KAUTO STAR

He is good for another King George but the Gold Cup is a different proposition. He is/was better on tracks where he could show his speed and Kempton is perfect for horses like him, Dessie being another who could show his great pace there.

The Gold Cup needs the perfect combination of speed, stamina importantly alongside balance and jumping. He isnt a natural stayer and does not jump well on this undulating track especially out of dead/rain softened ground. In his early days his jumping was low resulting in his Queen Mother fall, he also doesnt have the greatest balance approaching his fences on the type of ground we saw the clerk create this year.

If the ground is anything other than good fast ground he will always struggle in a Gold Cup for jumping and stamina, if he doesnt get this he will struggle even if he is not over the hill. There have been and will be better horses over the course and trip than him.

The ground on an undulating track is very important to his jumping imo. His springs are definitely dampened on soft ground when he has to think and jump out of it instead of pinging off the top of it.

Postie, lets keep him going for a while longer. After all he was a hot fav for the Gold Cup. He was in a rhythm until he clattered a fence half way through.

As previous poster says the King George is there for the taking and maybe a national in 2012 when he comes down the weights a little.

Pete i suggest u look at the race again, then realise how silly what u have just said is. He was tanking, like the kauto of any other year. If he stands up wins the gold cup this year.

If thats not travelling wouldnt like to see him on the bridle!! He was never travelling the year denman beat him, was goin lovely till he made the mistake last year.

You didnt read what i said was goin lovely till he made the mistake which i think was the 9th fence. I know he was beaten when he fell. The mistake knocked him out of his rhythm, most horses wuld have fallen there.

Ruby said he had him settled beautifully before the mistake, he would have gone very close. The ground on King George day last year was very tacky

He was travelling well before he made the first mistake, watch it again

eric_morris Joined: 27 Jun 10
Replies: 73 04 Aug 10 22:57 
Ruby can say what he wants. Kempton is not an undulating track like Chelts and he has always struggled jumping around there at Championship pace excuses aside. If the ground is not fast there his jumping is tested more.

Queen Mother fall, dodgy jumping behind Denman, this years fall and 2 Gold Cup wins. He does not like jumping around Cheltenham, an undulating stamina laden track ignore the evidence if you want.

I agree with you that he doesnt jump out of soft ground to well he seems to jump low when its like that, the dodgy jumping against denman once again denmans performance that day was amazing and it deserved to win any gold cup but i think kauto was never himself that day the ground didnt help for obvious reasons denman made it a test which personally i think kauto can handle but others have there opions with that and i respect that and lastly kauto had a foot problem if i remember rightly two weeks before gold cup as well as nicholls saying kauto may have left his race behind racing him so clsoe to cheltenham.

The queen mother fall could be due to the sun at that fence he seemed to be behind a wall of horses and may have been unsighted at the time of the fence.

I dont like making excuses for any horse but theres reasons for his falls and lack of performances on some races,
im with you with he performances at kempton are amazing and he performances there are breath taking due to amazing speeed he has but i wouldnt say he dislikes cheltenham he just seems to prefer kempton.

You are describing his ideal conditions, fair enough, but that is not to say that he can't win when conditions aren't ideal. they thought they had him better than ever last year and connectTons are on record as saying that he handles softer ground better than he did before as he has gotten older and stronger, he made that first mistake too early at Cheltenham last season to draw any hard and fast conclusions as to what might have happened, tbh Ithink the betting public would actually agree witha alot of what you are saying and you might be laying at bigger odds than you think if it turns up soft.

for a horse that doesnt like thhe track and doesnt stay the distance, i think that 2 gold cups put pay to any idiotic ideas that he doesnt act up at the course! daft comments and opinions will always be put right by stats, and 2 gold cups is a stat that i wouldnt mind any of my horses having!

agreed vixon

kauto,s bad runs have always been explainable but the gold cup run was not. everything was perfect ( ground no issue) fresh as a daisy,puzzling. truth is he and imperial commander are the only 180+ denman176 rest 14lb+ below so if he comes back the old kauto he has lots in his favour

My point really was to say that I would not want future poor performances to cloud my memories of star.
The stats are against Kauto regaining the GC at his age - retirement before decline ?

If someone could ask Clifford Baker his head lad,why he was shaking his head just before the start in March,maybe we would have a better idea of what happened!! No idea myself,but it did happen just as it started raining,probably co-incidence,but If it was the rain it might back up the jumping out the ground bit,or maybe Kauto just dont like getting wet!!
Just summising before anyone thinks i am mad!!

if kauto has lost half his ability he wont be winning an egg and spoon.

eric_morris: "He isn't a natural stayer.."

That's just wrong. As for the Gold Cup next year, I would certainly not rule him out. Time will tell.

Arthur's comments are correct, along with those who agreed with him afterwards. There's far too much over complication with certain horses sometimes. He looked very sharp to me before the mistake and was jumping and travelling sweetly, perhaps too sweetly. Kauto is very good, still.

Bl00dy good horse though,and got me going to the races just to see him.Went to Ascot to watch him in the race before Denmans GC,and he was absolutely outstanding,was a priveledge to be there.

Ftm it def wasnt the third fence he made the mistake either.