Champion Hurdle 2014

I'm with Ruby 100%-I have Our Connor a fair bit of thought today especially after the race and it definitely took away from my enjoyment of the day but he is animal there are no lives that will be ruined because of his death.I remember seeing a horse of no ability covered in mud with a broken leg and waiting to be destroyed at a ptp 20 years ago-sad and emotional but part and parcel of country life.
 
LUKE said:
I'm with Ruby 100%-I have given Our Connor a fair bit of thought today especially after the race and it definitely took away from my enjoyment of the day but he is animal there are no lives that will be ruined because of his death.I remember seeing a horse of no ability covered in mud with a broken leg and waiting to be destroyed at a ptp 20 years ago-sad and emotional but part and parcel of country life.
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Aragorn said:
DO, didn't Vautour break the track record?
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That's being discussed elsewhere and, as Cunningham says, will probably be discussed a lot more during the week.

The changed how the time races so the course record set by Vautour (and then broken by Jezki) was based on next to no previous reference.
 
LUKE said:
I'm with Ruby 100%-I have Our Connor a fair bit of thought today especially after the race and it definitely took away from my enjoyment of the day but he is animal there are no lives that will be ruined because of his death.I remember seeing a horse of no ability covered in mud with a broken leg and waiting to be destroyed at a ptp 20 years ago-sad and emotional but part and parcel of country life.
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what have other lives being ruined got to do with anything though?

on that reckoning you would support experiments on animals resulting in their deaths or possibly euthanasia for single pensioners with no family...as no lives would be ruined by any of these deaths

i just don't see what its got to do with it...all tragedies are tragedies to someone...number of people affected is irrelevant

if i agreed with Ruby..then i would stop watching the game from tomorrow and have nothing to do with it again tbh
 
I wonder if he would have said it to one of his children if it had happened to their pet pony.
 
Maxbet said:
I wonder if he would have said it to one of his children if it had happened to their pet pony.
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Do you know anything about Ruby or his father -of course he would say it to his own children.I'd say Ruby didn't get too much mollycoddling.
 
Back to racing.

Hurricane wasn't good enough.

TNO was obstructed but without it I think it would have been the three of them on the line. Hard to imagine the three of them are superstars. Three good horses.

Would imagine one of the British horses might go chasing? Anyone know anything on future plans,
 
EC1 said:
i'm not sure he does have a point

if we take his argument to its conclusion then only the destruction of mankind would be classed as a tragedy

whats an injury to one man compared to the Aberfan disaster?

whats Aberfan disaster compared to a Tsunami that kills thousands?

i think to use his way of demeaning upset by comparing it to a larger upset doesn't really achieve anything

if an event hurts peoples feelings it hurts them...its like saying to someone who loses an arm in accident...well could have been worse..might have lost both
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The contra argument being; do we hold mass for every fly that ends up flattened on our windscreen?
 
granger said:
Back to racing.

Hurricane wasn't good enough.

TNO was obstructed but without it I think it would have been the three of them on the line. Hard to imagine the three of them are superstars. Three good horses.

Would imagine one of the British horses might go chasing? Anyone know anything on future plans,
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Think MTOY has always been thought of as a future chaser, while Jezki's not considered to have the build?
 
So sad for what happened to Our Conor, and certainly put a dampener on things.
Well done to Jezki.
Jesus, maybe my namesake needs to come out of retirement to help Tent settle.

TNO has run a monumental race.

Not to be for the Fly. Still ran a creditable race. The younger legs prevailed.
 
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Terrific race marred by the demise of Our Conor . Poor animal even in death loads of people seem determined to misspell his name .

Jezki - game tough and helped no end by the hood

MTOY - stayed up the hill no problem , pulled too hard though and the mistake at the last cost him any chance of getting up

TNO - badly interfered with but close enough IMO off the turn - would have been closer but doubt he would have won

HF - parallels with Comedy of Errors uncanny regained Champion Hurdle and then blown away into fourth by youngsters the following year . If Annie Power does not stay on Thursday shielding HF from his is going to look pretty stupid.

CCB - what a run by a 13 year old to be still in contention at the last and still be fifth

OC - tactics odd but Jezki's win makes him a real what might have been - very sad that like Golden Cygnet before him a hurdler of such potential snuffed out.
 
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I have a lot of time for ruby who is intelligent and straightforward but I heard the interview and it was the aggressive tone that didn't help
 
reet hard said:
The contra argument being; do we hold mass for every fly that ends up flattened on our windscreen?
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but no one was holding mass for OC Reet.

last word on this..the situation didn't need any comment..Walsh should have just said he was sad for connections and left it at that..demeaning one thing with a bigger thing wasn't relevant to the situation.
 
i think that talk of retirement for HF would be premature..its possible the quicker conditions took him out of his comfort zone added to the real injection of pace from 3 out

.it certainly wasn't a race that was run in a way to be against him early on...they went even pace to the 5th and then between the 5th & the 6th the pace actually slowed..after the 6th though they really stepped on the pace and from then on it would have been difficult to finish from behind the pace as they were finishing faster than any CH i've timed....thats after the ground conditions are negated...this was helter skelter stuff from 3 out in real terms.
 
funny how you build up to such a race and something like that happens. had a bad feeling all day one of the big protagonists was going to fall. awful to think what happened. spoiled the race completely. also think ruby's comments are pretty crass.

as for the race itself, well done to anyone who backed jezki, never really had him on my mind after all the trials but maybe the strong pace and the ground brought the best out of him. anyone who stuck with him deserves applause.
 
Meh, I can't get too exercised over Ruby's comments. He was asked his opinion, he gave his opinion. Anyone who doesn't already know that he is completely unsentimental about horses has been living under a rock. He didn't say anything disrespectful, he acknowledged that it was sad but it was clearly on his mind that at the point the focus was all about Our Conor, Jason Maguire was being brought round from an induced coma missing a chunk of his liver.

In the same way as I cut Andy Murray a bit of slack for his demeanour given that he lived through Dunblane, I refuse to give Ruby a hard time for putting jockeys first given he was right there on the scene when Kieran Kelly was killed and led the deputation to the Irish stewards to get the remainder of the meeting called off as a mark of respect the night they turned his life support off. An experience like that stays with you.

I have more ire for the BBC who not only focused their CH report on Our Conor's death, but helpfully highlighted him on the approach to the hurdle so viewers knew exactly which horse they were watching die...
 
Three brave and talented horses filling the places, yesterday. There doesn't seem to be much wrong with MTOY's constitution either. Has to be rated highly.

The Fly ran his heart out, and did his supporters proud. Hopefully he'll get a crack at them in Punchestown next month.

As compelling an event as it looked like being beforehand, though OC's loss obviously taints the enjoyment.
 
Cruella said:
Meh, I can't get too exercised over Ruby's comments. He was asked his opinion, he gave his opinion. Anyone who doesn't already know that he is completely unsentimental about horses has been living under a rock. He didn't say anything disrespectful, he acknowledged that it was sad but it was clearly on his mind that at the point the focus was all about Our Conor, Jason Maguire was being brought round from an induced coma missing a chunk of his liver.

In the same way as I cut Andy Murray a bit of slack for his demeanour given that he lived through Dunblane, I refuse to give Ruby a hard time for putting jockeys first given he was right there on the scene when Kieran Kelly was killed and led the deputation to the Irish stewards to get the remainder of the meeting called off as a mark of respect the night they turned his life support off. An experience like that stays with you.

I have more ire for the BBC who not only focused their CH report on Our Conor's death, but helpfully highlighted him on the approach to the hurdle so viewers knew exactly which horse they were watching die...
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Very well put and I agree entirely.
 
Grasshopper said:
Three brave and talented horses filling the places, yesterday. There doesn't seem to be much wrong with MTOY's constitution either. Has to be rated highly.
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never seen a horse tank through his races like MTOY. if he just learned to drop it a bit he'd win a champion or two. very talented horse.
 
The Hurricane will win be back to winning ways and be running jezki , mtoy , and tno alot closer. I still maintain that he is 4l better in IRE also that he has prob lost 3l ability to age. Rated171 by me now IRE form. Jezki 170 , mtoy 169.
 
I don't think Ruby has done anyone any favours whatsoever there, The Daily Mail predictably has picked up on it, do try not to read the comments section on the website! No way would he have the same sentiments if that had happened to Kauto or Hurricane Fly.
It was a strange fall as Our Connor seemed to go sideways through the air?
I've been fuming about The New One's poor luck, but having watched the replay a couple more times, he gets left behind again when they increase the pace around the bend. I still think he'd win incident-free but I wouldn't put my house on it.
 
I've heard Ruby express the same sentiments before, it's not something new this week, just more high profile given the occasion. I had the impression the BBC were relishing the chance to report the death of OC, or as our local newsreader called him, OuT Conor.
 
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