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2026 Novice Chasers

Quevega said:
He has won 2 grade ones at 2 miles though.
No other novice has.
Hard to say he's proven he's not suited to 2 miles at the top level really.
The talk and manner of his victories give doubts, but the results are there.
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Yep, it is the manner of his victories that supports Gordon's thoughts of him not being an Arkle horse.
 
Lobos said:
Maybe but when the trainer is telling them he's unlikely to win and that he'd have a big chance of winning at Fairyhouse, then they should really be listening. They should be thinking of the horse too.
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Could do both
 
Quevega said:
He has won 2 grade ones at 2 miles though.
No other novice has.
Hard to say he's proven he's not suited to 2 miles at the top level really.
The talk and manner of his victories give doubts, but the results are there.
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Got to turn up in the Arkle, hasn't he!
 
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Lobos said:
Might not hurt him but could well mess the rest of his chances in the other Spring festivals by having a harder race than he should. Agree it's the owners decision but in his case it's very clear to everyone that he's not suited to 2 miles at the top level.
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The same could be said of Lossiemouth, but people still want her to go that trip because the race looks winnable.
 
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As punters and lovers of the festival isn’t it a little inconsistent (not sure if that’s quite the right word) to celebrate the removal of a race and then question the participation of a horse that’s unbeaten over the trip of one of the two remaining races we want to force horses into?

I’m sure the top trainers are lamenting the loss of the intermediate race but we wanted this race gone to increase competition not for trainers to fuck off somewhere else. If he were mine I’d want him to run in an Arkle to advance his education towards a future Gold Cup attempt. Perhaps if the trainer didn’t have one eye on the trainers title he’d see the benefit of that. It’s worked for plenty before.
 
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Rooster Booster said:
As punters and lovers of the festival isn’t it a little inconsistent (not sure if that’s quite the right word) to celebrate the removal of a race and then question the participation of a horse that’s unbeaten over the trip of one of the two remaining races we want to force horses into?

I’m sure the top trainers are lamenting the loss of the intermediate race but we wanted this race gone to increase competition not for trainers to fuck off somewhere else. If he were mine I’d want him to run in an Arkle to advance his education towards a future Gold Cup attempt. Perhaps if the trainer didn’t have one eye on the trainers title he’d see the benefit of that. It’s worked for plenty before.
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To be fair to him, Gordon communicated things nicely, I felt, when he said, "If the middle-distance race was still there we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I suppose for racing it’s good that it’s not as it will make either race better, but for Romeo it’s not ideal.”
 
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Exar Essay said:
To be fair to him, Gordon communicated things nicely, I felt, when he said, "If the middle-distance race was still there we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I suppose for racing it’s good that it’s not as it will make either race better, but for Romeo it’s not ideal.”
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It’s not stopped him running him over 2 miles this season, although of course they were in Ireland.
End of the day he’s proven over 2 miles, probably better over further,but his owners want him to run at Cheltenham .
That’s it, ain’t it?
 
Exar Essay said:
To be fair to him, Gordon communicated things nicely, I felt, when he said, "If the middle-distance race was still there we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I suppose for racing it’s good that it’s not as it will make either race better, but for Romeo it’s not ideal.”
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Yes that’s diplomatic. I hope he also sees that the change will likely need his and Willies support for a little while for it to actually ‘make either race better’
 
It is kind of stupid that we have a ballymore and ryanair but no grade 1 novice chase over 2m4f

Plenty of horses are just specialists at that trip and will just end up running at fairyhouse or aintree which does 0 to solve the festival issues
 
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FinalFurlong91 said:
It is kind of stupid that we have a ballymore and ryanair but no grade 1 novice chase over 2m4f

Plenty of horses are just specialists at that trip and will just end up running at fairyhouse or aintree which does 0 to solve the festival issues
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I agree with the first part of your first sentence.
Not the rest though.
2 and a half mile specialists in horse racing are the equivalent of field goal kickers in the NFL.
Nonentities.
 
Maybe they should reduce the gold cup distance to 3 miles from 3m2f then

Make it more about class and ability, less about being slow enough to get the trip
 
Quevega said:
I agree with the first part of your first sentence.
Not the rest though.
2 and a half mile specialists in horse racing are the equivalent of field goal kickers in the NFL.
Nonentities.
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I do get what you mean I think, but the owners of Pic Dorhy might disagree.
Almost a million in prize money.
 
FinalFurlong91 said:
Maybe they should reduce the gold cup distance to 3 miles from 3m2f then

Make it more about class and ability, less about being slow enough to get the trip
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This is exactly where I ended up when I tried to consider all the moving parts. I think with the pool of horses that there has been in recent times I think this should come under serious consideration. I’d say it’s a lot less about intermediate trip specialists and more about the extra 2 furlongs . If I think of all those 170 plus Ryanair performances and the horses that achieved them I feel very few of the trainers would have had much concern about their horse over 3 miles.
 
FinalFurlong91 said:
Maybe they should reduce the gold cup distance to 3 miles from 3m2f then

Make it more about class and ability, less about being slow enough to get the trip
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I would do that.
I'd make all races 2 miles, 3 miles, and some handicaps at 2 and a half and a 3 and a half personally.
All these ridiculous race distances are old fashioned.
Traditionalists would wet the bed though.

I get that weather and ground and other factors make it difficult to have exact distances all of the time, but they could still get as close to it as possible without much hassle.

Furlongs can get fucked.

The furlong originated in Anglo-Saxon times (circa 9th century) as a unit of agricultural measurement, derived from the Old English furh (furrow) and lang (long). It represented the distance an ox team could plow a straight line without resting, standardized to 660 feet (or 40 rods, 220 yards, and 1/8 of a mile

I mean, what the fuck ?
They only ate fucking cheese back then. No fridges.
 
Carnage at Taunton said:
I do get what you mean I think, but the owners of Pic Dorhy might disagree.
Almost a million in prize money.
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Lots of millionaires are nonentities.
Pic D'orhy to a Cheltenham festival forum is as interesting as Karen fucking Brady.
 
FinalFurlong91 said:
It is kind of stupid that we have a ballymore and ryanair but no grade 1 novice chase over 2m4f

Plenty of horses are just specialists at that trip and will just end up running at fairyhouse or aintree which does 0 to solve the festival issues
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Bradbury star
 
Quevega said:
Lots of millionaires are nonentities.
Pic D'orhy to a Cheltenham festival forum is as interesting as Karen fucking Brady.
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Well just saying that his owners would say that he’s not a nonentity to horse racing.
Take the point re Chelt festival though, absolutely.
 
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