Leopardstown Gallops

T

treetangle

At the Start
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Mar 2, 2009
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What a farce these are. Surely in the interests of everyone watching for one day in the year - they can have all the secrecy they like for the other 364 - the racecourse can stipulate that the horses have numbercloths and are named. What point is there watching a bunch of horses where most people don't know who they are watching? Why wasn't Gary O'Brien amidst the action finding out the correct information? According to him Golantilla worked like a selling plater. For once Matt Chapman would have been a much better option.

There are many good things about Irish racing - this isn't one of them.
 
It is no problem bringing horses for a racecourse gallop and giving them the experience of a day, the hype surrounding it has grown far too large at this stage.

ATR have air space they need filling and I suppose they can't be blamed for promoting it

Anything with Cheltenham connotations = Viewership
 
I think Treetangle has a point, because the racecourse itself has promoted these gallops as an added reason to come racing. If the idea is to replicate the experience of taking a horse to the races then why not parade them with identification.
 
Agree totally Grey.
From a PR point of view to get and more importantly KEEP people racing this needs seeing to.
Why Bookies who have hyped Cheltenham to high heavens do not kit out riders and stable staff with identifying jackets is beyond me; they would reap the benefits very quickly.
 
treetangle said:
Why wasn't Gary O'Brien amidst the action finding out the correct information? According to him Golantilla worked like a selling plater. For once Matt Chapman would have been a much better option.

There are many good things about Irish racing - this isn't one of them.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention above that Matt Chapman was at Leopardstown yesterday doing interviews in the parade ring.
 
Grey said:
I forgot to mention above that Matt Chapman was at Leopardstown yesterday doing interviews in the parade ring.
Click to expand...

Between the two of them you would have thought they could have got some reaction to Golantilla - 6/1 favourite looking pretty desperate was the story not Quevega barely raising a gallop. Did Martin go into hiding? Haven't read any quote at all and the bookmakers appear to have left the horse unchanged.
 
Have to say if I had been Ted Walsh I'd have told him to erm..........go away
 
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Seemed to be in deep conversation with connections when MC barged in, interrupted and just took over........like they do, it's not just MC, Clare Balding is not beyond doing that
 
I used to admire Choc Thornton who used to refuse to speak to the media before the owners, but he seems to have altered his stance lately. Remember stood talking to Alice Plunkett at the top of the home straight one time (knew her through work) as she was waiting to go through the gate out onto the course to interview the winning jock and as Choc came over the last well in front it was a case of "well that's buggered that" and she just walked off without going out onto the course.

If I was an owner paying a few thousand a year in training fees, and God knows what else, it would be one of my strict arrangements with the trainer and jockey that jockeys speak to me first. Why should the whole world hear the jock's story before the owner, who's paying the bills remember, waiting in the winners enclosure.
 
No idea why they abandoned last years trial with number clothes and the like - O'Brien unsurprisingly had no idea who the fourth horse in the Quevega/Fiveforthree/Boxer Georg group was.

For what it's worth the Tony Martin horses were as follows - Benefficient who led them home with Bryan Cooper up, Blackmail (called as Ted Veale by O'Brien) with Barry Gerraghty up, Golantilla who worked sluggishly and was pushed along to keep up (in black jacket and blue cap who I believe had Danny Mullins riding him), Ted Veale who had the blue jacket and black cap and lastly Edeymi (Jane Mangan - in white jacket and black cap).
 
In Irish I trust :)

Golantilla definitely looked slow in that case. Lovely specimen but would be worried about him for Cheltenham.
 
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