The Flemenstar Dilemna ?

Blackstairmountain nowhere but what happened to the prize money?.......£108,464.59 to the winner is well short of what the race used to be worth.......The going was good to soft that's misprint :whistle:
 
Blackstairmountain nowhere but what happened to the prize money?.......£108,464.59 to the winner is well short of what the race used to be worth.......
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It wasn't the Nakayama Grand Jump, it was a prep race. The Grand Jump isn't until April 13th
 
Flemenstar misses Punchestown in favour of a wind op, according to the Irish Times:

Flemenstar has been ruled out of the Boylesports.com Champion Chase at the Punchestown Festival on Tuesday after connections decided to give the eight-year-old a wind operation.

Peter Casey’s gelding looked set to take the season by storm after winning his first two starts of the campaign in impressive fashion, but things have not gone to plan since.
Flemenstar was narrowly beaten on his first attempt at three miles in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas, before chasing home Sir Des Champs in the Hennessy Gold Cup in February.

He missed the Cheltenham Festival after it was discovered he was suffering from a lung infection and although he returned to action at Aintree, he appeared well below-par in finishing a distant third in the Melling Chase behind Sprinter Sacre.

Casey said: “He won’t be running in Punchestown. When he came home from Liverpool, he was all wrong. He had stuff coming out of his nose, it wasn’t blood but it was a bit like it, and the vet came to see him every day for a week.

“He didn’t run his race at all in Liverpool. That’s as bad as I’ve ever seen him run. He’s going to have a little wind operation now. The jockey (Andrew Lynch) thinks he needs it and now is the right time to do it.

“Hopefully everything will be right for next season, it will be the same routine, and the next time you’ll see him will probably be at Navan in November (Fortria Chase).”

Sprinter Sacre stood his ground among eight entries remaining in the race.
Nicky Henderson’s brilliant seven-year-old has again been imperious this season, taking his unbeaten run over fences to nine with victories at Sandown, twice at Cheltenham and most recently at Aintree.
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He got a kicking... I reckon he'll be fine, Casey talks a load of bollocks half the time... Usually after this horse gets beat.

Why is it that wind ops have become the number one excuse for trainers in recent years? How many actually work? I reckon the percentage is smaller than trainers would have us believe. I also have bugger all evidence to back that up.
 
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Casey said: “We’ll go to Navan and Punchestown for the same two races he won last year and then on to Leopardstown at Christmas – but for the Dial-A-Bet Chase over two miles, not the Lexus. We’ll wait until the Hennessy in February this time to try three miles.”
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Joke of a campaign again. Surely Down Royal should be this horses first target. Get him fit, ride him positively, find out for sure. If he doesn't stay, come back the Sizing Europe route.
 
Absolutely agree with David. He kicked Big Zeb into touch on his reappearance last season so there's no reason why they can't have him fit.

The Irish Hennessy is only weeks away from Cheltenham and it's nuts to be waiting. if he doesn't get the trip in the Hennessy it could rip the guts out of the horse and spoil any chance of him winning something like The Ryanair.

He might be a funny fella in some peoples books but resorting to effing and blinding to get a laugh in an effort to disguise his shortcomings doesn't crack it with me.

The owner should put the horse on the first boat to England and have Nicky Henderson or Paul Nichols pick him up.
 
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You are almost fully right Tanlic.

The exception being there are plenty of very good trainers in Ireland so no need for the horse to cross the water to be trained
 
Agree with Granger - plenty of good trainers in Ireland for him to go to without sending him to Henderson who'd surely be keen to keep Sprinter Sacre, Simonsig, Flemenstar, Bobs Worth and co apart as best he can.

DJ hit the nail on the head, get him out early and see if he really does stay three miles, if not then plenty of 2m 4f chases for him through the winter and target Punchestown if they're that desperate to try 3m again.

Martin
 
A run in the Nicholson would only give them false hope - most likely beating horses 10lbs and more below him.

The simple fact is that Flemenstar doesn't stay 3m in top company. The evidence is there for all to see from the Lexus and Hennessy, and there were absolutely no excuses for the way he emptied in more-or-less identical circumstances - regardless of how some may want to criticise the jockey or the trainer.

No shame in this horse being prepped to take-on Cue Card et al in the Ryanair, prior to another crack at The Aeropland in the Melling.
 
You guys are probably correct there are many top trainers who would get the best out of Flemenstar and if I was the owner the more local the better.
 
I confess I don't know a great deal about Peter Casey, but this seems a bit unlucky on his part. I don't know much about the owner either, but it strikes me that Casey is potentially being 'punished' for the fact that Flemenstar doesn't stay 3m.

It's not as if Casey didn't give the horse every chance to get the trip either. He travelled and jumped superbly in both the Lexus and Irish Hennessy, and looked all-over the winner, until the distress signals went up 2f from home in both. And whilst he was patently below form at Aintree, I don't think he was particularly disappointing. He ran as one might expect of a horse coming off a setback, and running into two horses capable of stellar form at the trip.

Casey campaigned the horse perfectly fairly, in my view, and unless Flemenstar's setback was due to neglect on Casey's part, I don't see any real reason to have moved him. Personally, I can't see Tony Martin getting an ounce more out of him, because the horse is already top-class.

Maybe this decision is more about the jockey than the trainer? It seems unlikely, but not impossible. But the same argument applies there too; the voices of dissent about the pilot's ride in both races sounding unreasonable, imo, and somewhat fuelled by pocket-talk.

Is the owner a basket-case who thinks he can force the horse to get 3m by the power of his own will? Or am I imagining it, and there's no inferred 'punishment' of Casey at all - it's merely a straightforward switch of scenery?
 
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Not sure Grass. Curran supposedly turned down JP's money this time last year as wasn't guaranteed horse would stay with Casey.

They are all adamant horse was sick all last season, I doubt Casey is to blame for this but can easily be argued that he got carried away with the hype and leop at Xmas was too much for him.

My own opinion is Flemmo was never at 100% last season and no matter who trains him he will win races for years to come.
 
Don't know how firm a 'possible entry' is, but he certainly has one for the Gold Cup, which is wildly optimistic - distance wise.
His trainer's always touted him as a GC horse though, so it might not be the owner who's the problem?
 
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I know you get the drools on when it comes to Flemenstar, but the suggestion that he was wrong last season - when he travelled/jumped like a dream in all his pre-break starts - is rosy-tinted cobblers, in my view.

You must be one of those pocket-talkers I was referring to earlier. :lol:

There's perhaps a case to be made for him running below form at Aintree, but everything about the Lexus/Hennessy performances reeked of a horse failing to get home for perfectly straightforward stamina reasons.

IMHO, of course. :cool:
 
I do have a soft spot for him Grassy. I didn't say he was wrong, just not 100%.

I'm not talking of him winning a GC, but a KG could be possible don't you think?
 
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