Calico Cat

Apart from the fact that a 113 horse beat a 107 horse by six and a half lengths over 14 furlongs with the other 107 horse just another length behind, and the 91 horse fifteen lengths further adrift, it actually looks like all the exposed horses have run fairly close to their marks.

The racing public consensus, the fact that he was 66/1 at Chester, the small field at Chester, the soft ground at Chester, Chester itself, victory in his next start in a lowly maiden at Thirsk, and the access to, or lack of, anything you may wish to call inside information about the horse are all NOT a good enough reason to say " .... shouldn't really have been able to run a horse of Cavalryman's calibre so close .. "

"SHOULDN'T"

After his two races to date there was simply not enough evidence to say how good this horse is, nowhere near enough. Though your generalisations of a usual case of Thirsk maiden winners and apparent flukey group placers would be close to the mark Desert Orchid, "shouldn't" shouldn't have been said in what is meant to be an analysis, and there is no way he would have said that if the horse had come from a major yard. I imagine that is what Chris is annoyed about.
 
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Nail on head Goobler.

The fact is Mystery Star, if you rate the race through him running to 91, you get 108 for Barbican, 107 Gulf Of Naples, 112 Calico Cat and 116 Cavalryman.

Rate it through Barbican running to a mark of 107, you get similar. Mystery Star 90, Gulf Of Naples 106, Calico Cat 110, Cavalryman 114.

Rate the race through Gulf Of Naples at 107 and you get the same assessment as Mystery Star's figures.

Rate the race through Cavalryman (113) and you get Calico Cat 110, Gulf Of Naples 105, Barbican 106, Mystery Star 88.

Or I suppose if it's such a poor race as the idiot writing for the post suggests then you would rate it through Calico Cat (95) and get Cavalryman 99, Gulf Of Naples 87, Barbican 89 and Mystery Star 70.

Now for me the first line of this blokes writing is simply pathetic. I would love to know on what grounds is there that the 3rd and 4th have not run to their marks, when reality is they have probably ran to their marks or give a take a lb, the winner a former 125 horse, has been disappointing on the whole for a while, but had still been consistently running to 110-115 this winter in Dubai, so the facts are he has probably run to that level again.

Had Mystery Star been close up in behind the 3rd and 4th I would be inclined to maybe give him some credence, but he was a pushed out 15L adrift, which would give the impression he has been outclassed and run somewhere near his mark.

It's his failure to accept that Calico Cat is a good horse who has now on three occasions, run to the yards expectations and shown he is a very classy horse, yet despite the "bargain buy", "well placed" and "run a stormer" patronising comments no one is prepared to actually say the bleeding obvious and that is Calico Cat has proven he is a genuine group horse and probably one of the most exciting stayers in the country at present. The fact he was having only his 3rd start, hated the ground, was still green under pressure in the final 2f yesterday seems to have gone on deaf ears.

He seems okay this morning but is rather jarred up and whilst he has gone on the ground, they say you'll get away with it now and again but you wouldn't want to campaign him that way.

He deserves a good break now and we have scrapped any plans for Ascot, and freshen him up in the paddock for a couple of weeks.

Yes there have been some serious offers for the horse, and the one I received this morning was staggering, but the reality is "he is not for sale" at any price.

He will possibly if the ground is okay be aimed at the Curragh Cup over 14f on July 1st at the Curragh, and then depending on his mark (he deserves 110 +) he would maybe shoulder a big weight in the Ebor, but a mark of 110 plus, would leave me to aim him at the Geoffrey Freer at Newbury.

After this the plan would be either the Irish, Italian or German St Leger, before he will head to Australia and really try and land the dream and that's to win the Melbourne Cup.

That's the aim, and some people might think we are punching well above our weight. But I've rode a lot of good horses in my life, including many group 1 winners, but I have never sat on a horse that has as much ability as him.

He is still learning his game and will only get better as the year goes on. We won't run on anything faster than good to soft again until Flemmington which is a chance worth taking.

Anyone who wants to say I'm dreaming, so be it. There is one person who knows how good this horse is, and that's me and you can quote me on this and hold it against me forever more, "If he stays sound and we get him to Australia, he will win the 2012 Melbourne Cup".

Regards
 
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Flame said:
"If he stays sound and we get him to Australia, he will win the 2012 Melbourne Cup".
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I bloody hope you're right.

Fantastic effort with the horse so far. I hope he continues the upward trend.

And, I for one, find your updates and insight thoroughly enjoyable and of great interest.

The very best of luck for the season ahead.
 
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Probably a blessing in disguise that he's a bit sore and gets a couple of weeks off I would think. Good luck for the rest of the season.
 
Chris must of paid good money to have him canter with Long Run and maybe Calio Cat come out on top :lol: or I wonder if the old Geordieland is still doing the rounds in Lambourn?

Really nice to see such a positive viewpoint regards to the Melbourne Cup and I hope you go for it regardless of the result not many people can say they've had a Melbourne Cup runner and being a part of that day as an owner would be pretty special.

Although personally I think that you'd struggle to beat Colour Vision if he makes the race for Godolphin who looks the best stayer in the world potentially and must trounce Cavarlyman at home on the bridle.
 
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Flame said:
The fact is Mystery Star, if you rate the race through him running to 91, you get 108 for Barbican, 107 Gulf Of Naples, 112 Calico Cat and 116 Cavalryman.

Rate it through Barbican running to a mark of 107, you get similar. Mystery Star 90, Gulf Of Naples 106, Calico Cat 110, Cavalryman 114.

Rate the race through Gulf Of Naples at 107 and you get the same assessment as Mystery Star's figures.

Rate the race through Cavalryman (113) and you get Calico Cat 110, Gulf Of Naples 105, Barbican 106, Mystery Star 88.

Or I suppose if it's such a poor race as the idiot writing for the post suggests then you would rate it through Calico Cat (95) and get Cavalryman 99, Gulf Of Naples 87, Barbican 89 and Mystery Star 70.

Now for me the first line of this blokes writing is simply pathetic. I would love to know on what grounds is there that the 3rd and 4th have not run to their marks, when reality is they have probably ran to their marks or give a take a lb, the winner a former 125 horse, has been disappointing on the whole for a while, but had still been consistently running to 110-115 this winter in Dubai, so the facts are he has probably run to that level again.
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The opening lines of this analysis is my exact approach, to which I'd add the process of doing it all again via my own pre-race figures which you'll see are a lot kinder to CC.

My first thought on reading the RP man's analysis was that it was rather jumping to conclusions that the others didn't run to form but that was because I already had CC third top if the Chester form could be taken at face value.

Chris, you also stated before the race you thought CC would love the going. You're now saying CC is a bit jarred up. Do you have any regrets about running him yesterday? Was missing Ascot worth yesterday's place money? What if it's very firm in Australia?

Also, isn't/wasn't the Melbourne Cup an invitational race for foreign runners?

Again, not criticising. Just curious, since I will probably never get close to owning a horse!
 
Desert Orchid, I believe you do have to enter for the Melbourne Cup and any of the other races at the carnival. The locals have been doing a bit of grizzling about it lately though as, due to the popularity of the race and the marketing of it overseas, they get so many highly rated horses entering from around the world that the locals who have aimed at the contest struggle to get a run.
The aussies are torn between giving ours too much weight or limiting the number of overseas runners! :whistle:
 
I don't regret running him no, as the ground is going to be just as fast at Ascot. He handled the ground and would handle it again, but he wouldn't want to race on it frequently. It would be a chance worth taking in Melbourne. Ascot would have meant a lot of races close together and quite a few horses don't get over Ascot quickly, and at his current mental stage Ascot might mentally be too soon for him.

The Melbourne Cup is a handicap which you enter for, but if we are rated 110, and knowing how he is sort of a rags to riches type horse, one would hope if we make enough noise about wanting to go there, it would be very good press for the race as well as ourselves. Plus he would be one of the higher rated horses in the race, and hopefully could be going there a group winner.

We are in contact already with those in place who make the decisions and we would be hopeful that our profile is as good now as the likes of Gulf Of Naples and others whom the race has been talked about for. The issue would be what rating we get, but his Uk rating would get him in the list.

I hope he isn't overlooked, and given he was the broken down horse who went for peanuts and was given the chance to be a horse again, we know the Aussie's like fairytale type stories and that is exactly what he is, and hopefully if he takes a group race or a big handicap between now and September when nominations are announced then his application should be considered seriously.

In regards to it being very firm in Australia, well this could be the case, which is why I would rather we aimed for it, knowing he hasn't been thrashed on fast ground on the run up to the race.
 
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I thought you had to enter, my mistake .. are you saying you have to apply to receive an invitation? They might aswell just let you enter in that case! It's a handicap after all, and the lesser lights still around in November won't get in.
 
You have to enter as with any handicap. But the Australian Handicapper allots the weights and the field after the Caulfield Cup.

We would aim to go out there without a prep run, so we would be judged on our International Form alone.

Now some foreign entrants use the two prep races which are only a week or two before hand to show their hand in a handicap, so if they are not in the top 14 of the 22, before the trials, that they run to try and cement their position.

Now should we be given our Uk rating, roughly 110, he would have allocated a top 14 highest entrant in the last ten runnings, but anything around 108-112, in the past has seen that with no pre run, if a horse runs well in the Caulfield Cup, he may allocate it a higher mark than your horse meaning you miss the cut.

It all depends how we are weighted on Oct 12th, as then we will know what sort of chance we have of making the cut. If you are in the top 14 of the 22, you are very unlikely to get 8 horses surpass you, but if you are in the bottom 4, you are generally pushed into running in a prep race.

The highest rated runner in the last 12 years has been 119, with 106 the lowest to get a run.

Now Colour Vision rated 117, with a season in front of him, I think realistically won't be aimed at the race, as he would almost certainly have to carry one of the highest weights recorded in the Cup.
 
Thanks for the explanation, Chris. I was sure Dermot Weld once mentioned hoping one of his horses got an invitation. Maybe he said nomination.
 
Gamla Stan said:
Is this only for International runners?

Glass Harmonium ran last year having only won over 1m3f.
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I believe it's a 10.5f group race which annoyed Weld as Galileo's Choice had won on Irish Champion Stakes day over 10f.

Not sure exactly where that ranks in the ballot - GC had already won over 2m 1f at Killarney last Summer.

I think that Glass Harmonium's Mackinnon Stakes (10f, G1) win gained him an exemption - remember reading somewhere that he had to win the week before the Cup to get a run.

Martin
 
Irish Stamp said:
I think that Glass Harmonium's Mackinnon Stakes (10f, G1) win gained him an exemption - remember reading somewhere that he had to win the week before the Cup to get a run.
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Ah, well remembered Martin, totally forgot that the Mackinnon is essentially a qualifier for the big one.
 
Just spoken to Steven Hindle, He thinks Cavalryman ran close to his mark if not better and is likely to put Calico Cat on 108 - 110, yet to make his final decision. Thinks we could have possibly run to around 113-115, as he was impressed by the way the race finished and feels the 3rd and 4th have run to their marks. Thinks we have an exciting horse on our hands.
 
I would have to agree with him Flame. Looks really special or even better . Loveyour attitude and wish you every success including Australia.Great to read your views:cool:
 
What are the chances of HALLMARK STAR in the 3:30 at Musselburgh tomorrow? Runner up to CALICO CAT at Thirsk and running off a mark of 85. Thrown in now that CALICO CAT has a rating of 108?
 
CALICO CAT HEADS FOR THE HARDWICKE

Chris Beek Racing will be double handed at the Royal Meeting this week after it was confirmed this morning that stable star CALICO CAT will run in the Hardwicke Stakes. There has been a lot of outside interest in the 108 rated son of Tiger Hill but with no firm offers on the table and time running out for someone to step in and buy the improving gelding it has been decided to let the Ormonde 3rd and Grand Cup 2nd take his place in arguably what is probably the strongest renewal ever of the Hardwicke.

Bert as he is known at home worked on Thursday and blew hard afterwards giving the impression that he was not 100% ready for Ascot, but put through his paces on Sunday morning in a gallop over 7f on the Kingsdown Polytrack the 4yo impressed as he worked pleasingly with Know No Fear. Going a nice pace throughout Know No joined Calico Cat between the 5 and the 6 and quickened up nicely together with Calico Cat always firmly in control. Not blowing too hard he cleared quickly afterwards and it was a major step in the right direction. Since his fine 2nd to Cavalryman at York, Calico Cat had a couple of weeks on the easy list but he has really had his work stepped up the past 10 days and came through his biggest task this morning in fine style giving me an excellent feel and I can safely say it's the best he's ever gone and he feels like he has really improved.

He will have a final crucial workout on Wednesday which will hopefully be on the grass up the straight mile providing a bit more rain falls to put him spot on for Saturday's Hardwicke Stakes.


Calico Cat will also be joined on Saturday by 2yo Downright Dizzie who is set to make her racecourse debut in the Chesham Stakes, She worked very impressively yesterday morning pulled 5-6L clear of her companion Stargazy and is really improving all the time and was like a bullet out the gates on Thursday.

We still have a number of shares available in Downright Dizzie, starting from only £199 !! until the end of the season.
 
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