Peoples Champion

  • Thread starter Thread starter solerina
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Who's your peoples champion ?

  • Best Mate

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Persian Punch

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
It's irrelevant how people on here vote because they are all racing fans. To become the "people's favourite" you have to be known outside of our close-knit world.
 
Honestly Brian , I don't think it is irrevelant because in my mind the peoples champion means the people who care about such matters . The only reason I could see people supporting Best Mate is because he has had sooo much press coverage . That doesn't mean that those people have made a conscious decision to vote for him . It just happens to be the only horse they can recall if stopped in the street by Gallup . I don't think you would want that either . So how do you measure a peoples horse . The response at Newmarket of all places for Persian Punch winning the Jockey Club Cup 2003 was unprecedented . That gave me a clear sign that the people were behind this horse with all his faults . He did'nt have to be a world beater to take on that mantle .
 
I'm not arguing with your view - just your definition. The reason that the likes of Arkle, Red Rumand Desert Orchid became - and I'm not sure that I'm a fan of the term - "people's champions" is for precisely the reason that you attribute to Best Mate. They all got very heavy media coverage outside the specialist racing areas.

I wasn't at Newmarket for the Jockey Club Cup of 2003 but I would strongly suspect that the welcome for Persian Punch was far from unprecedented. Arkle, Dawn Run and, yes, Best Mate, particularly in 2004 would be at least three that I'd back very heavily against it.
 
Well in those terms I definitely agree with you . Best Mate has had far more media coverage than any NH horse in the last 5 yrs barring Istabraq who had great popular support here in Ireland. Popular can mean different things .Popular can be a Cheeky Girls number 1 after all !! It doesn't mean that it's worth of the same as a Frank Sinatra number 1 . The way I see it in a few weak seasons the media latched onto this horse to sell papers . I'm really sorry if that causes offence but it is my point of view . The popular vote was fanned by the media flames and even in spite of this I still think PP gets more mail :rolleyes: Brian . I want to tell you that I don't like argueing this with you because I respect your views but I can't not give my opinion .
 
I have no idea how much mail Persian Punch got - but I have seen quite a lot of Best Mate's and most of it would be from people who have never of Persian Punch, I guess. Some of it is very touching, while some is hilarious.

I don't think that racing people write to horses too often...
 
I'm a bit sorry I started this . If that's the point you're making I conceed . best Mate probably does get letter's from 11yr olds and people who only ever have £1 ew on the national up and down the country .My definifition of the peoples horse was I felt more worthy . Those how know something about the game and still choose the old battling handicapper against the cosseted prima donna . Those who choose attitude and personality over feelings of superiority and arrogance . Sorry for the difference in opinion Brian :(
 
Best Mate has been well marketed though Sol - and poor old Persian Punch just didnt have the va va voom of a 3 mile slog in atrocoius weather, he was never given the push that BM has had in the media ( not that I disagree with it - Racing needs a horse personality, and its a shame that hes not utilised at smaller courses to get the punters in - apparently that has caused some "discussions" at West Lockinge ( not that I listen to rumour!)

Good luck to them all - and to my mind PP was a better ambassador - but BM is the current peoples horse ( as I understand the definition to be..... ) what we need is a nice, good, grey ( preferably mare ) to get the public going.....
 
Best Mate by a mile. I was only going for one day at Cheltenham last year. I could have gobe to see my fav horse Moscow Flyer, Rooster Booster or see Best Mate try and win a third Gold Cup. I will say until the day I die that I was at the front of the parade ring, wished Jim Culloty good luck before the race(not that he took any notice) and roared him home to his third Gold Cup. It was magic. This year while I will bet against him, I'd still not begrudge the horse another Gold Cup.

The peoples champion, no question.
 
victrix causa diis placuit sed victa catoni .

some weeks ago i would have voted for Persian Punch, but now it must be Best Mate
 
Persian Punch - 7 days a week and twice on a Sunday. Fantastic animal - would battle rain, shine, hail mud, ground like a road- never knew when he was beaten, and if he was, it didn't matter - even over distances inadequate for him, he gave eveything, everytime. Most of his defeats in later years can be blamed on numpty jockeys anyway. And you had more than only 3 opportunities a year to see him. Champions' Day at Newmarket 2003 has to be one of the greatest days racing EVER. The expectation - the worry - especially after France- the fight back- the crowd - everything. I've been racing a lot - not as much as some on here maybe- and I've seen Best Mate win - but nothing will compare to that day last year. Sandown came close, but that day on the Rowley Mile will stay forever in the minds of those that were lucky to see him.
 
I am once again in minority,Persian Punch was a very good and honest horse but for me Best Mate is in another planete.

To win 2 Cheltenham gold Cups is more for me than the ddouble of race Persian Punch won and I would much prefer to own or train BM rather than PP by a mile.
 
Persian Punch lacked the coverage but he never ducked a challenge. The amount of times he bounced back from a poor run, the times he was headed by about 3 horses at the same time. The fightbacks, the heart and courage, Best Mate just can't match the pure emotion generated by Persian Punch. Best Mate is a wonderful horse, he can't help the way he is campaigned, and he seems to try his best, but he is just a good horse. When he won his 3rd Gold Cup, I didn't feel much emotion. It felt like you were a part of Persian Punch, while Best Mate is just a good horse with cringeworthy connections. Persian Punch was a typical no nonsense horse, who ran a lot of times a year. He'd gone to Australia too for the Melbourne Cup. he epitomised fighting spirit, and if racing got out of its shell, and actually marketed the bloody sport to appeal to the public, he would have been a great ambassador for the sport.
 
How many of the "people" - by which the media would mean the general public, not the couple of million or so who follow our sport - will ever have heard of Persian Punch?

(By the way, I sent a couple of hundred pictures of Persian Punch to friends and acquaintances this Christmas)
 
I asked my mum and dad if they fancied the Gold Cup last year and they were up for it big time, mainly because they wanted to see Best Mate.

They are mad keen to go back in 2005 and whilst mum is hobbling about on crutches right now, her target is to be fit and able by March.

I doubt that she'd heard of Persian Punch.
 
JDC posted..."It felt like you were a part of Persian Punch, while Best Mate is just a good horse with cringeworthy connections."

That just about sums up my sentiments about both horses as well.
 
Cringeworthy connections - that must be those americans who owned Flagship Uberalles .

I loved PP to bits and was at Donny and Newmarket in 2003 screaming him home but it was nothing compared to the roar at Cheltenham as Best Mate fought his way through the mud and the cutting up on the home turn , in fact in all three years. The roar when he danced clear from the third last in 2003 will linger long in the memory .

When will people here understand that only great horses win 3 Gold Cups for goodness sake . The reception for him last year was unique in my experience .Only those suffering from tall poppy syndrome that populate this and other forums can begrudge him the affection in which he is held .


Then again what I remember most from my visits to Cheltenham was the enormous cheer from the crowd when the Booster appeared on the heels on Intersky Falcon three out in the CH in 2003 and the silence when after they roared him into the lead last year HE pulled away :(
 
Those Americans who own FU may be cringeworthy, but they'd also top the poll of "A Trainer's Least Wanted Owner".
 
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