Barber Shop

It's got to be the Ryanair, surely?

2 and a half his trip anyway!!!

Too crazy for Boys Town, too much of a boy for Crazy Town.

Hope people interpret what I mean by that

ROCK barbershop HARD PLACE[smiley:crazy]

this horse is justb weak minded . dosnt stay 3 miles and 2 m 5 hes not good enough. never seems to finish off a race. i give up on the horse now

I just think this horse has over achieved in its novice races but then in its restricted races.

Even in top races it has just picked up some scraps.

Should have run in Paddy Power last year and thats only race i can see it running well in.

I have no doubt that he had 2 very hard races last season and thats why he dissapointed at Chelts I hope he has got over them but I fear he may be finisshed

He couldn't win the Paddy Power off 142, why would he win it off 156, there is little evidence he is improving ? He is likely to be difficult to place, he is a very good horse but a little short of winning the graded races, and not well handicapped for the top handicap events. I suspect the trainer will find him almost impossible to place.

Bobby-im not for one minute saying he would win it no doubt a few better handicapped horses would beat him but as you say he is hard to place.
When he was beaten in the race the winner was very very well handicapped as you well know!!!!

To be fair Stormey we were not well handicapped it was a gift from God. Which he gift-wrapped by having money thrown at Siverburn at an incredible rate guaranteeing a once in a lifetime price. I was talking to Paddy at Ffos Lass on Wednesday and we recalled to his credit that he said after the PP he would win the GC. As I recall he took a bit of stick for it.

Returning to the subject I think NJH will have his work cut out finding races for Barbers Shop - maybe some of the early season graded races in Ireland would be an option

what about that race at Exeter at the start of the season that best mate sadly passed in?

The Haldon Gold Cup, just short of 2m 2f has been won by some useful types Edredon Bleu, Azertyuiop, Impek, Ashley Brook, Planet Of Sound as well as Best Mate. Seems to suit the 2 mile brigade, I think Viking Flagship also won it. Would be worth an entry, but he would lack toe if any of the top two milers threw their hat into the ring.

Bobby-change of subject but is your lad defo starting at Haydock?
Only ask coz its my local course and il be there

A but harsh Bobby, as Stormey says, Barbers Shop would have won that renewal off 142 but for your horse, he beat the third by a mile giving it weight, so but for an above average gold cup winner in the field off a lighter weight, Barbers Shop would have won off 142. He was raised 8lbs for it. Some people at the time would have argued that giving your horse 3lb and only getting beat 2-3L might have made him the best in the race (your horse was holding him, of course, and whlist it was apparent at the time that IC was the best horse in the race, subsequent events have certainly confirmed this!). 

I think BS would run a nice race in the PPGC off 152 with the blinkers on, he still has relatively few miles on the clock and is arguably unexposed at the trip still (i'd disregard his Ryanair (and PGC) run, he was over the top and had had enough IMO after being run over the wrong trip twice (newbury and Kempton)). All of that said, i would not back him and would be looking elsewhere for the winner.

Hi Stormey - yes his first target is the Haydock race.

R.Carver - probably is a little harsh, my judgement is a little tinged by my dislike of the sire, not sure the progeny ever fulfill their potential or last very long.

It is disappointing that a horse that can run so well when being beaten into 2nd and 3rd, can run soo poorly when presented with winning opportunities. For me, it seems the horse only has a mentality to chase and run with the herd, rather than lead. I'm sure there will be plenty of scoffers to this theory, but for me the horse has no will to win.

I suggested before the 2008 PP that Barbers Shop was a serial loser. I haven't seen anything since to change my mind.

agreed

Flyingbolt, thats absurd, surely! Do you not think he was a bit unlucky in the 08PP? He would have won, giving weight and a clear beating to the Hobbs horse (who finished 3rd), but for an exceptional future gold winner in the field. I would not knock BS for failing to give 3lbs to a future gold winner over a trip and track that that horse loves - can hardly knock him for that! NTO the horse won (admittedlly an egg and spoon race), but 'serial loser'? ... Since then he's ran over the wrong trip in the GC, the Hennessy and the KG and at Punchestown. He ran over (arguably) the right trip at the 2010 prep but i suspect he left that race behind in the 2 gruellers he'd run in beforehand (Chasing Kauto in the KG and Denman in the Hennessy). I dont have anything for the horse, and dont think he is a G1 animal, and i do think he'd struggle off his mark in handicap company, but some perspective pls..

Incidentally, interesting how you thought to classify him as a serial loser before the 08PP - prior to that run, he'd raced 12 times and won 5 - hardly quixall crossett, do you agree??

R Carver

He came 2nd in the PP. Dodgepots often come 2nd, it doesn't mean they would have won the race if the winner hadn't run.I put him up that day as an in running lay because I was confident he would appear at some stage looking the winner and bottle it. He touched 1.6.

As for his pre-PP wins his winning odds were 1/5,8/13,5/4,11/8 and 7/2 which gives you some idea of the opposition he was facing.When winning his bumper(7/2) he beat Silverburn !
He was beaten favourite several times including at 1/4 when he definitely turned it in.

Since the PP the only race he has managed to win is a 5 runner race at Sandown where he managed to beat 4 horses who have since managed to win one race between them in 19 runs (a 4 runner nov chase at 4/7).

I stand by my opinion of the horse. I should imagine one of us should be proved right this season as presumably they will keep him to two and a half now.

Hi Flyingbolt. I dont think he's a star and whilst i expect him to run creditably this yr over the correct trip, i think he'll be too high in the handicap for that route and not good enough for the other route. I therefore expect him to run ok without running up a sequence of wins, lets just say!  I think thats the problem with the horse - as an earlier poster said, rock and a hard place.

I accept that sometimes those horses finishing second would not have won the race if you took the winner out, but i cannot believe anyone would say that for BS in the 08 PPGC. As it happened he ran a stormer trying to give a great GC winner 3lbs and beating the 3rd horse by 10l. In fact the form book (for what its worth) says 'but for running into an even better treated rival he would have been a clear-cut winner'. In this instance, i dont doubt the form book. I do not know what would have beaten IC that day, so coming 2nd to me was v creditable, and its unfair to dismiss it merely as the effort of a 'serial loser'.

However, i accept your other point, the races he won before going the 08PPGC were moderate and he was well placed (i never said they were not), but he won them nevertheless, so its misleading to dismiss them. If you'd said 'serial loser in good company', i'd have agreed, but serial loser is obviously just wrong. Serial loser since (discounting an awful Sandown affair) is right.

Final point (and i'm not trying to pick a fight flyingbolt, i always enjoy your contributions through the winter) - i dont think sp always says everything about the opposition.

I came to an earlyish conclusion that he was a little iffy when beaten at 1-4 and 4/7 over hurdles. These back to back defeats, and the manner in which the ocurred, if you recall them) confirmed the impression i had formed in an earlier race (the race before in fact) when beaten (when i thought he was unbeatable) at 6/5 (i was there and had a small, wayward, fortune on him on course). I did think fences had transformed him and i think they have to some extent, but again, whilst no superstar, he's not been a total rag.

they have fooked the oss around ...i hope when the cash is down ......it falls and kills there dream (cash ) dead .

what goes around comes around .

k.u.n.t.s

the horse just doesnt want to win. simple as that

I remember watching the Hennessey and just thinking he dosen't jump well enough. Dosen't make massive blunders but just gets in too close and fiddles all the time and then lands awkwardly/slowly and so has to get back up to speed which wastes loads of energy.

This horse is totally gone and will never win again.

Donkey of a horse