Totesport Bowl -Aintree

Awful news. In other years he would have been a multiple Grade 1, and Gold Cup winner. Very talented, and was involved in many great races.
 
on a day when I've won more money than I have ever won..I am really saddened to hear this...I watched the race and was worried for Denman when he fell..he was beaten anyway imo..just travelled home so only just read about ED on here

take KS out of his form lines and it would have read very differently

RIP
 
Oh no - and he was so brave today - a wonderful , if quirky horse who tried so hard and was just very unlucky to have been born in the same year as Kauto Star.

Loved the horse to bits . Ruined today
 
aye

I came home real happy Ardross..but it has took edge of..when I first read this thread I thought you guys were on about Denman tbh

its very odd when you want a horse to win a race and its nearest pursuer falls and you are all of a sudden..happy...but concerned..its been quite a race hasn't it this one?
 
He helped make Kauto in a lot of ways - his performances in 2007 when Kauto wasn't around; the big handicap double at Cheltenham and two wide-margin wins in the Cotswold Chase and this race (which he won in a canter) - went a long way to confirming Kauto's status.
 
Gareth Flynn said:
He helped make Kauto in a lot of ways - his performances in 2007 when Kauto wasn't around; the big handicap double at Cheltenham and two wide-margin wins in the Cotswold Chase and this race (which he won in a canter) - went a long way to confirming Kauto's status.
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Very true - the fact he was so good made us realise just how good Kauto Star was and to come back to such top class form again this year after the blighted season he had last year was a tribute to the horse and his trainer.

Those Cheltenham wins were marvellous , was lucky enough to be there for the Tripleprint and Cotswold wins - such classy performances and his canter round two years ago here too .

Perhaps his failures to pick up quite as expected in the last two runs and his jumping today was worse than it had been for ages were portents .

Just a terrific horse.
 
Hamm said:
Ardross,

I suggest you watch the replay. The winner was all out, as was Denman, both from some way out. Denman, coming from behind MdeB, was ahead when he fell. If one horse was cooked, it was MdeB, which can be seen by him slowing drastically on the run in.

It's irrelevant whether Denman wanted to be there or not.
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I watched the replay a number of times . No matter how many times I have watched it the same things strike me

1 Denman was surly and unco-operative at the start he did not want to be there

2 His early jumping was sticky

3 He did not make progress with ease - he was being endlessly niggled along to keep up .M de B had the inside and was holding him at bay .

4 Songsheet's analysis is impeccable I suggest . Denman was struggling that is why he made the mistake he did , he was never really travelling not only am I pretty sure that M de B would have won . DEnman might well have weakened into third


The horse looks out of love with the game.
 
After what happened to Kaoto in this race last year, Exotic Dancer (RIP) and Denman this I would hope that horses who have hard races in the Gold Cup will no longer come here.
 
I agree. I've felt that way ever since Desert Orchid fell in the race after his efforts in the Gold Cup.
 
Good observation Euro.

Competition is so fierce at the top level now I do agree horses do need a break longer than 3 weeks between races. Although several who won or were 2nd at Cheltenham did do well today. Hen Knight was quoted a few weeks ago saying, not for the first time, tha tthe GC is a very tough race which takes a huge amount out of horses, more than many realise
 
Headstrong said:
Good observation Euro.

Competition is so fierce at the top level now I do agree horses do need a break longer than 3 weeks between races. Although several who won or were 2nd at Cheltenham did do well today. Hen Knight was quoted a few weeks ago saying, not for the first time, tha tthe GC is a very tough race which takes a huge amount out of horses, more than many realise
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which is why she won it 3 times with one horse and others fail

despite the constant sniping by people about wrapping in cotton wool with BM..she did what all these other top trainers seem unable to do
 
I thought Denman would have just about managed to win, and such a performance would have been fair enough against a hugely improved Madison Du Berlais and a largely consistent Exotic Dancer.

Regarding the fall at the second last I do not believe it to have been a tired one.

Many horses are making the same blunder at this fence since it was resited and rebuilt two seasons ago. The board infront of the ditch is very high, the ditch is wide and the fence staring. For some reason a number of horses are fooled into taking off too far back from the fence and coming down into the fence, which is what Denman did. He jumped so high that he toppled over, some of the horses that are similarly fooled crash through and paddle the fence mid-jump having changed their minds, which helps them remain upright, the fence itself is actually quite soft.

Something odd is fooling the horses at this jump and I think it is to do with the take off board.

Furthermore, standing at the fence with a someone else who rides horses we were in a agreement that we would far rather attempt to jump the adjacent last-fence-in-the-national than the open ditch on the mildmay course.
 
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Thanks for that explanation, or rather possible reason, for so many horses making a mistake there, UG. It chimes with what Sam Thomas is reported to have said after the race too - that Denman just took off too soon, ie making a rare jumping mistake, and he had no idea why.

I hope you will write to the course about this, as I'm sure your opinion will be respected, given you both ride, and watch so much jumping at close quarters.
 
Exotic Dancer was a serious horse, and one of my favourites. He has helped make Kauto, I reckon. It's a shame he has died.

I have a niggling feeling that Denman might have won. He did look beaten at that stage, but MdeB slowed up markedly on the run-in.
 
Well, whatever the reason was, it pays to remember that jumping is the name of this game - doesn't matter one whit whether or not DENMAN may have won - plain fact is that he made a mistake and MdB didn't!

MdB won, fair and square and derserves the win and the plaudits because he stayed on his feet!!!!!

I felt uite sorry for the owners and connections because of all the attnetion being focussed on DENMAN.

Bit like when DESERT ORCHID fell in the KG! (think it was KG - all I can remember is him falling - no idea who won!!)
 
Songsheet said:
Well, whatever the reason was, it pays to remember that jumping is the name of this game - doesn't matter one whit whether or not DENMAN may have won - plain fact is that he made a mistake and MdB didn't!

MdB won, fair and square and derserves the win and the plaudits because he stayed on his feet!!!!!

I felt uite sorry for the owners and connections because of all the attnetion being focussed on DENMAN.

Bit like when DESERT ORCHID fell in the KG! (think it was KG - all I can remember is him falling - no idea who won!!)
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Fair point.

Watching the replays again though on both BBC and RUK, amazing that none of the commentators mentioned that Denman was being niggled along from so far out. If you were listening to the RUK commentator with your eyes closed you'd swear Denman was hacking all over the Pipe horse before the turn in.
 
Jim McGrath " Authorised is cruising " :blink:

Perhaps they can pension him off now .Yesterday afternoon as Hobson's choice - it was either his racereading skills or Mark Screaming Johnson on RUK - when is he going to America . Can't come soon enough for me
 
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I blame Denman's fall on that loose camera being there! If you look at the front page of the RP today, just behind Denman's bum, there is a camera presumably placed to get those amazing shots - UG was it one of yours?
 
UG always has hold of his camera - he doesn't prop them on stalks and leave them like some do!

The wonder about UG is, that he is able to judge the horses' well-being, give a minute account of how they looked, travelled and jumped etc - all while spending so much time observing through his lens. When I'm using the camera I find it hard to actually 'look' at the horses as opposed to just frame a shot. It's a great skill to do both so well.
 
Many horses are making the same blunder at this fence since it was resited and rebuilt two seasons ago.
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Can't say if it's exactly the same blunder, but horses who have made mistakes there in the last two seasons include Kauto, Master Minded, Denman and Voy Por Ustedes.

That's 4 of Timeform's Top 5 'chasers coming into the meeting.

(The fifth one died :()
 
Well very sorry to buck the trend but AP killed the horse in my opinion.
I watched after taping it late last night and was thinking "bloody hell Tony stop!!".
I admire AP and had no financial interest at all at Aintree but when they said he had died I wasn't surprised at all.
 
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