Old Roan Chase

rorydelargy

rorydelargy

At the Start
Joined
May 15, 2005
Messages
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London
Provisional entries as follows with ratings on the right:

Don't Push It (IRE) 9.g Jonjo O'Neill 152
Finger Onthe Pulse (IRE) 8.g T. J. Taaffe, Ireland -
Kicks For Free (IRE) 8.g P. F. Nicholls 147
Knowhere (IRE) 11.g N. A. Twiston-Davies 154
Laskari (FR) 10.g P. R. Webber 137
Monet's Garden (IRE) 11.g N. G. Richards 159
Nacarat (FR) 8.g T. R. George 162
Oslot (FR) 7.g P. F. Nicholls 146
Tamarinbleu (FR) 9.g D. E. Pipe 161
Tartak (FR) 6.g T. R. George 154
Three Mirrors 9.g Ferdy Murphy 140
Tidal Bay (IRE) 8.g J. Howard Johnson 158

Not the best ever renewal, but a quality contest nevertheless.
 
I can't really understand why Tidal Bay is favourite for this. He's well handicapped but had a poor season in 08/09 which was dogged by jumping issues.

Can he bounce back? Of course he can, but he has a fair bit to prove, in my eyes.

I don't buy the "first time out is the time to catch him" argument. So what if he won an egg and spoon race first-time-out last season? He wasn't fresh when he won The Arkle or at Aintree afterwards.

For me, Tartak is the most likely one but Monet's Garden and Finger Onthe Pulse are both overpriced at about 14s.

Relkeel
 
It's mostly on the basis that I guessed this would be a target for him and, as such, he would be 100% fit today. Some of the others may not be.

2m4f round Aintree is what he wants and, given he isn't good enough for the Grade 1 in April anymore, this must be his best chance of landing a big prize this season.
 
Kicks For Free beat Tartak by 10 lengths at level weights the only time they have met over fences.He goes best fresh and is owned by Trevor Hemmings who does like a winner at Aintree.He is my nap of the day e/w at 5/1.
 
Tartak is probably better on a flat track (KFF beat him at Cheltenham) and KFF is a bit of a ponce in a finish but, at 5/1, I can see the each way angle.
 
This had to be the time to catch Tidal Bay. Looks by far the best handicapped of these. If he can't win or go very close today, they may as well not bother with him for the rest of the year.
 
Would love to see Tidal Bay put up a big performance today and then be aimed at the King George. Definitely a race and horse to watch for the time being though. Was it just a wind operation he had over the break?
 
LUKE said:
Kicks For Free beat Tartak by 10 lengths at level weights the only time they have met over fences.He goes best fresh and is owned by Trevor Hemmings who does like a winner at Aintree.He is my nap of the day e/w at 5/1.
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Unfortunately Luke you have Christian Williams on board 0-28 at the track!
 
Absolutely thrilled for Monet's. Such a game horse, all heart and his jumping is a joy.

Tidal tried very hard and looked distressed to me. Wonder if wind op worked?
 
Galileo said:
What do we make of Tidal's Bay's return?
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I'm not sure. I thought he would either win or bomb-out today. Given the consensus he was well handicapped, it seems puzzling that he appears to have run his race, yet been beaten by a thoroughly exposed winner (albeit a course specialist who had the run of the race and jumped well).

They might have left something to work on but maybe he just isn't much better than that (ie high 150s/low 160s).

Perhaps that Arkle form wasn't as good as it looked at the time and he just hasn't progressed into the top-notcher many of us thought he would become.
 
Well done Relkeel (and Monets).Absolutely shocking day for Paul Nicholls so far.Tidal Bay ran a sound race but Monets is hard to beat around Aintree when he is at his best.
 
Relkeel said:
I'm not sure. I thought he would either win or bomb-out today. Given the consensus he was well handicapped, it seems puzzling that he appears to have run his race, yet been beaten by a thoroughly exposed winner (albeit a course specialist who had the run of the race and jumped well).

They might have left something to work on but maybe he just isn't much better than that (ie high 150s/low 160s).

Perhaps that Arkle form wasn't as good as it looked at the time and he just hasn't progressed into the top-notcher many of us thought he would become.
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In the same boat as you Relks - I thought he would win or finish no where. Perhaps he just is not the horse we all thought he was - though clearly a smart one all the same.
 
I didn't have a bet in the race so was cheering on old MG throughout the last circuit. Dodgy race though. Looked like a non-triers' convention to me, apart from the first two.
 
Great, wasn't it, Imagine? Foot perfect throughout, with a couple of outstanding bold jumps. He looked very happy!
 
I don't know much at all about equine physiology so I'm open to be corrected by someone with greater knowledge on the subject than I, but Tidal Bay looks like a horse in pain. He looked a little sweaty beforehand too on a pretty cold day, as if he was worrying himself and I just think he's hurting when the gun is put to his head.
 
Hopefully someone will put the same gun to Sam Thomas' head soon.

I'm probably talking from the bottom of a very deep pocket, but he didn't look like he helped the usually fluent Tartak today. Possibly his poor jumping was ground related, but ST didn't look to do a very good job of presenting him at the fences, to my wholly untrained eye.
 
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