NTD and Imperial Commander

he seems to be getting the "spouting shoite" bug. nothing i hate worse than trainers talking up horses and talking down others.'I'm not afraid of any young whippersnapper' - Twiston-Davies when something like this is the rp top story then hes being a muppet. he also said to sporting life that sybarite could very well fill the void left by imperial commander when hes gone. more sh1t. hes like a hyperactive owner with attention deficit disorder and terrets imo. i read on his website before that paddy brennan had a low golf handicap, sayin " we really must give him more to do". the fooking irony. RANT OVER

I can't stand the man bu he's right though, he should fear Kauto and Denman the most to be honest.

Yeah i agree, proven ability and all that but hes discovered something called the media lately and hes suffering from excessive exposure. saying stuff like There's no young whippersnapper in there that frightens me is stupid because when a horse runs in a race then it has a chance and if any younger horse does win then he will look like more of a mug than he already does. and to say sybarite could well be a future gold cup winner is nonsense

Like I said, I like him and wouldn't berate him. I think he just has an ebullient nature which can be misread (and has been here), I was just questioning his claim that IC is the best around. This horse, for me, is a Cheltenham specialist and has been dreadful at Kempton and Aintree. What I hope is, if he wins the Gold Cup, which he has every right to do, they don't start saying on terrestrial TV that he is better than Denman and Kauto because I'd like to think connections of those horses wouldn't publicly state theirs were better than IC (even though we all know they are!)..

for years he was uncomfortable with the media (and got slaughtered for it) so he's made a real effort to be more media friendly and, surprise surprise, he gets slaughtered for it - what's he got to do ????? and, after all, he has got the Gold Cup winner (with an amazing Cheltenham record) in his stable - I was at the Gold Cup last year with all the Denman and Kauto scarves etc and I felt p***** off that I C wasn't being mentioned prior to the race so connections of the horse have points to make - I for one don't blame him

Looks like he is not allowed his 'own' opinion.

im not sayin hes not allowed his own opinion or that his now media openness is a bad thing, i just think hes being arrogant about what hes saying. can we get a market up on betfair as to whether or not sybarite will win a gold cup?

Led on Bit - I like him and wouldn't berate him. I think he just has an ebullient nature which can be misread

^ Agree with this. He is given to hyperbole, as many are, and I sometimes think because he plays the underdog role, he enjoys bursting a few bubbles.

He has every right to say IC is best in training on the basis that he won the best race in the NH calendar.
Also Denman's owner (Findlay) DID state before the gold cup last year that he didnt see IC as one to worry about and rather than not saying his horse is better he instead just didnt consider IC at all... slightly more offensive imo. And lets be honest he ended up looking rather stupid for it :D
Come on the commander for the Gold Cup... no1 deserves it more!!!

yeh,but harry was a load mouthed gobsh!te owner,NTD should be above that imo,and let his horse do the talking.

I was in hospitality last year and our host, John Virgo, came round spouting the usual cliches ("done nothing wrong" / "in the jungle as we call it" (ffs !) and said Kauto would win - I asked about I C and he just poo pood it - quite unchivalrously afterwards I went up to him to remind him (unpleasant I know but it felt good at the time)

he's saying sybarite could be a future gold cup horse because he worked as well as imperial commander last week in their racecourse gallop. he has naively come to conclusion that he's a star when I have a strong feeling the commander is not working nearly well enough to retain his title. and for the record he shud be very afraid of the challenge long run and pandorama are going to bring on the day. I fear he is making the same mistake that was made in last years gold cup by the nicholls yard in not worrying about the up and coming challenge! which is very real.

Hmmm..NTD did appear hacked off with the lack of attention to IC being paid by the media as a result of the denman v KS publicity. Not sure his recent comments are the best response....I'm reminded of Peter Beaumont who was far from a camera seeker and the straight and very understated way he went about preparing Jodami...let the horse do the talking...

he has got a champion horse and his talking him up like the champion he is,dont see a problem.he says he doesnt fear the new kids but fears the older brigade and gives his reasons why,fair play to him

NTD deserves respect for the results he get and the honesty he has so why knock him? If some dont like him and dont back his runners then fine by me as always get good value in big races. Imagine if Khyber Kim was trained by Nicholls...25/1? I doubt it

What a bunch of moaners on here - NTD is a great bloke and a fantastic trainer. For him to be bullish is great, is he supposed to be quaking in his boots at the prospect of his horses losing? The young whippersnapper comment is anything but arrogant or disrespectful, it's an honest assessment and he is more than entitled to be confident.

Major Malarkey at 25s is a great bet in the 4 miler by the way, you heard it here first. Now stop whining and get into the spirit of things!!!

his own cue card and perspective gold cup winner that has won a teen runner bumper and nothing else from 4 starts youve got to like him for tryin

I'm sure you had Imperial Commander pinned down as a future gold cup horse after his first 4 starts too reve!

i surely did, backed at 1000 for the 2009 gold cup. a year too early

FFS!

Funnily enough, the best RPR achieved on the first 4 starts was 133 for both.

I think Big Bens comments earlier has just about summed everything up!

^yes, sums up what a miserable bunch of knockers exist on this forum. Come on NTD and Imperial, let's stuff it up 'em.

For the record, Findlay did say straight after the Gold Cup what a good horse Imperial Commander had proven himself to be and if people were discounting him beforehand maybe that was because he had looked so bad at Kempton on his last start. NOBODY was treating IC with disrespect before last year's renewal and those who like to think this are kidding themselves. Those of us who thought he would be third at best were just looking at all the relevant formlines! These IC fans have as selective a memory as his trainer. This topic was about who deserves to be called the best in training, not whose biased opinion counts above others. What is it about this horse that attracts so much unnecessary vitriol? We all think he's very good and was the best on that day last year, it's just highly questionable that he's the undisputed best chaser around, fair enough? He could win again and still not run to as high a mark as Long Run did at Kempton. The Gold Cup is not the final answer and, from memory, until recently was frequently not won by the best around..

Led on bit -  NOBODY was treating IC with disrespect before last year's renewal - yes they were (media / connections etc (and all those stupid scarves))

Those of us who thought he would be third at best were just looking at all the relevant formlines ?  I guess you overlooked Haydock Park run against KS then ?

The Gold Cup is not the final answer and, from memory, until recently was frequently not won by the best around.. ??   would be interested in your thoughts on this - championship race at a testing track to my mind

Its not about that though is it, the Gold Cup has been supposedly consistently won by the best around in recent years (considering some people now rate KS and Denman as the best there has ever been and all that) so why is it that for one it is ok for people to just ignore IC before last years Gold Cup, and then when he is favourite it isnt right for him to say that he is the best horse in training, until he is beaten in the GC (which i concede could be this year) why does anyone have the right to call him anything other than the best? The horse has ridiculous amounts of physical problems which has meant he isnt able to be considered as prolific as KS but he is every bit as classy (if not more) in the way that he has won his races (including the GC last year). The owners, trainer, horse and jockey were ALL disrespected in last years GC by the whole scarf, tribalism thing which is totally wrong for racing, which was created by ridiculous amounts of money being spent on advertising a two horse race that never was. IC is not fairly looked upon by many people and can imho be considered the best in training, aswell as a hero for sticking it up those who left him out last year. Now bring on this year and see if he can carry it on, if not he is still a great!!

And about Findlay would it then be ok to disregard kauto because he didnt look great around Kempton? No of course it isnt, a horse is more than just its last race and the classiness in the ryanair and the paddy power coupled with how close he got to KS in the betfair last year meant that no1 could write off his form as being anything less than top draw. Findlay apologised for his earlier comments and i appreciate that. But that doesnt make making them in the first place right!!