2018 Gold Cuppin'

Cue Card is heading here according to owner Jean Bishop. Cue mattress under the back of the 3rd last.


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Can't blame them for giving it a go with our Duke.

Let's not forget Percy is just out of the novice class and was running in a handicap 2 back.



I said at the start of the season he doesn't look anywhere near good enough to win a Gold Cup beating Percy did little to chance my mind
 
He was giving weight to what many believe to be the best novice chaser around over 2m 5f. It was a good run in my book.


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Tanlic said:
Let's not forget Percy is just out of the novice class and was running in a handicap 2 back.
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Worth stating that Presenting Prercy ran in that handicap off a mark of 145, and won it by 11 lengths.

I'm not saying Our Duke is going to win the Gold Cup, but trying to run him down using Presenting Percy, is off the mark. As TheBear says, PP is favourite for both staying-novice chases at the Festival for a reason, and is absolutely not to be taken lightly.
 
TheBear said:
He was giving weight to what many believe to be the best novice chaser around over 2m 5f. It was a good run in my book.


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Or was it a reality check for Percy?? Perhaps he's not quite as good as people think at graded level over fences.....

Both Percy & Duke are minimum 3 milers, so the trip on sat was too short for both of them. If you weigh up Percy om sat vs Dukes form this season, then he didn't even really run to his current OR chase mark. Duke belted 3 or 4 out on Sat which stalled his momentum big time and he still managed to win. When he's done that earlier this season in open company we've seen what happened.

I'm just not as convinced as the masses that Percy is Grade 1 top class. And at the current price, on a value basis, I'll be taking him on in the RSA.
 
There were some pretty decent yardsticks in their rear view mirror.


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As The Bear says, DH, the pair have pulled a mile clear from three mid-150's handicappers, all of whom should have been better suited by the test, than the pair that finished 1st and 2nd.

It may not have enhanced Our Duke's Gold Cup claims, but I'd be fairly certain that PP has at least run to his handicap mark, and that there's a fair chance he has improved on it. It will take a good one to turn him over in the RSA, if he can repeat that level of performance, I reckon.
 
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I'm just not sold Grassy. Can't shake that 13L defeat to Jury duty from my mind on Percy's 2nd chase either. Our Duke hasn't run to 160 this season. Before Saturday anyway. I'm just saying it's not inconceivable that Duke only ran to something similar on Sat(especially factoring in the big mistake 4 out that significantly halted his momentum). Which means Percy MIGHT have only run to a 151 rating in receipt of the 7lbs.

On the face of it, it's easy to say the pair were 17 lengths clear of 3 x mid 150's horses, but Ballycasey is past it imo and then fact he finished in front of the 2 Gigi horses makes me at least question it. A toi Phil was weak in the market and I'm leaning towards thinking Saturday was not the intended day for him.

Percy has had a bold campaign to date, if not somewhat unusual for a novice chaser, especially with that hurdle race in the middle.

I'm obviously not suggesting Percy is not a quality animal, and a large part of my opposition is price/value based. If I was sitting on 10/1 antepost docket for the RSA I'd be delighted and have a different view I'm sure.
 
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Think you're focusing too much on his second outing, which has been rendered an irrelevance by his subsequent efforts, imo.

Agree he is short-enough now though, as Monalee not likely to be any kind of pushover.
 
RSA looks a two horse race to me (shame about Fountains as he would of put it up to them). Couldn't be cribbing that run on Saturday. Monalee is good but I wouldn't mind seeing him in the JLT.
 
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Almost inevitably after his race at Haydock, Blaklion swerves the Gold Cup.......or rather he is being "saved" for Aintree, if NTD is to be believed. :whistle:
 
Grasshopper said:
Almost inevitably after his race at Haydock, Blaklion swerves the Gold Cup.......or rather he is being "saved" for Aintree, if NTD is to be believed. :whistle:
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Personally think its been the worst campaign ever should have been Cotswolds, Gold Cup then National.

Looked absolutely spent jumping the last at Haydock. Not a good prep for anything and a real pointless exercise IMO.
 
Grasshopper said:
Worth stating that Presenting Prercy ran in that handicap off a mark of 145, and won it by 11 lengths.

I'm not saying Our Duke is going to win the Gold Cup, but trying to run him down using Presenting Percy, is off the mark. As TheBear says, PP is favourite for both staying-novice chases at the Festival for a reason, and is absolutely not to be taken lightly.
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Who's running him down. He deserves praise for that win it was very good just not a stone within Gold Cup class or 3 stone if we believe how good Might Bite is according to you.

Personally I think anyone who thinks Might Bite is some sort of superstar needs a reality check.

He's a good horse but he'll have to improve big time to cope with Native River and Sizing John imo

It's all well and fine to say he idled at Kempton but all you and others are doing is repeating what some plonker wrote in the form book.

The truth is turning for home the 2nd and 3rd were under immense pressure, Might Bite never gained a yard on them from 3 out and was going slower and slower like he was tiring all the way up the straight.

He should have been able to leave that lot for dead and he never...simple as

The fist responder was Steve Mellis who clearly was not impressed. The had fact is he beat a lowly rated handicapper (151) and and out of form Tea For Two.

To talk about him like he's the next Kauto Star or Denman is ridiculous. I have him in a few accies and he worries me and I was nowhere near jumping through the wow barrier at Kempton.

The difference between him almost winning that Kauto Star race and his performance in the King George was night and day and that is because he had company.

It is a known fact that a horse left his own devices will clock a faster time than he will racing with others around him. Psychologically it's impossible for a horse to concentrate the same and they tend to get into a different rhythm.

That aside Might Bite is a cracking horse but he has done nothing to justify the claim he'll eat Native River,Sizing John etc alive.

Personally I am depending on accies to get me to s stage where I have money going on to 3 horses because only a fool would think he has the definite answer to this one
 
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It may have escaped your attention, but Might Bite didn’t see another horse in the King George for the last mile.

I don’t really care whether you or anyone else believe he idled. I’ve been watching racing long enough to know it when I see it, and I don’t need to read what’s in the form book, to have my mind made up for me. It's not as if he doesn't have previous for it either.

As for Sizing John and Native River, the former not only has to recover from a desperately poor performance in the Christmas Chase, but he has to defy the stat about winners going in again. Very, very few have done it, and those that have, have been demonstrably higher-class than Sizing John, and had much, much better preparations. Add in reports that his work has been poor (or was in the weeks after his outing at Xmas), and he surely has it all to do.

As for Native River, I see no reason why he should run any better than he did last year. The ‘lighter campaign will help’ is a phantom as far as I’m concerned, and it’s perhaps noteworthy that Tizzard appeared to question his own approach for the horse, at his open day yesterday. Regardless, for me Native River is a highly admirable chaser (I backed him in last year's Gold Cup), but he is a high-grade handicapper rather than a genuine G1 performer. I’m perfectly satisfied that Might Bite is a better horse.

As for the King George form, go and read the tail-end of the thread. I think I said you could not rate it any higher than 167, and even that might be on the high-side - which would place it very-much at the lower-end of the scale, in terms of a historical rating. I certainly did not crack it up to be a high-class renewal - I just said that MB won with plenty in hand.

If you can find anywhere on this forum a serious attempt to compare what Might Bite has achieved to date, with what Kauto Star and Denman achieved in their careers, I will fly out to Thailand tomorrow, and give you free butler service for a fortnight.

Please stop making sh*it up. :cool:
 
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Sizing John's efforts over 3m+ to date have resulted in

Beating Empire of Dirt & Don Poli 0.75 lengths and 0.75l respectively
Beating Minella Rocco & Native River 2.75l and a short head
Beating Djakadam & Coneygree a short head and 1.5l
Beaten out of sight in the Christmas chase

Might Bite doesn't have to be a superstar to win this, just very good and he's already proven that.
 
Rightly or wrongly I have written off Sizing John this gold cup. I believe last season races have left him below his best . The Punchestown race was the final nail in the coffin. Take nothing away from the horse what he did last year was out standing and it won't be done to often. Cast your mind back to Best Mate wasn't it 2 races before the new year, then the gold cup following by the pastures until next season, 3 years and 9 runs.

Ps Anyone who doesn't think Might Bite was idling in the KG should take up bird watching as an alternative pastime
 
I have also ruled out Sizing John. Recent winners of the blue ribbon event have had much better preps in attempting to regain their crown and still failed.

Kauto Star, Long Run, Bobs Worth to name but a few. It’s very very hard to regain your title with everything going right never mind trying it with his prep. I also think it needs to be fairly soft to bring Native River into play as a winner of the race.

I’ve it down to two horses I think fit the trend of big race winners at Cheltenham. Horses where the season has flowed and everything has just seemed to go right for them. That’s Mite Bite & Road to Respect. The two in the field either side of the Irish Sea who have had perfect preps.

I’ve been backing Mite Bite since before his seasonal debut at Sandown from 8s and i’ve recently started chipping away at Road to Respect ew at 10s. I will probably do the forecast on the day.


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Kauto Abu said:
I have also ruled out Sizing John. Recent winners of the blue ribbon event have had much better preps in attempting to regain their crown and still failed.

Kauto Star, Long Run, Bobs Worth to name but a few. It’s very very hard to regain your title with everything going right never mind trying it with his prep. I also think it needs to be fairly soft to bring Native River into play as a winner of the race.

I’ve it down to two horses I think fit the trend of big race winners at Cheltenham. Horses where the season has flowed and everything has just seemed to go right for them. That’s Mite Bite & Road to Respect. The two in the field either side of the Irish Sea who have had perfect preps.

I’ve been backing Mite Bite since before his seasonal debut at Sandown from 8s and i’ve recently started chipping away at Road to Respect ew at 10s. I will probably do the forecast on the day.


I reckon he's a good ew bet Road to Respect and could even win the race but what I am 1005 sure of is Might Bite is going to get his ass felt. To me he's no more a Gold Cup horse than flying in the air and was ahuge disappointment at Kempton.

He'll go down faster than Titanic on Gold Cup day................my advice lay the fooker....Ground or no ground Tizzards will run the lost of them into the ground as sure as god made little green men form mars..bars
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