Melbourne Cup 2008

Galileo said:
Bit odd that 2 of the horses came back lame? And that is all we know of.

Anyway like I said the ground was not an excuse, impossible to judge any of the three Ballydoyle horses ridden like that.
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Three surely - Gallopin was pulled up, and I bet a few others came back sore and jarred up as well. Personally I would never take any horse to race in Aus which didn't act on FIRM here - it's asking for trouble

AOB walked the course in the morning and said it was very firm and he almost pulled the horses out - I bet he wishes he had! The truth is that Aus going descriptions bear no relation to ours.

Also watering a little onto a baked grass track won't alter the going - it will still be like concrete under the top inch or so. UK and esp Irish horses are just not trained or raced on such a surface and tbh I think it's silly taking them over unless you have a 'freak of nature' that likes those conditions (like Bauer). Or unless the Melbourne track is watered regularly enough to supply a genuinely 'good' surface, in our terms - which is highly unlikely

I also didn't really appreciate all the threats to pull out horses when trainers knew the track was likely to be very firm all along - that would have been inexcusable, to deny other local trainers the opportunity to run in this once-a-year bonanza, and then to remove your own at the last moment.

You can't blame them for trying it on I suppose... But I feel trainers should put more thought into what they are doing when they take horses to the other side of the world, and try to engineer going to suit themselves. It backfired this year and we are lucky there were no casualties
 
I wonder how firm ground in Australia compares to ground of the same description in America. I genuinely have no idea, but have a hard time believing it could be that much firmer.
 
Headstrong said:
Three surely - Gallopin was pulled up, and I bet a few others came back sore and jarred up as well. Personally I would never take any horse to race in Aus which didn't act on FIRM here - it's asking for trouble
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Gallopin didn't pull up jarred or sore from the track. His jockey pulled him up because he thought he wasn't breathing. This is what he said after the race:

JAMES WINKS (GALLOPIN, Failed to finish): "Couldn't breathe. I had to pull him up ..."

When he came back, the horse had actually gotten his tongue over the bit and swallowed it for a second during the running, which is probably why James Winks who rode him, pulled him up suddenly.

I assume they will in future use either a tongue tie or bit in hope that such an incident will never occur again.
 
Septimus was lame on both front legs, Honolulu lame in front and Alessandro Volta was very sore with being technically lame. The RP headline tomorrow looks like the Aussies are joyful in Ballydoyle's flop.
 
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It is a serious concern but I hope Septimus will be able to come back and have a good season in 2009.

It must be that the Aussie horses are used to running on that hard surface which would explain the Irish horses soreness etc

When you go down there you are relying on mother nature if you want to have a chance as the track conditions are so different.

I would not be surprised if AOB did not have a runner in it next year. The risk would not be worth the reward.
 
Thanks for the info on Gallopin GA. Hope there will be no recurrence and he is none the worse for the experience!

It will be very interesting to see if AOB does return next year. He seemed to think his failure this year was due to his preparation being all wrong - lack of local runs etc, not allowing enough time to acclimatise and all that... That may well be the case, but how do you prepare horses which have mainly run in Ireland to run on ground 'like concrete' (his description)?

My info is that Yellowstone was was also a 'casualty' in that preparing for the race over there has crocked his knees, but it's not first-hand info of course so may not be correct. Sounds about right though, reading between the lines of what has been published!
 
The going wasn't hard! The going was dead in the morning and upgraded to the slowest good rating possible. No other horse had problems with the surface during the entire day.
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Good One Bruce :D

I am surprised O'Brien decided to run a fragile horse like Septimus. Very unO'Brien of him, bad judgement.
 
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Headstrong said:
Thanks for the info on Gallopin GA. Hope there will be no recurrence and he is none the worse for the experience!
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I think he will be alright, fingers crossed for the owners' sake.

The Cup has unfortunately tended to ruin good horses in the past, including some of the Australians. The first one that springs to mind is Sky Heights in 1998. The horse drew barrier 1, and ended up being pole axed up front and was supposedly mentally and physically scarred so badly, he was out for almost up to 12 months getting over it all. He did make it back to the track, and did win again. But as soon as he got to Flemington to the Cup in 2001 (I think) it was 1998 revisited and the horse failed to put in, and finished up the back.

Xcellent who was 3rd to Makybe Diva in 2005, broken down days after, and didn't race for more than 18 months.

Frightening, also trained by Bart Cummings, was out for almost 2 years and She's Archie snapped her tendons in 2005 as well.
 
Yes, I'm aware of the race's record in breaking down horses.
I'd never send one unless it had displayed a liking for really firm ground, but then I don't really agree with racing on it anyway!
 
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