Cheltenham Festival
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Out of form / something wrong with his horses last week or has he just not got a very strong string...?
Creditable runs from Catgary, Lac Fontana, Southfield Theatre and Silviniaco Conti...nothing else got involved.
Irving, Dodging Bullets, Sam Winner, Wonderful Charm & Calipto all very flat.
Thought Hinterland might have gone close if not hampered in the Champion Chase; but very hard to know whether to forgive those their poor runs or just accept they're average.
Creditable runs from Catgary, Lac Fontana, Southfield Theatre and Silviniaco Conti...nothing else got involved.
Irving, Dodging Bullets, Sam Winner, Wonderful Charm & Calipto all very flat.
Thought Hinterland might have gone close if not hampered in the Champion Chase; but very hard to know whether to forgive those their poor runs or just accept they're average.
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Apologies; Caid Du Berlais also ran well.
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A lot of them are average but one or two are probably better than what they showed, e.g Irving, Calipto, Silviniaco Conti.
Nicholls needs a proper stable jockey instead of distributing the rides out between Jacob, Fehily, Twiston-Davies and Schofield. Twiston-Davies probably the best of those but he gets nervous and makes mistakes in the big races. Ruby was ruthless - he never showed any weaknesses even when he made a mistake. Jacob is not cut out for a top job and I think he manages to attract bad luck. The other two are best suited in the role of a second jockey. |
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Calipto flat ???? 2nd most unlucky horse at the festival behind the new one
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PFN was unlucky not to have 4 winners imo. Katgary & Calipto both very unlucky. Southfield Theatre got a shocking ride. Wonderful Charm had a setback 6 weeks ago so probably deserves the benefit of the doubt.
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southfield made a bad jump 4 or 5 out and peformed miracles to get to the front hardly a bad ride,probably his worst jumpung performance of the season usualy gains a length at every hurdle,but that wasnt in top race on good ground, and i backed it and no jacobs short comings but wouldnt blame him for that
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jacobs gave lac fontana a fine ride, watch the race again, the horse didn't travel a yard
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He certainly cannot buy a winner with his chasers at Cheltenham festival any more. Having said that Ruby is also on a dreadful run over fences.
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He needs one stable jockey who rides everything.......he doesn't have the ammunition of a few years ago but he will probably still be top trainer!
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Nicholls horses too high in the handicap for the festival yet not good enough for Championship races at the moment
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I mentioned earlier in the season that he would do well to keep his horses cherry ripe for Cheltenham. He seemed more focused on wresting the trainers title back from NJH than maximising his Cheltenham prospects.
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@Steamship and @festivalfanatic are right. Nicholls does not plot them up for Cheltenham and the geezer heckling him about "handbrake jobs" at the streamed preview night needs to buy a formbook imo.
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The English Noel Meade then!
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first half (wont be doing the 2nd half till sunday)
So lets sort out some facts here: Irving, disappointing to the betting public, but he had never raced at speed so he was a unknown and mightily short. Dodging Bullets , ran well, 4 lengths off a win. ran to form if not better. Pacha Du Polder , no hoper, 10/23 Ptit Zig 6/9. pn told us the 7/4 in the match vs MR. Just A Par ran well, was 40/1 at one stage, was in their 4 out. Black Thunder fell, clearly the trainers fault. Sam Winner given that he was 12/1 and he ran to it, nothing wrong here.(ps i expected more) Edgardo Sol ran in a handicap, did better than expected. Far West ran below par, but if like me you are delighted that he is still alive after that newbury fall. (winded for over 3 mins) Sametegal massive run of that weight. Hinterland unseated, all down to the form of the trainer. Sire Collonges decent run Solar Impulse ran a big race on his 2nd British outing (i backed him) Katgary ran well, clearly the faller didnt help, not sure he would had won, unless its paul nicholls fault. Keltus massive run Wonderful Charm, below expectations, but to the form of his races  Southfield Theatre ran to form Al Ferof i am alfs biggest fan but he didnt run to his old form. |
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^Hi Paul
Straws Clutching You're At. Rearrange the above words to form a sentence. |
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Not sure he has quite the calibre of horses to win the big graded races at Cheltenham ATM. Silv Conti would be his best horse and the Gold Cup was just a weird race. KatGary unlucky. So was Calipto. Lac Fontana did it well. Big Buck's & Al Ferof not the same horses plus had to run career bests to win. Near on impossible. He probably would be disappointed with just the one winner but 2 or more would have been a good festival I think.
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I will add the 2nd section so pre fat can clutch again.
Pre fat, point me where i am wrong, with my views, im open as they are my views and not the betting public ????? I wish i didnt have to explain ! PN horses ran, rather well imo. Everyone thinks i am a PN fan, maybe i am, because i like top trainers and facts. Certain trainers can train certain horses, PN is the best trainer of chasers closely followed by NH. NH amd mullins over hurdles |
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Not an issue with the way the horses are running, but with a lack of fire power relative to previous years as alluded to by many here, most recently Masterminded above. He got out as much as one could expect from a group of decent handicappers (many) with not much in hand of their mark.
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If he was a fiddling person, he would had cleaned up, usually his well handicappeed horses have had problems, trying and on a massive upward french curve.
His horses try too hard during the season, its freds like this that will make him feel different. Try=knocks Not saying for a minute he can get one ready for a handicap, which he should do more often, but if he did that then he would slagged of even more |
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I would agree completely Sonko. He might have to go a bit Johnjo on it because he looks to have not much going into next season.
There is a bit of an art to even that, though and twould be a tough adjustment after years of a tried and trusted formula. The failure of the Henderson stars to stick around just rams home how brilliantly he handled Kauto, Denman, Masterminded, Big Bucks, Twist Magic and Neptune Collonges. He is a truly great trainer and his pity is that all of those horses came along at once. Prime Neptune Collonges and Twist Magic would have hacked up in the Gold cup and Champion Chase this season.... and I know Twist didn't like Cheltenham!! he needs to get it through his head that he has drank the best wine of his career and adjust. |
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Im quite happy with people writing him off has he no kauto, denman, master m or big bucks.has
You will never ever train those type in 100 years, let alone 10, we have been gifted, we should salute a trainer that delivered them to perfection. i think he is brutal as we know, he ship crap out without fuss. retired bb on the spot, which imo was class. |
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Particularly as it wasn't his decision to make
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@Ibrahim Sonko -- Irving, disappointing to the betting public, but he had never raced at speed so he was a unknown and mightily short.
Irving was indeed disappointing in the Supreme Novices and did not seem to act on the course. It is also notable (at least in hindsight!) that he'd been confined to right-handed courses even on the Flat in Germany. |
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ground wont have helpled either !
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PFN only had one winner last season too.
Personally I think the majority of his horses ran well/to expectancy at the festival year and he was unlucky not to have several winners. NJH only had one winner too. Maybe the thread should be about him. |
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If I won the lottery and became the next Grahasm Wylie, Rich Ricci, JP etc... I would go straight to Paul Nicholls.
I think hes an absolutely brilliant trainer, who had a great festival considering the horses he has at his disposal. In my opinion anyway. Give him some good horses and he will do brilliantly again. |
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Same here CCM!! To use a football cliche ... ''first name on the teamsheet'' for me. Nobody else i'd rather go to.
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Silviniaco Conti reportedly come out of Chelt really well and will run in Aintree Bowl
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n't Catch Me • March 25, 2014 2:00 PM GMT
If I won the lottery and became the next Grahasm Wylie, Rich Ricci, JP etc... I would go straight to Paul Nicholls. I think hes an absolutely brilliant trainer, who had a great festival considering the horses he has at his disposal. In my opinion anyway. Give him some good horses and he will do brilliantly again. and me only as good a horses u have |
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Yep, none better than Nicholls.
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As has been said, Nicholls is Mr Saturday, throughout the year, horses winning or consistently running well all year. Compare this is Jonjo, who will do FA but will go to the festival with a team particularly well handicapped.
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