately hear it all the time) but seeing Shishkin constantly put up for race after race even though he was clearly telling anyone that would listen he wasn't interested anymore made me think again.
 
Just looked at Shiskin's record - he refused to race once, unseated next time, won at Newbury next time, fourth at Aintree the next time, so don't think that is showing he wasn't interested (in as much as any horse is interesting in competing in any sphere). He ran 21 times in 7 years so was quite lightly raced and only fell once in one of his earlier races. Gorgeous horse. Got me thinking about Might Bite as well, wonder where he went to in reitirement.
 
bonny said:
The difference with him is he has so much ability
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So much ability that in the last four of his races, he ate turf three times and finished out the back, looking miserable in the other one. That party is over and should stay that way.

If he was a novice with that record, he would have found a different career.
 
Doesn't matter how much ability he has or had if he repeats his recent jumping efforts, goes splat and breaks something fatally l. He was also very lucky to stay up last January at Cheltenham so that would be 4 falls

Also as a separate but also linked note, racing yards being sponsored by betting companies feels dodgy af

Also this schooling is not fully able to replicate all factors associated with a race day
 
Right decision made, eventually 🙄. Bollox to his connections having his welfare at heart.

Spotted this comment on the Sporting Life Racing FB page (I think). Is this a thing that someone in the know might have made money on him being withdrawn, don’t know how pre race bets work if the horse doesn’t run?

“There’s a surprise- drifted like a barge in the ante post before it was announced apparently so someone knew and made a nice few quid laying it. Crooked 🙄”
 
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Putting aside the falls, and the "will he/won't he", lets all take a moment to appreciate the beauty of Constitution Hill at his finest across hurdles - his speed and elegance, he always made me think of an Olympic human hurdler who skims the top of the hurdles so as not to waste time in the air. His jumping was poetry in motion. Very relieved too that he is not hurdling again but when he was hurdling and winning, he truly took my breathe away. He still took my breathe on Friday night, he is just so beautiful.
 
humblepie said:
Putting aside the falls, and the "will he/won't he", lets all take a moment to appreciate the beauty of Constitution Hill at his finest across hurdles - his speed and elegance, he always made me think of an Olympic human hurdler who skims the top of the hurdles so as not to waste time in the air. His jumping was poetry in motion. Very relieved too that he is not hurdling again but when he was hurdling and winning, he truly took my breathe away. He still took my breathe on Friday night, he is just so beautiful.
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Poor beggar has been rather forgotten while the ringmaster was organising his monkeys.
He is a very beautiful horse and like you say at the top of his game he was just breathtaking.
 
So glad to see the news that CH won’t race over jumps again. I was honestly dreading the day the news came that he was fatally injured on the track. Can breathe a sigh of relief. I hope he has some fun on the flat but eventually gets to have fun in a different job. He is a beauty, maybe some RoR show classes.
 
Thought this was interesting, I’d love to have a ride around there.

I think I’ve only ever seen one horse break the frangible on the white rails although I’m not sure how long it’s been pinned. They have the timber racing over in the US but it’s not pinned, the rails kick out which is slightly scary!

 
Will watch that later, thanks.

Before that one, there was an earlier cross country race at Cheltenham won by a horse that I think had done eventing as well as being a racehorse - horse called McGregor. I can remember going to a horse show which was on the racehorse and seeing the hedge/ditch fence, which was terrifying to me! Does anyone remember the Rastafarian show jumper (had to google his name Oliver Skeete) - can remember chatting with him in the warm up of the show jumping. Gone off tangent a bit there.

Cheltenhamk 1995 course is on youtube, can't get the link to work.
 
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