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Age catches up with all of us

D

Desijo

Apprentice
Joined
Apr 26, 2024
Messages
369
Location
England
I have just seen that everyone's cliff horse Rohaan has been beaten in a class 4 handicap at Southwell with a 5lb claimer aboard.
Doesn't seem so long ago he was contesting Group 1 races and the like.
Had a decent record at Ascot.
Maybe age is catching up with him.
I am speaking from experience 🤣
 
He's just a complete monkey. If you'd have put him in a big handicap at Ascot he'd of probably run the same race as he did tonight.
 
Desijo said:
I have just seen that everyone's cliff horse Rohaan has been beaten in a class 4 handicap at Southwell with a 5lb claimer aboard.
Doesn't seem so long ago he was contesting Group 1 races and the like.
Had a decent record at Ascot.
Maybe age is catching up with him.
I am speaking from experience 🤣
Click to expand...
Why can't they just retire him.

Or am I being a bit harsh?
 
Why retire a 7yo gelding sprinter who just got beat three parts of a length in a five-grand handicap?

He still seems to be enjoying his racing, it's not like he's racing over extreme distances, so, even after 52 outings, he's not got enormous racing miles on the clock, plus he's not THAT old.
 
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Quito was 2nd in the gp1 Haydock Sprint Cup as a 9yo, before snaring a 7f listed race the followng week.
Like Rohaan,he'd lost lt of his speed and needed something to slow the others down.
 
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The Fortune Teller said:
Why can't they just retire him.

Or am I being a bit harsh?
Click to expand...
They might just be using him as a schoolmaster for apprentices?

Last weekend old Southfield Theatre finished second in a Point to Point at Larkhill ridden by Lily Bradstock. He’s 17! Now a few years ago I flagged up a 17yo that ran in a Point which promptly ran one circuit, pulled up and dropped dead. I had tried to stop it running as it hadn’t run for two years and looked like a woolly pony. It should not have run. But there was nothing in the Rules to stop it running. I ended up contacting James Given, who’s the BHA vet now. I had a long conversation with him about age limits and he agreed that horses seem to deteriorate significantly at 13. He said there are always exceptions but it was a general observation of his. So we now have a ruling in place that all pointers who are 15 or above must have a full veterinary certificate saying they are 100% healthy to compete. We would both like to bring the age down to 13 but at least it’s something.
 
Age affects horses in different ways as it does us humans.
Mac Vidi finished 3rd in 1980 Chelt gold cup and Sonny Somers won a chase at 18 years of age hence the saying many a good tune is played on an old fiddle.
I started the thread as I was surprised how much Rohaan has regressed.
Hopefully he will have an Indian summer in the latter years of his career with maybe one last hurrah.
 
Desijo said:
Age affects horses in different ways as it does us humans.
Mac Vidi finished 3rd in 1980 Chelt gold cup and Sonny Somers won a chase at 18 years of age hence the saying many a good tune is played on an old fiddle.
I started the thread as I was surprised how much Rohaan has regressed.
Hopefully he will have an Indian summer in the latter years of his career with maybe one last hurrah.
Click to expand...
Completely agree. The only reason I flagged up the old horses running is because the horse in question absolutely should not have been. He'd been two years off the course and should have been enjoying a happy retirement. It was during lockdown so fortunately not many people were at the meeting as it was run behind closed doors. Had it happened at their Bank Holiday Monday meeting, I can imagine the "Once a Year Because its Easter" brigade being very shocked and raising questions. I did the meeting preview and flagged up my concerns then.

In this day and age of extreme wokery, we have to be very careful how the sport is perceived by outsiders and every welfare check should be made. Otherwise you get it plastered all over social media, the local press picking it up and before you know it, we are having to defend ourselves on Breakfast TV against someone who "rescues racehorses!"
 

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