And the owner of Langer Dan wasn't asking for his horse to be looked after last season ahead of some lucre this time?
Slim, I do think comparing this horse with this time last year is a total red herring.
Going back to the general perception of the race, can we go back to the old 'take x out' approach?
Suppose they didn't want TQ to carry 12st in that ground and took it out.
Wellington Arch might have won - the race would probably have been run differently but given that WA raced prominently it would almost certainly have been asked to do so were TQ not there, maybe not just as fast - by 18 lengths. That's huge too.
Take WA out and Faivoir, taking the allowances into account, was 8lbs lower than when beaten less than five lengths by Absurde in the County last season, and 11lbs less than when winning the County the year before.
Un Sens A La Vie, fourth, was the subject of very bullish noises from his camp going into the race as a second-season novice with huge potential and on many people's radar.
Dance And Glance, fifth, was positive in the betting too.
Those three finished together and, for me, are the most likely to have run somewhere close to their previous form, being proven in soft. They were a good way clear of the rest.
I just think it makes more sense to take a very positive view of the form than a dismissive one. The truth might well be somewhere in between.
The idea of supplementing him for the Champion Hurdle wasn't a post-race reaction. It had obviously, going by the actual words used, been discussed before the race and the confidence with which he was ridden suggests they knew they could run that field ragged from the front, as they had done in the Fielden.
But, as always, it's each to his own in terms of how they interpret the form and we'll all live with the consequences one way or another.
I'll shut up now.
). Certainly they looked a desperately sorry sight finishing (those that managed it). It’s true that nothing could go with him, but it didn't look as if any of them ran anywhere near to their mark. I suspect the 13 pound hike for Tutti Quanti has a lot to do with the status of the race. We’ll see.
