Why would you see that as lenient Mo ? The race has probably recorded the lowest speed figure in it's history. That's not to say the horses aren't good but it certainly says its a jog and sprint and difficult to assess the overall quality of a performance and how much bearing it'll have on other races. If anything Victorino has put in a terrible round of jumping was in a horrible position and somehow closed the gap massively to finish 3rd. In saying this it was the last horse I'd have backed at Newbury with its prior jumping issues but if anything put in a performance worth noting it was him and if V can find a way to get him jumping via some sort of head gear then he could have a bit in hand. As for the winner who knows but I think 6lb up is about spot on. How would you justify rating him higher Mo when the race didn't begin in earnest until about 4 from home.
Cheers, Danny.
I've only watched the race the twice, the second time just to re-watch how GEC ran and didn't get home (a non-stayer in my book too, unless it went lame or something after two out).
Watching big races like this I'm always watching to see when the beaten horses start coming under the pump and how many are struggling with, say, half a mile to go.
I actually thought the on-screen clock was telling us the race was run on the strong side. The Badger Beer was very strongly run and Remastered was up with the pace all the way until falling but he looked outpaced over the longer trip on Saturday.
I tend to go through a 'take out the winner and..' approach and then 'take out the second...' and see how the form then stacks uo.
Broadway Boy was a job horse beat into second. I was on Victtorino for its two early Ascot wins last season and rate it better than a handicapper. It was a combination of jumping and price along with the strength of opposition that put me off it at the weekend and the bastert beat me for the place money on GEF. For me he's a 160 horse when things go well for him but he might need to go right-handed.
The fifth and sixth also held very viable claims but ended up well beaten.
I think the form is very strong. As I've said before, my ratings tend to be 5lbs higher than RPRs yet RPRs rate the winner 10lbs higher than the OR it ran off so I'm likely to rate it around 15lbs higher once I get round to looking back at the race so a 6lbs rise is relatively little and the horse has strong prospects of improving more than that going into its next race.
I'd have the winner very much to the forefront of my Grand National thoughts right now. I suspect he'll be roughed off and prepped once the weights are published.