The Road to the 2017 Cheltenham Gold Cup

HawkWing said:
Despite the very very sad end, thought yesterdays race was spellbinding. One of the very best jump races. Its pointless being poetic or anything but twas the best of NH racing.
Credit has to go to Tizzard's. How novel is it to see a horse campaigned to run and see clashes like this throughout the winter. Many Clouds, the archtype staying chaser, could not see him making a mistake, and brave.

Think Thistlecrack is about as likely to win the Gold Cup as before. Think those who were worrying about his jumping can stop now, what will get him beat is the way he tanks through his races. The turn of foot to get back in touch down the inside was something that sets him apart from the likes of Native Ruler and Djakadam. In the ground, against a stayer (and fantastic jumper) it took enough out of him to cause his to falter. His tank gets him 2m6f at full tilt around Kempton. If he can be settled, I think he wins the Gold Cup easily, and has become a price now.
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He made several mistakes yesterday and the one he made four out probably cost him the race and he would have scraped home .
 
I have it on very good authority I.e personal friend of CT, that there is bug in yard. Alary scoped dirty after his race and was stabled close by TC. TC did not have the same buzzy enthusiasm we saw at TKG so I would expect something to come to light. Colin is too much of a gent to use any excuse in view of what happened. Dignified response IMO.
 
jinnyj said:
I have it on very good authority I.e personal friend of CT, that there is bug in yard. Alary scoped dirty after his race and was stabled close by TC. TC did not have the same buzzy enthusiasm we saw at TKG so I would expect something to come to light. Colin is too much of a gent to use any excuse in view of what happened. Dignified response IMO.
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Surely they would have been testing the horses stabled close to Alary before running them ? .
 
jinnyj said:
I have it on very good authority I.e personal friend of CT, that there is bug in yard. Alary scoped dirty after his race and was stabled close by TC. TC did not have the same buzzy enthusiasm we saw at TKG so I would expect something to come to light. Colin is too much of a gent to use any excuse in view of what happened. Dignified response IMO.
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Agree with this 100% he wasn't right yesterday just didn't look the same horse.
 
I was thinking about the whole Alary bug and potential knock on effect to others in the yard. Asking myself was it something to factor in, but Royal vacation romped home by 8L. So all the Tizzard horses were not affected. Of course some could have caught the bug and others not, but I'm not so certain. Time will tell I suppose
 
Doesn't he operate some kind of split yard? Maybe horses from one block are affected, and the ones in the other not?
 
SP Only said:
Agree with this 100% he wasn't right yesterday just didn't look the same horse.
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Ardross said:
Surely they would have been testing the horses stabled close to Alary before running them ? .
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Of course they would. He would have been scoped and his blood count checked and if he wasn't 100% wouldn't have run. Tizzard said he was checked and was raring to go.

To say he never looked the same horse as he did at Kempton is true. He beat nothing at Kempton (An under par Cue Card) but at Cheltenham he met one very tough cookie and for the first time over fences in his life he was in a real race.

Some of his jumping was brilliant, he travelled like a dream, lost ground after one slight error made the ground up easily got into a battle from the last and simply got outgunned.

Now of course we can suggest he was sick or we can blame the ground but if he had been sick he wouldn't have made it to the 2nd last never mind get up the hill and run a very good horse to a head.



Tizzard and other die hards say he'll still win the Gold Cup on the better ground........That's a cracker.....What better ground is that may I ask?...must have a direct line to the man above.

When I read this dribble I was thinking if it turns up very soft he's going to have to cope with the likes of Outlander Bristol De Ma and Djakadam who seems to always win 4/5 when the ground is heavy. Very soft ground should be no excuse he won the Cleeve hurdle in heavy ground without coming off the bit and has won several times in soft.

If it's good/good to soft you can't discount the aforementioned and Cue Card Native River Minella Rocco and Don Poli won't be unhappy with the ground.

Someone mentioned Thistlecrack looked like a non stayer which I suppose is possibly but highly unlikely. He was simply beaten by a better horse on the day and let's not forget his main target was months away.

Unless you are a die hard fan the Gold Cup has opened up and make no mistake it is going to run at some paste because Many Clouds out-stayed and out-fought Thistlecrack and the feeling will be we know how to beat him.

With all respect to Many Clouds anyone who thinks the Gold Cup is going to be easier than the trial was should think again. The Gold Cup is almost always a lot harder to win
 
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Double Handful said:
I was thinking about the whole Alary bug and potential knock on effect to others in the yard. Asking myself was it something to factor in, but Royal vacation romped home by 8L. So all the Tizzard horses were not affected. Of course some could have caught the bug and others not, but I'm not so certain. Time will tell I suppose
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Think I saw something last week about Tizzard moving TC and Native River away from Alary as a precaution but perhaps he took that action too late.

West Approach also ran with credit on Saturday


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He said he has a huge barn and he moved Thistlecrack Cue card and native River up the other end.........It's hardly the biggest looking at his website but his horses are all running well so irrespective of what a friend of a friend said I think it's people looking for an excuse
 
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jinnyj said:
I have it on very good authority I.e personal friend of CT, that there is bug in yard. Alary scoped dirty after his race and was stabled close by TC. TC did not have the same buzzy enthusiasm we saw at TKG so I would expect something to come to light. Colin is too much of a gent to use any excuse in view of what happened. Dignified response IMO.
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Certainly would explain things.
 
If you're looking for the angle for Thistlecrack to get beaten, surely having a novice involved in such a battle six weeks before the festival is the one.
 
You can blood test and scope horses all you like and there will still be those that succumb to viruses that slip through the net. Happened to me. Filly I was aiming to run seemed fine. BT and scope clear. Ran her, ran like a drain and 48 hrs later head on floor, high temperature and very sick girl.
 
Alright saying that Jinny but the point is Thistlecrack never ran like a drain.

Alary who they say was suffering from a virus was gone before 4 out and finished distressed.

Thistlecrack I assume is perfectly fine this morning or we would have heard something by now
 
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Hey I'm only passing on what I was told yesterday while I was at our local point to point. As the source is a personal friend of CT (and the Snooks who own CT) I'd wager he is probably pretty accurate in his information. He did not say TC has picked up a bug but he did say there were horses in the yard that had been affected including Alary who had been stabled pretty close to the horse. And don't forget these bugs are airborne so its very easy to travel round a barn however big. I used to train next to the Darley breaking yards in Newmarket and had virus after virus in my 2yos and I thought it was all down to the amount of horse traffic that went in and out over the hedge. In my experience, it can take up to 2 weeks for any symptoms to show and like some people, some horses can be affected harder than others. Just like this nasty cough/cold virus that is circulating the human population at the moment. Some like the Queen need plenty of time and have to cut short their Christmas engagements; my aunt who had MS, sadly died as a result of it last week. I on the other hand am fit and healthy so it didn't take much out of me. TC may be completely unaffected by any virus. He may be only mildly affected due to having a fit an healthy immune system which you might expect from a horse in formerly rude health. I seriously hope he hasn't picked anything up, just had a slight off day due to the tacky ground and resumes the glorious sight that we witnessed in the KG.
 
I guess there are good reasons why a trainer wouldn't comment publicly to the press about a bug this close to Cheltenham unless they absolutely had to. The potential loss of earnings is just one. I read his comments today about Thistlecrack, no mention of it, we shall see what happens.
 
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Thistlecrack shortened up a fraction in the betting by a few firms today. I understand there's people who can't hold back at a tempting 2/1, but surely logic dictates now is not the right time to back the horse?
 
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Marble said:
I guess there are good reasons why a trainer wouldn't comment publicly to the press about a bug this close to Cheltenham unless they absolutely had to. The potential loss of earnings is just one. I read his comments today about Thistlecrack, no mention of it, we shall see what happens.
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The King George never stopped him from telling the press there was a virus problem back in the winter of 2013 when Cue Card was made AP fav for the race and he's been very quick to tell people about Alary. I think he's an honest guy compared to most.
 
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And sometimes it's only after exertion that the virus becomes evident.

I know from personal experience that being seemingly in rude health can disguise having a virus. I was eventually diagnosed as having a deep-seated virus that only affected me after excessive exercise when I'd end up with flu-like symptoms for days, get over it, get involved in excessive activity again (football), be ill again, etc. (Because it was a virus there was nothing they could give me but the doc advised me to give up football for the rest of the season, hope for a warm summer and maybe that would allow my immune system to overcome the virus. Fortunately we had a mild spring and warm summer that year and I was fine by the start of the next season.)
 
I reckon Empire of Dirt will pi*ss-up in the Irish Gold Cup. Jumps great, has an engine, and is still very progressive.

Not many in those entries that can claim the same, and 4/1 is a knockout price.
 
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