Tom Scudamore's judgment of pace

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Ardross

Senior Jockey
Joined
Aug 8, 2007
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The number of races over the years when he went off too fast have been legion I remember one in the Fred Winter the other year I almost thought he had been runaway with and wtf was he doing on Heath Hunter this afternoon ?

Went way too fast chasing his stablemate on that going and the horse did well to stick on for fourth.
 
In fairness, O'Farrell's win on Top Wood at Haydock was also achieved by going off like a scalded cat. They are tactics which worked for Martin Pipe when he had his horses much fitter than anyone else, and you'd have to think that the trainer (or trainer's interfering father) is at least partially to blame.

That's no defence of Scu, who doesn't just kick hard at tape-rise, but usually tries to press on even harder mid-race, and has had several absolute shockers this season.
 
rorydelargy said:
In fairness, O'Farrell's win on Top Wood at Haydock was also achieved by going off like a scalded cat. They are tactics which worked for Martin Pipe when he had his horses much fitter than anyone else, and you'd have to think that the trainer (or trainer's interfering father) is at least partially to blame.

That's no defence of Scu, who doesn't just kick hard at tape-rise, but usually tries to press on even harder mid-race, and has had several absolute shockers this season.
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That's the point - he so often does it in the wrong race and at the wrong point of time.
 
edgt said:
I met the owners of Kazalian after that race; they were fuming but a grand bunch of guys.
They are involved with Battlegroup also.
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Met that same group in Aintree, great lads. Put us on to Battle Group too who duly hosed up!
 
I backed Heath Hunter - albeit only to small stakes - and as soon as he dropped to 2nd my first thoughts were "when will I learn ?".

Nobody to blame but myself as I knew who was on board but Sunybay sums it up perfectly.
 
Ardross said:
The number of races over the years when he went off too fast have been legion I remember one in the Fred Winter the other year I almost thought he had been runaway with and wtf was he doing on Heath Hunter this afternoon ?

Went way too fast chasing his stablemate on that going and the horse did well to stick on for fourth.
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If he had a different surname he would never have even lost his claim. He wouldn't be put up in a ptp in Ireland.
 
His biggest test at the Festival will be trying to judge the fractions in the AB with Ruby stalking him on Briar Hill. And Walsh will want to make amends for giving Boston Bob too much to do in the same race.

I backed Many Clouds yesterday and Aspinall was guilty of thinking he only had the Scu horse to beat imo.
 
I think he's playing the percentage game, probably encouraged to do so. If you're in front and going well, it often pays to kick on and take the others right out of their comfort zone. Coleman is skilled at it. Scu often gets it wrong by kicking a furlong too soon.
 
Euronymous said:
His biggest test at the Festival will be trying to judge the fractions in the AB with Ruby stalking him on Briar Hill. And Walsh will want to make amends for giving Boston Bob too much to do in the same race.

I backed Many Clouds yesterday and Aspinall was guilty of thinking he only had the Scu horse to beat imo.
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I thought he got racing far too early on Many Clouds, it was at least 6 out
 
Ive never been a fan of Scu. From memory, Thomas Barr didn't want him on Osana, DJ used Timmy, not a glowing endorsement for a stable jockey.

I've mentioned before on here that after having stable jockeys leave, some with sour tastes, the Pipe operation fitted Scu perfectly; a near enough family member who is a "good" jockey, who will do all the hard work in the yard, who is closed shop and fits in. He's a team player in every sense of the word and apart from your Ruby's and AP, Barry G etc, he's not that different to the rest. A "safe" pair of hands.

One thing I've never seen from Scu is a race where he won when he plainly shouldn't have.
 
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Good to see Tom at the top table after the stick he got here and on some of the preview nights. I was lucky enough to bag some hospitality yesterday and Tom Scu did the preview. A charming and articulate (unlike his dad) guy.

Hope he does the biz on Kings Palace today


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He was shocking on King's Palace today . The fact that he had two steering jobs hardly makes him Ruby Walsh mark II . The Arkle winner he hit too much and is such a good jumper it needed no assistance from the saddle.
 
The ride on Kings Palace confirmed what we already knew but...

Fair play to him for the 3 winners and whatever I think of his riding ability, he has always come across as really likeable, top man and I'll wish him continued success.
 
I do too. Every jockey has pros and cons (although I struggle to find a weakness with geraghty). There is a lot less between them than is often suggested too. I tend not to obsess about who's riding what.
 
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