Fairyhouse Weekend

Nothing wrong with Ruby's ride, imo. He thought he'd got it, and she simply wasn't good enough.
Is it beyond the realms of possibility that Apple's Jade found the few pounds improvement she needed, owing to the step up in trip?
 
The step up in trip has to have been a factor alright.
After being headed on the run in, AJ fought back. No doubt the extra 4 furlongs suited her.

Wonder where we'll see her next? With the 4yo allowance and her preference for Soft ground you'd imagine they'll look to make hay somewhere over xmas.
 
hezz said:
The step up in trip has to have been a factor alright.
After being headed on the run in, AJ fought back. No doubt the extra 4 furlongs suited her.

Wonder where we'll see her next? With the 4yo allowance and her preference for Soft ground you'd imagine they'll look to make hay somewhere over xmas.
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Elliott said afterwards that the mares hurdle is her gold cup now - I dont expect to see her over Christmas

Minus her 4lb allowance and VVM with some additional practice, i'd back the mullins mare to reverse the places
 
granger said:
Elliott said afterwards that the mares hurdle is her gold cup now - I dont expect to see her over Christmas

Minus her 4lb allowance and VVM with some additional practice, i'd back the mullins mare to reverse the places
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Yeah I just read that actually, cheers granger.

I agree on VVM reversing the form. That's IF she doesn't go chasing of course.
 
Ruby was sitting with Rich Ricci's party after his last ride and looked quite pensive. Willie's horses are never short of a gallop but VVM will have lacked match fitness and I think she'd win a rematch. VVM's programme will almost certainly depend on other Ricci horses but I think he'd like to see her in the Ryanair. As a by the by, after Airlie's win Ricci shook everyone of us by the hand.
 
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Horses that don't have turn of foot are often viewed as unlucky or the jockey is blamed. Ruby just before the home turn was going to go past Shaneshill but because VVM doesn't have the speed required she was blocked by Barry on IG. Then he recovered the position on the turn in but when she got upsides the eventual winner the latter simply found more and they both distanced themselves of the 3rd 4th, so VVM simply wasn't good enough on the day.

Ruby has no reasons to blame himself, he gave the horse the best chance. This isn't a Faugheen Morgiana case when he allowed a small flat type speedy horse in front on a slow early pace(thus NC conserving his turn of foot for the last part) as he was filled with overconfidence by what happened on Curragh gallops few days earlier. On that occasion he simply got outsmarted by David Mullins. Here he arrived to the front exactly at he right time but the winner simply found more when VVM came to challenge. First race of the season sure, but AJ's 3rd race in 4 weeks and she had a very hard G1 just a week before, so who was more disadvantaged?
 
Apples Jade had three races in a 6-week period in the spring, and hacked-up in the 2nd and 3rd outings.

There's your answer.
 
Grasshopper said:
Race fitness surely accounts for at least something?
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Since whenever was first-time up fitness a problem for VVM?
In both her previous seasons with WPM she's finished within 2lbs of her debut rating for the next 3 outings. I'd take AJ to do her next time, too.
 
Wfa, isn't it?
As the first 4yo to win it in aeons, surely she'll improve again with age/experience.
 
It's WFA she didn't get at Newcastle. I rarely factor it into my thinking but a 4lb allowance for a 4yo in December is silly.
 
reet hard said:
Since whenever was first-time up fitness a problem for VVM?
In both her previous seasons with WPM she's finished within 2lbs of her debut rating for the next 3 outings. I'd take AJ to do her next time, too.
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Since when did a 2lbs improvement fail to account for being beaten a short-head?
 
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On the going which usually prevails in Ireland at this time of year 4yos definitely need a weight allowance, even in December - or perhaps especially in December.

I think they said on ATR yesterday that no Cheltenham winners came out of last year's meeting, which is surprising. However the form this year might be more relevant because of the nice ground they were racing on.
 
hezz said:
You never miss an opportunity for some Ruby bashing sunybay.

Ruby will have run that race over in his head many many times last night, and probably today.
With such small margins of victory/defeat, jockey's will re-run it to see what they could have done differently.
They'll inevitably blame themselves. The best jockeys at least.

I don't see any issue with Ruby's ride personally. VVM heads Apples Jade after the last and Apples Jade fights back. I defy anyone to believe that VVM wasn't going to pick up a horse who ran a week previous in a race where the form was close to muck.
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I totally disagree with your analysis or lack of........it's how VVM got to the last that Ruby is criticised for and rightly so IMO

Absolutely no doubt in my mind he made an error of judgement that cost VVM the race. You can clearly see he was going to go round Shaneshill which he could have and should have done but he hesitated. He actually jumped the 3rd last on Shanehill's outside, then decides he'll go inside in a tightly knit field ???, finds himself with nowhere to go...tries to switch outside and becomes the meet in the sandwich because Barry came from 4 wide to 2 wide forced him into a pocket(It's called race riding). Then Ruby has no choice but take apull and you can clearly see him lose 2 lengths on them.............She responds to his urgings which have become somewhat desperate and fails to get there.

The point is she was going extremely well and with a clear run and not having to take 2 trips round the stands she would have got there on the bridle and picked up Apple Jade after the last with ease.
 
Check sectionals
bad ride

this is from rowlands piece

"But there looked to be an unlucky loser of the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, which turned into something of a sprint, and in which Apple’s Jade was better placed than Vroum Vroum Mag when it mattered.
The latter was held up going well for a long way before joining issue at the last but lost out on the nod. With such a narrow margin at play sectionals suggest the result would have gone the other way had Vroum Vroum Mag not had to do so much running to join issue with a rival who was quickening at the time."
 
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it doesn't make sense, AJ was doing it the hard way from the front, it wasn't a slowly run race and while AJ was forced into holding off the early challengers, she had to dig deep again when VVM came to challenge. I fail to see how anything about VVM performance was unlucky. Like I said in my earlier post, Ruby tried to get her in a better spot just before the home turn but she wasn't fast enough to occupy that position so she saved her energy for the home straight while AJ had to battle at this time. Ruby didn't forced her on the outside he simply took the optimum path and they all folded one after another except AJ who VVM joined at the last and thoroughly failed to get past because AJ fought back. There's nothing to suggest that had VVM came earlier at her she would've passed her. The way things ended AJ was getting away and with another furlong VVM would've been beaten by further.
 
and Mick Jazz raised 1lb to 134. He can definitely win off that but the problem is he's entered in the Ladbroke (as is Campeador), for which he's as short as 10/1 but we have no idea what the handicapper over here will do to his mark for that race.
 
Aughex said:
it doesn't make sense, AJ was doing it the hard way from the front, it wasn't a slowly run race and while AJ was forced into holding off the early challengers, she had to dig deep again when VVM came to challenge. I fail to see how anything about VVM performance was unlucky. Like I said in my earlier post, Ruby tried to get her in a better spot just before the home turn but she wasn't fast enough to occupy that position so she saved her energy for the home straight while AJ had to battle at this time. Ruby didn't forced her on the outside he simply took the optimum path and they all folded one after another except AJ who VVM joined at the last and thoroughly failed to get past because AJ fought back. There's nothing to suggest that had VVM came earlier at her she would've passed her. The way things ended AJ was getting away and with another furlong VVM would've been beaten by further.
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Oh come on man..She wasn't fast enough? She was fast enough to come from a crap position AFTER they had quickened up but wasn't fast enough to go through a gap when she was cruising?.......That makes absolutely no sense at all....There's everything to suggest if Ruby didn't have to kick the sh!t out of her to get her on levels at the last he'd have won easily..........Did you even watch the race?
 
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