Novice Chasers 2010/11

Galileo said:
Mikael showed so much pace throughout today's race - that it would not surprise me if they seriously considered the Arkle for the horse. Young enough to be going three miles just yet.
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If you owned him Gal, what would your preference be?

I've been of the opinion for some time now that if I owned him i'd rather go the Arkle route. A proper 2miler could have too much for him but long term I think it would stand to him more.
 
My hunch is I would not go the RSA trip until I had to with him. I was a huge fan of Cooldine going for the RSA at the time as he was a horse that was always going to relish the test and was tough enough to take it. I think when you have a horse as classy as Mikael then the Arkle would be the preferred one.

Ideally I would like them to put Mikael away for the Christmas racing, come back early in the new year for an easy beginners chase somewhere and then take in the Irish Arkle.
 
Yeah he's not in the Cooldine/Denman mould. Hopefully The Arkle will be the destination this season, even if he gets done by a proper 2miler. Such an exciting horse!
 
hezz said:
Yeah he's not in the Cooldine/Denman mould. Hopefully The Arkle will be the destination this season, even if he gets done by a proper 2miler. Such an exciting horse!
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Also the Arkle at this stage does not look the strongest - granted there are plenty of others to emerge yet but they will be doing well to match the test Time For Rupert will set for him in the RSA.
 
Time For Rupert was also several lbs better over hurdles than MdH (imo), and will surely represent a tougher test than anything the latter is likely to face in the Arkle. MdH was handy enough over the minimum trip as a hurdler, and would have a much easier task in the shorter race, I reckon.

Not saying I could have him as the winner, though - I still have some reservations about him as a novice chaser (though less so than before his recent outing, despite the fall).
 
I thought he meant something in particular about Mikael as a chaser - more so than the ones you suggested there that could apply to most inexperienced chasers. I thought he jumped super on Wednesday, travelled like a machine virtually the whole way and was unlucky to come down. Loads of positives to take from it with the impression that the engine is still all there being the main one.
 
Irish Stamp said:
If he's only going to have two runs prior to March would they not consider keeping him back for the Powers Gold Cup?
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When you think they were considering running him first time out at Cheltenham last year I think it is safe to assume he will be running there all being well with any sort of decent preparation.
 
I backed him at 15/8 the last day, and thought it a good bet. However, despite the fact I think he would have won, Townend was holding onto little, and I saw little of this engine you're speaking about. He won't find much off the bridle this season for me.
 
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Hamm said:
I backed him at 15/8 the last day, and thought it a good bet. However, despite the fact I think he would have won, Townend was holding onto little, and I saw little of this engine you're speaking about. He won't find much off the bridle this season for me.
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You did not think he travelled strongly throughout before starting to feel the effects of over a year off the track? He was surely entitled to feel that before starting to write him off?
 
Perhaps yes, but he never looked powerful or travelling strongly to me, for all I thought he would win from 3 out. I think it's rare one comes back. I am not the fan of him you and others are, but I would of course like him to do himself justice. I also, novice as I am in this respect, don't see how chasing would improve him.
 
Hamm said:
Perhaps yes, but he never looked powerful or travelling strongly to me, for all I thought he would win from 3 out. I think it's rare one comes back. I am not the fan of him you and others are, but I would of course like him to do himself justice. I also, novice as I am in this respect, don't see how chasing would improve him.
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He does not necessarily have to improve that much to do great over fences - having stuffed the likes of Diamond Harry, Karabak, China Rock, Knockara Beau, The Nightingale, Mad Max, Pandorama, Donna's Palm etc as a 5 year old novice.

He never travelled strongly to you? He was pulling the arms off Townend for much of the way!
 
His jumping was fine, the "fall" at the last wasn't a conventional one and was a pure accident. He exuded star quality the other day.

"They never come back." For me his young age, relatively few miles on the clock and advances in medical technology make this old cliche a non-starter in weighing up MDH prospects for this and future seasons.
 
There are many examples of horses who don't come back - can you give me several examples of horses who have come back and improved? I am not a man for cliches.
 
No. This is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. With a 5yo novice it does not take a serious injury these days for connections to give an animal a year off.
 
The horse was in training for much of last year anyway. Most horses don't come back from damaged tendons or something serious. He had splint problems.
 
Euronymous said:
Well Chief came back almost as good as ever.
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You must be missing a smiley!

No-one loved this horse more than me, but he never came even close to running at the level he was at that season with him, Moscow and Azerti., and that was an enormous shame.
 
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granger said:
Well Chief was so good originally, coming back at 60%, he was still better than 90% of what was left
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Looking back that's how I see it too.

Saying that, watching his Game Spirit win was one of the most exciting moments in racing for me.
 
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Hamm said:
There are many examples of horses who don't come back - can you give me several examples of horses who have come back and improved? I am not a man for cliches.
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A year off never did Inglis Drever any harm.

To be honest I think nowadays with improvements in treatment etc it's a load of old cobblers. FiveForThree looked better than ever after his year off, Weird Al had a year off before his novice chase campaign, Taranis looks to be back to reproducing a similar level of form after 2 years off. Dream Alliance even won the Welsh National after coming back from what was originally stated as a career ending injury.
 
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Feltham:

Aiteen Thirtythree (IRE) 6.g
Billie Magern 6.g
Cois Farraig 5.g
Fredo (IRE) 6.g
Fruity O'Rooney 7.g
Golan Way 6.g
Hell's Bay (FR) 8.g
Hollo Ladies (IRE) 5.g
Jessies Dream (IRE) 7.g
Loosen My Load (IRE) 6.g
Master of The Hall (IRE) 6.g
On Borrowed Wings (IRE) 7.g
Watamu Bay (IRE) 7.g
 
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