Stage Star owners - any thoughts?

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Scummycat

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My husband was given a share in Stage Star as a birthday gift, right at the very beginning of his career, and we've thoroughly enjoyed following him. We've seen some fantastic successes and I think he's currently the winning most horse in the Owners Group stable, which has been a great experience.

We have, however, recently become a bit disillusioned with the choices being made for him in terms of taking his career forwards. Obviously no one expects him to win every time out, and having been involved with horses myself in several disciplines, I totally understand the vagaries of having them at their best at any one time. However, given that, for example, he's always run better when fresh at the start of the season, why would you send him to Aintree when his previous results there have been awful? Or why would you continue to enter him in handicaps where his rating means that he's giving away close to 2 stone on his nearest rival and then seemingly be puzzled when he can't quicken at the end?

I absolutely fess up to the fact that race selection wouldn't be my specialist subject but I guess I'm really looking for anyone who's more involved in or knowledgeable about racing to help us understand why Stage Star's career seems to be stalling, and why there seems to be so much difficulty in forming a plan for his season. All of the information we receive from Owner's Group seems to be around "having a think" about what to do next, or "seeing how he is", with even talk about sending him to Windsor in a Grade 4 handicap where he'd apparently give away nearly 3 stone.

We've had a great time with Owner's Group, and it's a fantastic way for many people to be even a little bit involved with racehorse ownership, so it's a real shame that one of the best horses to come through their system seems to be being a bit wasted - to the non-racing specialist at least. As I said, we're definitely not expecting him to win every race, and it's still a lot of fun, but he seems to be being entered in races where he won't even be competitive, and that's all anyone wants to see really.

Do other Stage Star owners feel the same or does everyone else understand "the plan" better than we do?
 
He was my first with them, I have now got about 15. I will be with him all the way through, he’s had a fabulous career and I’ve loved every minute of it.
I am not happy with the amount of maintenance he needs to stay sound and would prefer him to be retired, however that’s not going to happen while there is money to be made.
He’s too high in the handicap, he’s not a natural grade one horse, he can only go right handed and he sulks if he’s not in front. He’s a race selectors nightmare!
I’m renewing, I couldn’t abandon him now. And yes I do know OG won’t sell him to Egypt if I don’t but he owes me nothing.
 
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And to add I’m not generally a soft touch with horses, but I am with him! I’ve given up other OG horses that haven’t interested me, going forwards, my criteria is do I care what he does next year, and if it’s yes I renew.
 
He’s got no where to go at the moment, too highly rated for handicaps and not good enough for graded races. I think the main problem is there isn’t enough races that aren’t handicaps and horses take far too long for their rating to fall. Often leads to horses being retired when they are still decent as they literally don’t have races they can be competitive in.
 
Clodagh said:
And to add I’m not generally a soft touch with horses, but I am with him! I’ve given up other OG horses that haven’t interested me, going forwards, my criteria is do I care what he does next year, and if it’s yes I renew.
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Thanks for both your posts C. Really appreciated. I know you have a lot of knowledge so great to have your thoughts about where he fits in the scheme of things. We definitely will renew - we also couldn't give him up, and your comments about do I care, really ring true. I think we also would like to see him retired due to the ongoing maintenance, which I in particular don't like, but also understand that with money at stake it's not going to happen, despite the fact that he owes nothing to the group really, given all the pleasure we''ve all had.
 
bonny said:
He’s got no where to go at the moment, too highly rated for handicaps and not good enough for graded races. I think the main problem is there isn’t enough races that aren’t handicaps and horses take far too long for their rating to fall. Often leads to horses being retired when they are still decent as they literally don’t have races they can be competitive in.
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Thanks B, I appreciate your succinct thoughts, it makes the situation really clear. With a bit of luck someone, somewhere will speak for the horse and he can retire before the maintenance gets too much. It would just be great to see him be in races where could be reasonably competitive, even if not winning, but I understand a bit better now why this is difficult.
 
bonny said:
He’s got no where to go at the moment, too highly rated for handicaps and not good enough for graded races. I think the main problem is there isn’t enough races that aren’t handicaps and horses take far too long for their rating to fall. Often leads to horses being retired when they are still decent as they literally don’t have races they can be competitive in.
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Sorry, me again B. Just to understand - could he not be entered in lower graded races? Can horses go back down the grading, or are there penalties of some sort for doing that? Sorry, I've not been as involved in a close way before.
 
Scummycat said:
Sorry, me again B. Just to understand - could he not be entered in lower graded races? Can horses go back down the grading, or are there penalties of some sort for doing that? Sorry, I've not been as involved in a close way before.
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Hell just carry tonnes more weight than anything else in handicaps. As for grade 2’s, I’m not expert enough to know the answer to that but isn’t the Fleur du Lys a 2?
 
Just went and had a look at his form and last year his runs are poor, I suspect he’s either feeling something or he’s just fed up of carrying a lot of weight in tough races. Either way it’s hard to see him getting back to where he was but that’s the case for a lot of national hunt horses, very few can maintain their form for repeated seasons.
 
Clodagh said:
@Gamebird or @photo_jo might be able to answer the grade 2 question… I accept other knowledgeable racing people are on here as well.
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Yes, can run in gr2 and 3 races no problem so long as any additional conditions of the race are met. Look at Al Boum Photo who won the Gold Cup twice, but always started his season in the gr3 at Tramore adter Christmas.
As someone has said he has fallen into the hole of being better than a handicapper, but not really a true gr1/2 horse realistically, unless circumstances really fall his way. He carries too much weight to have any real chance in a handicap, but it will be a long long time before his rating falls enough to give him a chance. And he's tricky to place as he only goes one way. I do suspect that slogging around under top weight has rather put him out of love with the game.
I'd almost be tempted to do a Chantry House with him and give him a couple of nice runs over hurdles, see if it cheers him up.
 
Sorry, pressed send too soon!

On the plus side he'll be eligible for veterans races next year....

In terms of reverting to hurdles he won't currently have a hurdle rating so it's not clear what he'd have to carry in a handicap. They would re-rate him and inform PN at the point of him having a hurdle entry made. I'd hazard a guess it would be lower than his current chase rating though.
 
A few owners are saying they’d like to see him back over hurdles. The 3 mile division is lacking a top notch horse I think.
I just want him to enjoy himself and I agree I think he’s decided to opt out of the hard work at the end, and who can blame him.
 
You can’t blame him at all C! That’s all great information GB, thank you, and thanks also for sharing your thoughts on options. Neither of us had thought about him going back to hurdles tbh. Obviously none of us has direct impact but just understanding a bit more does help. Really appreciate your time in offering knowledge. It’d be great if Owner’s Group read some of these thoughts.
 
Gamebird has pretty well nailed it there in terms of races! I think it's very interesting he had wind surgery again in the summer, he had it two years ago so that first go has obviously failed and they've gone again, I'd say he still has an issue - need a vet's opinion @Gamebird!
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photo_jo said:
Gamebird has pretty well nailed it there in terms of races! I think it's very interesting he had wind surgery again in the summer, he had it two years ago so that first go has obviously failed and they've gone again, I'd say he still has an issue - need a vet's opinion @Gamebird!
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They are going to try a tongue tie next. I imagine his throat is one long straight tube by now!
 
photo_jo said:
Gamebird has pretty well nailed it there in terms of races! I think it's very interesting he had wind surgery again in the summer, he had it two years ago so that first go has obviously failed and they've gone again, I'd say he still has an issue - need a vet's opinion @Gamebird!
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Ha! It's Ben Brain he needs, not me! Although I would strongly suspect they are already acquainted!
 
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