Cheltenham Festival
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A curious Festival smoke-signal relates to horses wearing some form of headgear (blinker, visor or hood) for the first time in mid-March. Last year on Day 3 of the Festival, Benefficient, Holywell and Same Difference all wore some form of first-time headgear and combined to win 50 per cent of the races on the card at cumulative odds of nearly 8,300/1. What is more remarkable is that they were the only three horses on the day to try new accessories for the first time. Flaxen Flare was another to fall into the same category during the Festival and bolted up in the Fred Winter at 25/1. There were just 14 qualifiers in this category all week in 2013 and, in addition to those four winners, Ackertac was only beaten a neck at 66/1; Rock On Ruby finished second in the Champion Hurdle; and His Excellency third in the Arkle at 80/1.
Something I found while having a mooch round other sites
Something I found while having a mooch round other sites
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Didn't know who wrote it Ram, like I said just picked it up somewhere and thought it was to good not to share with all my festival buddies on here
No RSA winner has won without a prep run in the same calendar year!
^^^ for 50 years .....original poster I read that amzing stat.
How does the original post trend stack up over a period of time. It might have been rubbish for the other 9 years out of 10 !
no previous qualifiers (winners) since Our Vic's Ryanair win in 2008.
Though Zaynar and What A Charm won Triumph and Fred Winter respectively in first time cheekpieces (he makes a distinction between cheekpieces as opposed to visor,hood or blinkers, not least because the race card won't tell you that cheekpieces are being worn for the first time). I suppose you'd also raise less of an eyebrow at the application of cheekpieces to a lightly raced 4yo
Author cites placed horses at 66/1, 50/1, 33/1,25/1,20/1 in each of last 5 years in Novices Handicap Chase on the Tuesday and - more tenuously in my view - last three horses to wear first time headgear in Gold Cup finished in first four, Turpin Green, What A Friend and Long Run (I think only Turpin Green of those three outran his odds and fourth would not get you the place money in the case of What A Friend).
Excellent research by Paul Jones but you could easily argue it is a blip rather than a trend until further evidence supports it.
His last point, about trainers like NTD, Jonjo and Gordon Elliott being particularly skilled in application of first time headgear, is the most pertinent for me.
Though Zaynar and What A Charm won Triumph and Fred Winter respectively in first time cheekpieces (he makes a distinction between cheekpieces as opposed to visor,hood or blinkers, not least because the race card won't tell you that cheekpieces are being worn for the first time). I suppose you'd also raise less of an eyebrow at the application of cheekpieces to a lightly raced 4yo
Author cites placed horses at 66/1, 50/1, 33/1,25/1,20/1 in each of last 5 years in Novices Handicap Chase on the Tuesday and - more tenuously in my view - last three horses to wear first time headgear in Gold Cup finished in first four, Turpin Green, What A Friend and Long Run (I think only Turpin Green of those three outran his odds and fourth would not get you the place money in the case of What A Friend).
Excellent research by Paul Jones but you could easily argue it is a blip rather than a trend until further evidence supports it.
His last point, about trainers like NTD, Jonjo and Gordon Elliott being particularly skilled in application of first time headgear, is the most pertinent for me.
Just your 2 winners today ....jezki and western warhorse......hope you were all on
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