Cheltenham Festival 2012: DAY 2

links781 said:
"it was same for both of them after the last"

I'd disagree with Francome there,SE was on the inside and was actually at a disadvantage
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Except he kept the inside by bumping Finian's sideways.

Finian's was OUTJUMPING SE.
 
the aerial shot showed SE weakening after the last quite a lot..think best horse won..well done Hamm

bad fall..made me cringe when hit the upright jesus..hope he is ok..and the horse
 
That was ridiculous. Well done Hamm - your support for Finian's all winter totally justified

But there's a huge asterisk on that race for me
 
I can only imagine your reaction hamm if this happened at an irish track and one of hendersons lost

Farcical ending

I have nothing against Finians but that is not a satisfactory ending
 
Of course it's unsatisfactory, but the best horse won. He outjumped a great 2 mile jumper and that is some feat. He looked the winner from 3 out, and was always getting there.
 
yes it was a farce..the guy with the flag should have been on the course not at the side like that..they would have seen him earlier then
 
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Hamm said:
Eh, no - Finian's outjumped him the last few and for a big bump from SE.

None of this now lads - the best horse won.
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FR is a lot younger so is bound to be better on the flat and of course Barry is a stronger jockey. I backed neither but do feel the better horse didn't win there. Well done on the bet though. I personally wouldn't give a monkey's if i'd been on him.
 
Sigh. Threw on 5 x £10 trebles earlier, put Simonsig and Grand Cru in all, and then one in each of the last 5 races. You guessed it, first one was FR. Had a few quid on ( and will have to with the rest ), but this is going to hurt.
 
Bobbyjo said:
That was ridiculous. Well done Hamm - your support for Finian's all winter totally justified

But there's a huge asterisk on that race for me
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It was bad, but it would have been worse if the bumping cost Finian's. Wouldn't you say he looked the best horse in the race?

And cheers.
 
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The truth showed towards the finish as Sizing Europe failed to stay up the hill stronger and you couldn't put it down to a slight jigg to the right as he would have had to do the same thing if a horse fell in front of him.

The reason why Sizing Europe was toiling because he had been out in front for too long and was a sitting duck for the eventual winner not because of a little millesecond of indecision around a fence.
 
Dave G said:
Sigh. Threw on 5 x £10 trebles earlier, put Simonsig and Grand Cru in all, and then one in each of the last 5 races. You guessed it, first one was FR. Had a few quid on ( and will have to with the rest ), but this is going to hurt.
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I'm in a very similar spot Dave :(
 
Bruce_Savage said:
The truth showed towards the finish as Sizing Europe failed to stay up the hill stronger and you couldn't put it down to a slight jigg to the right as he would have had to do the same thing if a horse fell in front of him.

The reason why Sizing Europe was toiling because he had been out in front for too long and was a sitting duck for the eventual winner not because of a little millesecond of indecision around a fence.
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Surprisingly well put!
 
granger said:
I can only imagine your reaction hamm if this happened at an irish track and one of hendersons lost

Farcical ending

I have nothing against Finians but that is not a satisfactory ending
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That is not the point. The point is it's clear the best horse won anyway, and Finian's has (and this is even to my surprise) proven himself better than Sizing Europe (look at the distance back to the rest, he more than ran his race).

The king is dead, long live the king (or until Sprinter Sacre comes along).
 
De Bromhead was classy in defeat there. Everything that could go wrong did for Sizing today

For the biggest meeting of the year, they fucked up royally today

Glad Johnson seems to be ok, it looked nasty

Photographers with their zoom lenses have no business being that near a fence
 
granger said:
Well thats hyperbole anyway. We will never now know. Of the two there can be no doubting who was more effected by the ommision of the last fence

You are correct regarding SS however
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Answer these questions please:

1. Which horse got bumped sideways and had to go on the outside past the last?
2. Which horse was jumping better more and more as the race went on?
3. Which horse was gaining all the way from 3 out, and clearly going better?
4. Which horse came up the hill better?

I know the answers to all those questions, and I also know the best horse won. I also can see Sizing Europe ran a stormer, and Finian's Rainbow improved massively and beat him. And that is what the discussion should be about, not some bitterness that avoids the credit going where it's due.
 
Well done Hamm & Hezz - a very good winner of a championship race who jumped beautifully. Ive done my dough and have to concede the best horse won on the day despite what happened at the last. My only quibble was with Andrew Lynch (whom I think is a superb jockey by the way) was that he should have kicked on a lot earlier and put them to the sword. He can be excused due to the fact that WT fell so early and he had to cut out his own donkey work. Maybe the slog at Down Royal did leave a mark. What is Henderson going to do next year to keep FR and the Black Aeroplane apart??
 
Hamm said:
I know the answers to all those questions, and I also know the best horse won. .
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Good to see you have an open mind Hamm. You know best

I don't think FR was that badly inconvenienced to be honest, I have no doubts Sizing was more effected by the mix up and from initial reading it seems many agree with me

FR jumped very well, he usually does but no better or worse than Sizing

Sizing set the pace after Johnson bowed out so i'm not sure what he would have been catching

FR got up the hill better after they settled, would he have done so if they had of jumped the last, I don't think so and we will never know

What we saw at the last today, wouldn't happen at a P2P
 
Hamm said:
Come on Finian's!
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Fair play, Hamm. Whatever about the final fence he clearly isn't the bridle ponce many (myself included) had him down as. I'm not sure if he has grown up etc. since last year or if he did actually just go too hard in last year's Arkle and set it up for something to come from off the pace but it doesn't really matter now.

Like Sprinter Sacre yesterday, I was impressed by how well Finian's Rainbow settled today. Fair play to Henderson on that score.
 
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