King George VI Chase

I think you are wrong about that Steve-he gave an interview on Rte over Christmas and he said maybe but his body language was saying no way.
I had the chance to ask him at Tramore last Friday but he had his kids with him and I didn't want to be annoying him.
 
LUKE said:
I think you are wrong about that Steve-he gave an interview on Rte over Christmas and he said maybe but his body language was saying no way.
I had the chance to ask him at Tramore last Friday but he had his kids with him and I didn't want to be annoying him.
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Thanks Luke. All I know is that de Bromhead appeared to be keen before the race was rescheduled. The PA reported immediately before Christmas that de Bromhead was expecting a big run from Sizing Europe in the KG (had it gone ahead on Boxing Day).

He also told the Daily Mail: “Kauto Star is probably the best chaser I've seen. I'm not saying we are going to beat him but if he finished in the first three, you'd be delighted... Sizing Europe is classy at two miles but I would have hated to have had a great three-miler go through our hands without trying him at the distance.”
 
In 2009 the horse got a bad dose of transit fever on the way to Cheltenham-I know their travel arrangements last March were very precise but at the same time they are nervous about the same thing happening again.
My interpretation is that he goes straight to the festival.
 
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LUKE said:
In 2009 the horse got a bad dose of transit fever on the way to Cheltenham-I know their travel arrangements last March were very precise but at the same time they are nervous about the same thing happening again.
My interpretation is that he goes straight to the festival.
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Thanks Luke. I take your point. But if they were going to run him before, why not now?

I’m sure once upon a time competitive racing took place outside the Festival… perhaps not.
 
Sizing Europe is not a confirmed William Hill King George VI Chase starter reports Henry de Bromhead.
Trainer de Bromhead and owners Alan and Ann Potts have still to commit to the rearranged race having travelled over to England from Ireland before Christmas.
The nine-year-old chased home Kauto Star in the JNwine.com Champion Chase however the Irish Independant Arkle winner is not a certain starter in the Kempton showpiece.
"We haven't made a final decision yet, we're just looking at all our options at the moment so I wouldn't like to say for sure what we are doing yet," said De Bromhead.
 
Why would he do that? There is nothing to gain in this instance by keeping his cards close to his chest. I do find it strange de Bromhead is being quoted saying that though - at this stage, why is there doubt - either he is going and is being trained for it, or he is not - it's not rocket science!
 
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I would imagine the weather etc will come into play - and they will only send him over if they are 100% happy with him. It is a tough ask to ship him over and back - then over and back - then presumably over and back again for Cheltenham.
 
Hamm said:
Why would he do that? There is nothing to gain in this instance by keeping his cards close to his chest. I do find it strange de Bromhead is being quoted saying that though - at this stage, why is there doubt - either he is going and is being trained for it, or he is not - it's not rocket science!
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...well for example, uncertainty about whether the horse will take part or not could influence his price in the market, wouldn't you think? If he wanted connections to have time to get on a bigger prices perhaps he might say they hadn't decided. Also, as Gal points out the weather could well have a say.
 
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Galileo said:
I would imagine the weather etc will come into play - and they will only send him over if they are 100% happy with him. It is a tough ask to ship him over and back - then over and back - then presumably over and back again for Cheltenham.
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Not sure I agree with that. Ballydoyle send much more highly strung, more immature horses over to the UK much more often than that, and it rarely takes a toll of any kind.

If it's the weather (I presume you mean effect of this on the ground?), he could say as much. He sounds very indecisive.
 
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SteveM said:
...well for example, uncertainty about whether the horse will take part or not could influence his price in the market, wouldn't you think? If he wanted connections to have time to get on a bigger prices perhaps he might say they hadn't decided. Also, as Gal points out the weather could well have a say.
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I would agree with you if this were a handicap and he was keeping something up his sleeve, but for a Grade 1 where all the form is on the table, I'm not so sure. I couldn't imagine any bookmaker would increase his price based on uncertainty of him travelling, and that only leaves Betfair, and even if he were to drift there, it would only be for relative pennies - the connections of this horse don't seem like they need a few quid.
 
Perhaps not increase his price, but a definite statement about him turning up could cause them to cut it.

If the owners were keen on running him before a U turn would be pretty dramatic. It seems that they travelled over before though, they may just be hacked off with doing it again I suppose.

I hope they make a decision based on what is the best race for him rather than circumstantial stuff.
 
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Hamm said:
Not sure I agree with that. Ballydoyle send much more highly strung, more immature horses over to the UK much more often than that, and it rarely takes a toll of any kind.

If it's the weather (I presume you mean effect of this on the ground?), he could say as much. He sounds very indecisive.
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Luke has said the horse has had bad experience travelling before in the past - imagine that is playing a big part of their thinking.

Ballydoyle fly their horses - pretty sure Mr DeBromhead does not fly his.
 
Seems odd that neither the KG or Christmas Hurdle have been reopened after such a long postponement. I see Twiston-Davies claims Imperial Commander would have been added to the KG had they done so.
 
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