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Kicking King

The good news should be that there doesn't appear to be anything physically wrong with KK. Perhaps with more schooling, perhaps a scope and another good gallop may find a few answers, maybe it won't. KK may have just been having an off day yesterday. shrug::

I agree with Granger, Taafe will do what he thinks is right for the horse and that's the way, I feel, it should be.
 
They say they never come back..but then look at Harchibald

Sure, his absence was nowhere near as long. And he was nowhere near himself last season. But a gentle education back and this year he's been back close to himself. Once KK stays sound, that's the best we can hope for. That maybe later on in this calendar year..after a summer of soundness...he will be able to get back to something approaching his normal self. Rushing him for March wouldn't be worth it.
 
Ugh, bloody scoping!!!!

No point scoping the animal now - if it were to be done it should have been done straight after the race as that would have picked up on any possible bleeds also.

I hate scoping horses incessantly, I am convinced that over-scoping them vastly increases the chances of damaging their windpipes and leaving the animals more susceptible to lung infections.
 
I saw a recording of Taaffe being interviewed, can't remember whether it was on ATR or RTE, but anyway, despite making all the right optimistic noises about another step along the way, horrible tacky ground being responsible, being trained for one race etc, he really did look thoroughly pissed off.
 
Never mind all the talk, there is absolutely no way getting stuffed by the likes of Ballistraw and Knight Legend a month before the Gold Cup is a "step forward."

The truth of the matter is, after travelling and jumping fairly well into the straight, Kicking King failed to pick up at all from three out and was cooked going to the last. Can't just put that down to the ground.
 
No. It was very disappointing and the horse looked cooked early doors.
I'm not sure either it was just KK not letting himself down due to a memory of the tendon.
If he goes to the GC which God forbid, I'd lay him for a place and I just don't lay horses!
 
if they send the horse to the GC it would be stupidity of the highest order imho....his jumping went to pieces in the straight after running in an egg and spooner..wouldn't like to imagine how his jumping would stand up in a real race.
 
Not disagreeing with you EC but I will say that Knight Legend belted along out in front probably in order to take the sting out of KK so it wasn't a ridiculously slow egg and spoon pace that you might normally have. KK was in trouble from a long way out.

Arguably, Knight Legend paid the penalty for that by being a sitting duck for the rank outsider but the increased pace found out Justified's jumping and knackered KK.
 
i'd agree that they went a decent pace Bobby...but

the one thing that differs between a race like that and a GC is that even after going a decent pace...in the GC.. there will be horses fit enough and good enough to keep going at the business end....where to be fair we should always look...differences in real ability are really only displayed when the pressure is on late in a race.

it's ok taking part in a small race and then floundering...it's that floundering point that in a top class race where horses are just showing starting really run...the end of races is the true testing point...KK clearly was out on his feet when he really should not have been if he was ever going to recapture his best form.

i really cannot have KK on my mind in the GC...and i really hope they don't run him.

others will see it differently i am sure...not for me though
 
They did go a decent gallop on Saturday but Kicking King was cooked before fitness could have been an issue to my eye. He just didn't pick up at all in the straight. Maybe he will come on significantly for the race, but he is definite place lay material at Cheltenham IMO.

At his best, Kicking King would have carried Knight Legend over the line, and the faster the gallop, the better...
 
I dont think anyone thinks Kicking king really has a chance in the G0ld Cup, barring catastrophes. Connections are going there, I think, because where else do you take a top class racehorse. They didnt struggle to get their Gold Cup horse back in training for 20K conditions races. To me, they are giving the horse the chance of showing that he is still capable. My own view is that he hasnt come back the same horse, and even at his best, he would struggle to get placed in this year's Gold Cup.

I havent heard one person in real life or any forum think that he could give KS/Denman something to think about.
 
It looks like the classic example to support the saying "they never come back".

The horse that I have seen run in the two races this season is not the same horse I saw before his setback.
 
Originally posted by Colin Phillips@Feb 19 2008, 07:13 AM
It looks like the classic example to support the saying "they never come back".
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They sometimes come back, even stronger and better than before. Just ask the connections of Bay Hawk, Colin. :)

No one wants to see KK tailed off in the GC or worse, pulled up injured. That is why the trainer is the only one who will know if putting him in the race is pure folly or not.

It's an interesting discussion.
 
I am yet to see a horse come back at top-class level after a tendon injury; and remain there; the only exception I can think of might be Inglis Drever, I am not really sure whether he had a TENDON-injury or "just a "leg"-injury. Same with Harchibald.
 
Originally posted by Colin Phillips@Feb 19 2008, 07:13 AM
It looks like the classic example to support the saying "they never come back".

The horse that I have seen run in the two races this season is not the same horse I saw before his setback.
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Yes, it reminds me of Nick Dundee as much as anything. Hope the hard work of the yard does bear some fruit.
 
For any owner getting a horse back after a leg - I can tell you it is a great feeling. You fully expect there to be further problems, and you know that the horse may never be the same again. That said, with careful monitoring from the stable staff, the trainer and the vets they can just try and up the work load at a gradual pace but you never know if it is enough until the horse actually competes. For me, , it is great just to see KK back again even he never fulfils his potential.

Everyone has to accept KK may never be successful in the same grade of races but I doubt that means he is loved any less and I am sure that the horses welfare will remain paramount to all the connections ofthis wonderful horse.

I am just thrilled we have seen KK back on the track again and that the mystery of will he or won't he appear at Cheltenham remains another of the big question marks surrounding this years Cheltenham Festival. Afterall, 2008's Festival may have come too soon for him.
 
Originally posted by crazyhorse@Feb 19 2008, 09:15 AM
I am yet to see a horse come back at top-class level after a tendon injury; and remain there; the only exception I can think of might be Inglis Drever, I am not really sure whether he had a TENDON-injury or "just a "leg"-injury.
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Drever barely had an injury; there was no tendon damage per se, only a tiny bit of heat and swelling so they played it safe and gave him the year off anyway.

They do rarely come back to the level they previously attained but I have seen it done (Mely Moss as a good example), the trouble with coming back after a "leg" is that you tend to be very much on borrowed time before it goes again.
 
Didn't Sabin Du Loir have 3 years off through injury after winning the Sun Alliance Hurdle before going on to become a very good Steeplchaser bagging two Haldon Gold Cups, a Peterborough, a John Bull, and thrice beating Desert Orchid at levels to boot!
 
Originally posted by Garney@Feb 19 2008, 06:59 AM
... chance in the G0ld Cup... Connections are going there, I think, because where else do you take a top class racehorse. They didn't struggle to get their Gold Cup horse back in training for 20K conditions races. To me, they are giving the horse the chance of showing that he is still capable.
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But surely that's just what they should do, for the remainder of this season, while he has such a low handicap mark, isn't it? - he doesn't know what class of competition he's running against, and he needs to re-build his confidence by getting his head in front. Once he's back winning, then they can think about Grade 1 races.

Sorry I think I've said this three times now... but it seems so obvious to me, it irks me that he's being thrown in again at top level when no-one knows if he is OK yet. The horse has no vanity, he just wants to win a race, any race.
 
while he has such a low handicap mark
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Presumably you mean whilst he doesn't have a Grade 1 penalty to carry? I doubt the official handicapper is going to be willing to drop a Gold Cup winner too much after just two runs back.
 
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