Time flies

A

Ardross

Senior Jockey
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Aug 8, 2007
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Racing TV twitter thread just reminded me that it is 20 years today since Rooster Booster ran away with the Greatwood off top weight and DO told us all he would win the Champion - how time flies !
 
Ardross said:
Racing TV twitter thread just reminded me that it is 20 years today since Rooster Booster ran away with the Greatwood off top weight and DO told us all he would win the Champion - how time flies !
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Ahem... I'd told you that some time before the Greatwood. That win merely confirmed what I'd seen at Kempton the time before :)

What a great day/weekend that was, though. Meeting all the guys and gals and getting pished in the car park before racing.

Brilliant memories.
 
You remind me Ardross that this forum, in all it guises, with all the 'eccentric' coming and goings has been a place of immense enjoyment and value through the years.
 
Desert Orchid said:
Ahem... I'd told you that some time before the Greatwood. That win merely confirmed what I'd seen at Kempton the time before :)

What a great day/weekend that was, though. Meeting all the guys and gals and getting pished in the car park before racing.

Brilliant memories.
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Ah when he cantered all over Mr Cool !

Our dear late Alan Morgan was sure Rhinestone Cowboy would win ...
 
I can remember Jonjo saying "If Rhinestone Cowboy wins the Champion Hurdle it will have to be the worst renewal in history"

Rooster Booster is right up there with Sublimity as the worst Champion Hurdle winners in history.
 
Tanlic said:
I can remember Jonjo saying "If Rhinestone Cowboy wins the Champion Hurdle it will have to be the worst renewal in history"

Rooster Booster is right up there with Sublimity as the worst Champion Hurdle winners in history.
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Viewer warning: This is utter bollocks. :)
 
One heading from the time "Rhinestone Cowboy can prove punters right and his trainer Jonjo O'Neill wrong by winning tomorrow's Smurfit Champion Hurdle" Jonjo gave the horse no chance which was common knowledge at the time.

Rooster Booster was 3 from 18 post Champion Hurdle and Sublimity 2 from 16 neither are worth a mention when it comes to the best but are very much at home among the poorest.
 
Some of Rooster Booster's post-Champion Hurdle outings:

Aged 9
Beaten a head in the Aintree Hurdle (Johnson dropped whip)

Aged 10
Beaten a shd in the Tote Gold Trophy Handicap Hurdle off 166, conceding 17lbs to Geos
Beaten 5L in Champion Hurdle by Hardy Eustace.
Beaten 3/4L in the Aintree Hurdle
Beaten 1L in Punchestown Champion Hurdle by Hardy Eustace
Beaten 6 1/4 lengths in Greatwood Hurdle off 169, conceding 20lbs to Accordion Etoile
Beaten 1 1/2L by Harchibald in the Christmas Hurdle

I won't even go to the trouble of recording his races as an 11yo.

You are full of utter sh*it, in this particular case.
 
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He'd have won that TGT if that fanny Johnson hadn't been over-confident and given him too much to do.

(Remember, after that race the late great Lord H paid me out on our private bet re the Champion Hurdle at 7/2. I still think that race meant we never saw the very best of the horse again.)
 
My first main memory of Rooster Booster was when he won the county hurdle.

I was about 15 year old and thought I had done a clever looking 20 pound treble that day (someone else placed the bet obviously), at the festival on Best Mate, Baracouda, with the final leg on a Pipe trained horse who was going for the Imperial Cup/County Hurdle double called Polar Red.

Polal Red was well beaten at 2/1 in the County Hurdle and screwed my win treble for a four figure sum up big time.

The first real disappointment I felt as a punter and the first of many!
 
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Not on topic (time does fly), but I was thinking about the demise of Welsh rugby and remembered Warbler hasn't posted in a while

Anyone know how he is
 
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Grasshopper said:
Some of Rooster Booster's post-Champion Hurdle outings:

Aged 9
Beaten a head in the Aintree Hurdle (Johnson dropped whip)

Aged 10
Beaten a shd in the Tote Gold Trophy Handicap Hurdle off 166, conceding 17lbs to Geos
Beaten 5L in Champion Hurdle by Hardy Eustace.
Beaten 3/4L in the Aintree Hurdle
Beaten 1L in Punchestown Champion Hurdle by Hardy Eustace
Beaten 6 1/4 lengths in Greatwood Hurdle off 169, conceding 20lbs to Accordion Etoile
Beaten 1 1/2L by Harchibald in the Christmas Hurdle

I won't even go to the trouble of recording his races as an 11yo.

You are full of utter sh*it, in this particular case.
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You said it yourself Beaten. Beaten Beaten

15 times post CH to be precise and his only wins came against 3 horses rated 151 151 and 135

You got a funny idea about what makes a true Champion Hurdler.

Your insults don't make it so and the fact you are resorting to them says it all
 
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Tanlic said:
You said it yourself Beaten. Beaten Beaten

15 times post CH to be precise and his only wins came against 3 horses rated 151 151 and 135

You got a funny idea about what makes a true Champion Hurdler.

Your insults don't make it so and the fact you are resorting to them says it all
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Harchibald ran 20 times over hurdles after refusing to go past Hardy Eustace in the Champion Hurdle, and won four of them - yet you're claiming he is the best horse never to have won a Champion Hurdle, in the same breath as you dismiss Rooster Booster as one of the worst winners of all time. Your argument is as inconsistent as it is illogical.

Rooster Booster's record before and after his Champion Hurdle speaks for itself, and people can draw their own conclusions as to whether he is at Sublimity's level. I have nothing further to add.
 
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Tanlic said:
You said it yourself Beaten. Beaten Beaten

15 times post CH to be precise and his only wins came against 3 horses rated 151 151 and 135

You got a funny idea about what makes a true Champion Hurdler.

Your insults don't make it so and the fact you are resorting to them says it all
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I think what has to be remembered is that after the Champion Hurdle win the other trainers sussed that the Booster was a monster off a proper gallop . So many of his later races apart from the Tote Gold Trophy were run at a crawl . Which led then to Johnson making the running which the Booster did not like. I have to admit I have seldom been more gobsmacked than in the 2004 CH when the Booster came to collar Hardy Eustace at the last only for HE to storm clear up the run in.
 
Hardy Eustace and Brave Inca were rwo tough without being brilliant Champion Hurlers horses to pass. When they kicked at the top of the hill it caused such an injection of pace very few at the time could go with them.

However come the 2007 Champion Hurdle most of the fight due to age had fizzled out and both looked well beaten by 2 out.

In affect the race became one very ordinary Champion Hurdle renewal with Sublimity's momentum allowing him to pass beaten horses and NJH's moderate Afsoun grabbing 3rd.

To be honest IMO post Istabraq up until Binocular, Hurricane Fly and Co. came on the scene was a pretty ordinary time for Champion Hurdlers.

Compared to the era when Salmon Spray, Persian War, Bula Comedy of Errors, Lanzarote, Night Nurse Monksfield Sea Pigeon, Gay Brief See You Then were around it was poor to say the least.

I think opinions can be baised if you got into rcaing at certain times. Like if yout first Champion Hurdle winner was Hardy Eustace he will remain one of your favourites as you weren't even born when Persian War was winning everything there was to win.

Lucky or Unlucky my first memory was Magic Court who I thought was unbeatable until he met Salmon Spray and was set to give him 7lbs...needless to say my sixpence stayed with the bookie.

Persian Was quickly became my favourite. To me he was unbeatable and would have won 4 Champion Hurdles until a horse who was if I am being truthful was even better. Bula,

My point is when you have come through an era like that and a handicapper like Rooster Booster win the Champion Hurdle it is a massive disappointment.

You are continously hoping for an Istabraq, a Honeysuckle or hopefully a Constitution Hill to take the crown and maintain standards for a year or two.
 
Ardross said:
I have to admit I have seldom been more gobsmacked than in the 2004 CH when the Booster came to collar Hardy Eustace at the last only for HE to storm clear up the run in.
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RB left that potential win behind at Newbury (imvho), having been given an unnecessarily hard race there.
 
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