Kauto Star and Denman

[my miss storm cat]

Who will you be rooting for?


Friday March 19 2010
Cheltenham 15:20

Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup
£475000.00 added, 5yo plus, 3m 2f 110y, Class 1
27 runners

Form Horse Age Wt Trainer Jockey OR NagMe Bet
Air Force One (GER) 8 - C J Mann SP SP
66/1
Albertas Run (IRE) 9 - Jonjo O'Neill SP SP
40/1
Aran Concerto (IRE) 9 - Noel Meade SP SP
100/1
Calgary Bay (IRE) 7 - Miss H C Knight SP SP
100/1
Carruthers 7 - M Bradstock SP SP
33/1
Casey Jones (IRE) 9 - Noel Meade SP SP
80/1
Cerium (FR) 9 - Paul Murphy SP SP
250/1
Cloudy Lane 10 - D McCain Jnr SP SP
66/1
Cooldine (IRE) 8 - W P Mullins SP SP
14/1
Denman (IRE) 10 - P F Nicholls SP SP
7/4
Glencove Marina (IRE) 8 - W P Mullins SP SP
50/1
Imperial Commander (IRE) 9 - N A Twiston-Davies SP SP
12/1
In Compliance (IRE) 10 - D T Hughes SP SP
80/1
Kauto Star (FR) 10 - P F Nicholls SP SP
5/4
Madison Du Berlais (FR) 9 - D E Pipe SP SP
50/1
Mon Mome (FR) 10 - Miss V Williams SP SP
100/1
Money Trix (IRE) 10 - N G Richards SP SP
40/1
Mr Pointment (IRE) 11 - Paul Murphy SP SP
200/1
My Will (FR) 10 - P F Nicholls SP SP
66/1
Notre Pere (FR) 9 - J T R Dreaper SP SP
33/1
Rare Bob (IRE) 8 - D T Hughes SP SP
100/1
Roll Along (IRE) 10 - N A Twiston-Davies SP SP
100/1
Schindlers Hunt (IRE) 10 - D T Hughes SP SP
66/1
Taranis (FR) 9 - P F Nicholls SP SP
20/1
Trabolgan (IRE) 12 - N J Henderson SP SP
100/1
Tricky Trickster (IRE) 7 - P F Nicholls SP SP
66/1
What A Friend 7 - P F Nicholls SP SP
20/1

Lest anyone forgets, the Ryanair Chase is the day (Voy Por Ustedes!) before.

[my miss storm cat]

Is McCoy the right jock for Denman?

Anyone have thoughts, especially after todays drama?

[NoChanceToDance]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

Is McCoy the right jock for Denman?

Anyone have thoughts, especially after todays drama?

No,

I was very disappointed when the news was announced. Might seem strange given that he is the winning most jumps jockey, but he doesn't suit every horse.

Denman likes to be control of everything and everyone. McCoy is the same, which means that neither of them are getting their own way.

Denman HAS to be left to his own devices or he'll get pi$$ed off, and that's what happened today.

McCoy is a fantastic jockey, but he doesn't suit this horse. Not his fault, but connections should have never taken Sam Thomas off, who has done nothing wrong on Denman and has shown he gets on very well with him.

Everyone knows he can be a bit tricky and stubborn, and McCoy didn't stand for it, and ultimately the horse didn't like it.

[brockguy]

Originally Posted by NoChanceToDance

No,

I was very disappointed when the news was announced. Might seem strange given that he is the winning most jumps jockey, but he doesn't suit every horse.

Denman likes to be control of everything and everyone. McCoy is the same, which means that neither of them are getting their own way.

Denman HAS to be left to his own devices or he'll get pi$$ed off, and that's what happened today.

McCoy is a fantastic jockey, but he doesn't suit this horse. Not his fault, but connections should have never taken Sam Thomas off, who has done nothing wrong on Denman and has shown he gets on very well with him.

Everyone knows he can be a bit tricky and stubborn, and McCoy didn't stand for it, and ultimately the horse didn't like it.

I agree fully - McCoy just doesnt suit him. He's great on a horse that needs coaxing along or a horse that needs to get into a rhythm but Denman just needs to be left to do what he does best, jump and stay..

Ruby is exceptionally good on him and obviously he cant be jockey when riding Kauto but Sam Thomas has done a decent job (Aintree last year excluded) and he should have kept the job..

[NoChanceToDance]

Originally Posted by brockguy

I agree fully - McCoy just doesnt suit him. He's great on a horse that needs coaxing along or a horse that needs to get into a rhythm but Denman just needs to be left to do what he does best, jump and stay..

Ruby is exceptionally good on him and obviously he cant be jockey when riding Kauto but Sam Thomas has done a decent job (Aintree last year excluded) and he should have kept the job..

My mate summed it up perfectly last night. He said it's just like Man City and Rubinho (sorry for all those that don't understand this) everyone could see that he wasn't going to work there, but they wanted to sign a big name, who MIGHT do the job. Instead of signing a lesser name who they knew WOULD do the job.

Connections chose McCoy because they felt they needed a big name, and they hoped he'd be ok. And now they can't jock him off because they need to 'save face' and that's the only reason.

Nicholls was angry after the race, and I've never seen him like that before no matter of the end result, and to me that meant he was unhappy too, but in his position he couldn't criticise, but I do feel if he made every decision, Sam would still be on his back when Ruby was unavailable.

I have nothing against AP, although I don't feel he is quite as good as people make out, I admire that he gives 110% and he is able to get the best out of some horses that other people can't. However, his style does not suit Denman. Right from the 'off' yesterday McCoy was niggling him and sqeezing him at every fence. Now that's not his fault, it's the way he rides, but if he does the same thing in the Gold Cup I'm afraid to say the result will more than likely be the same - we can only hope that the horse isn't injured because of it.

[my miss storm cat]

I thought this was a nice little piece...

Favorite line is "Denman is a bit of a brute ... he'd sort of kill you if you look at him over the box ... he'd snap your hand off. Kauto is the complete opposite ... a bit of a softie."

http://racing.scmp.com/freeservice/n...s20100307g.asp