John Gosden has plenty of previous for putting punters away is all I know. It's what he doesn't say punters need to be wary of when betting ante-post.

alleged22

seems to me that gosden was happy to run in the irish oaks, but the guy that owns the horse and pays the bills has had a change of mind in the last few days.

Agreed, as I posted earlier, even a place in the King George would look better on her CV than an Irish Oaks.  Of course none of the usual broodmare stuff applies here, Hamdan just wants to win TWO Group 1's, and once he knew his other filly was fit and well, and would get the decent ground her trainer says she wants, the die was cast.

Looking forward to the King George. Mukhadram to make the running

7/2 top price Taghrooda.

Really surprised at the Taghrooda decision, very sporting of the owner but Id have taken the Curragh option.

If they are confident of winning it anyway with Tarfasha, why finish first and second when you might win another more valuable Group 1? Makes sense to me.

given tarfasha ?

is she a sure thing?

the sheik already has a battle proven contender in the KG, shes only had 3 starts

I know classics are like hens teeth to hamdan now, so can see the logic in striking while the irons hot if she is to be retired at the end of the season, if she were mine she would have raced against her own sex this season and next season who knows......

John Gosden is fighting for the trainers title chaps. Winning the King George is worth twice as much as winning an Oaks.

But besides that, on profile and suitability of race conditions she has a cracking chance anyway, regardless of whether Tarfasha wins in Ireland. Remember how poorly her Listed win at HQ worked out but that didn't stop her from winning the Oaks by nearly 4 lengths. She is the one to beat, imo.

Her presence enhances a race which has lacked lustre in recent years and was in danger of doing so again. Telescope is the only other sexy horse in the race if you assume True Story's bubble is burst and unless Eagle Top is supplemented. CDA, Treve and Australia are missing and although all are decent animals, Trading Leather, Mukhadram, Hillstar and Magician have raced each other before albeit with different outcomes depending on ground and trip.

Taghrooda also had the run of the race in the Oaks. She was in the perfect position to strike off the slow pace. Maybe she was in that perfect position because of her superior talent but I would be cautious when she faces this stronger opposition.
She is getting plenty of weight from Telescope and Magician but these are two mature colts who should be at the peak of their powers now. 15lbs sounds a lot but we are talking a lightly raced filly against mature colts. If the shrewd Gosden had had his way she would be in Ireland racing against the fillies.

Rease,  Magician hasn't raced the others lots of times. He faced them once in the POW and beat them all bar The Fugue. He has a victory over that filly on their previous encounter and should have conditions in his favour next weekend. I wasn't his biggest fan last season but he has grown on me this year. He was given an awful ride in Dubai but has ran two great races in defeat this. One on unsuitably soft ground and the other to The Fugue at Ascot over what maybe too sharp a trip now.

Telescope looked mighty impressive at Ascot and we could be up for another mighty performance next week. He has always been held in high regard but that performance was a huge improvement on anything he has produced before which makes me a bit sceptical whether he will back it up. He did beat a decent yardstick though who has backed up his run at Newmarket last week.

It will be a major pointer if Gosden allows Eagle Top to run. If he does run you would think he will have the beating of his filly and would be a player against the older horses. If he doesn't run I feel I will have done my money.

Think Telescope is the very likely winner  given his performance in the Hardwick and the Stoute record in the race ,  but will have a saver on Tagrhooda at best poss odds i can find on the day , you have to be impressed by her win in the Oaks and  she settles really well in a race , the fact that the decision to run is, or seems to be,   Owner rather than Trainer inspired is enough to put me off her as a first choice selection, however she is just too good to dismiss entirely .

In the race it's self they will have to use her because Telescope and others have plenty of kick and that attribute may not be part of her Armoury who knows? ,  on the other hand the fifteen pounds  weight allowance may help her to handle the Telescope surge . I suggest Hanigan  should not follow  Moore  who will sit  in mid division,   but he probably will , that wont work  imo and is another reason to feel she will not quite manage it .

Rease,  Magician hasn't raced the others lots of times.

Agreed but I did n't say he had, I merely said he'd raced them before.

Interesting from Mrs G there...said Taghrooda was a total surprise and they had no idea about it. not sure who Hanagan will ride.

Think I'll lay the front 2 in the market. Both too short now imo.

And they are offering 4 points bigger than anyone else on Mukhadram, 12/1.

I think all it's lacking is The Derby winner. That aside it looks an average running of the race that I can remember since the mid 80s, not a vintage renewal but certainly not a poor one. I can't recall too many French Derby winners running, any that did weren't up to much, and with the French cutting back their PDJC trip the winners of that race would probably pose even less of a threat.

Platini - that has all the makings of a great trivia question. I will pop it in to one of my quizzes straight away. All I need is the answer - I just need the last KG that contained the winners of the Arc AND the three Derbys. 

No need to research heavily, I can cope with just the last time three out of the four won.

7/4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      Crazy price that.

oops poor guess