Stage Star

Nix,should trot in,besides it’s Aceys New Year gift to the forum

The going is reported as Heavy but they seem to be going over the surface without much trouble.
I'll stick with the lay though.

youy must be pretty thin skinned to no within minutes in this case matalda ,makes what pumpkin said absolute dogshit,top weights in general dont win handicaps,isnt that the whole fooking poiunt if not why dont trainers run graded horses in big money handicaps,probably the stupidist comment you,ll hear from a trainer in 2024 and its only just lunch time on jan 1st

I've had a good few looks at this race as a fan of Richmond Lake. really struggling to see what has realistic chance of beating Stage Star though. Very short given record of top weights in this sort of ground and probably needs everything to go in his favour. Rather than laying this decided to have more on Maries Rock. GL with lay.

Frero Banbou win and top 3 for me

Good luck to all and a Happy New year.
May we win quietly and lose gracefully.

Just had my first place lay of the year up at Monmore.  This augurs well,........

Harry  said its not
HEAVY

that top weight pulled up
almost as though pumpkin no,s absolutely fook all about horse racing

Spot on Honcho.

might as well shoved a elephant on as a jockey

2.2            £7,706.33

Big lump taken as the winner jumped in front 2 out. Incredible

never bought in to THE STAGE STAR story,remember few seasons back he was pumpkins summer jumping horse at newton abbot etc,so top weight  heavy ground at chelt on NYD was peak pumpkin regards race planning,nearly matched BMG race planning

WD. Nice to see the jockey win.

Will they be shovin microphone in now

"We've left plenty to work on".......clearly

Well they got their money in the Paddy Power didn't they. He had a really hard race that day and I won't be surprised if he doesn't win again this season.

WDH.

wonder if it injured itself at the last the last day

so as well as running his best horse,s on wrong ground,trip, course ,pumpkin doesnt no when their injured,entirely possible almost certainly probable

its was nagging doubt before the race

these trainers always say they dont know till they run them

Well done LH, Good Shout..

Well done Honcho , looked to me that he got in close and hit the 11th and then just messed up the ditch at 12  , was never going  afterwards , surprised Cobden took so long to pull him up .

Thanks.  I sincerely hope the horse is not badly injured.  Little Megan prattled on afterwards about how they have "plenty time for Cheltenham", and "he'll be ready" but the truth is until tomorrow and they walk him out they won;t know a thing.  These niggles can prove worse than they look sometimes.
I can;t remember the last time I got a ne'erday right with a profit.  Lucky white heather as the Rev. I.M. Jolly used to say.

^^totally correct on welfare issue

I seriously doubt that Nicholls would run any horse without it having been checked by his own Vet and of course every horse is checked by the racecourse Vet on the day of a race. The horse had a very hard race last time, was carrying a very big weight (up 11lb from November) and did not seem to act on the heavy ground which it had never raced on before.

Agreed.  Wednesday's news might tell us more.

Well done LoyalHoncho , top class...

Nichols ..Not quite 100% this morning .

Yeah, but what about the horse? (sorry)

The thing is that now he is alluding to "little issues" the horse "has" had yet the day before Timeform had him bullish, presumably from an interview, about the horse and why he was placing it in the race.  A shade unfair on the punters telling them now.
And "good ole boy Harry" stayed at home with his sick wife.  What a top man.  I hope they all had a great day in front of the box and that it works like a tonic!

Trainers send experienced staff racing. Do you expect the CEO of Tesco to be in every store?

I'm not with you sageform - you'll need to explain that one.

weight and  going national Hunt. heavy ground .carrying 12st big concern. a remember at SANDOWN A FEW YEARS AGO JOHN  Francome who was on Jenny  Pitmans
BURROUGH Hill Lad won the Anthony Mildmay Peter Cazalet chase carrying 10st 09lbs (1984 January)    A MONTH LATER 4th  February           
Gainsborough chase. carrying 11st 10 lbs won very easily. After the race john francome said to  Jenny PITMAN. (HE  GAVE ME THE SAME "FEEL" CARRYING 11ST 10LBS AS HE DID CARRYING 10ST  9LBS IN JANUARY. So some horses  like  Burrough hill LAD can carry weight better than others.
TIMEFORM RATING CHAMPION JUMPER 1984- 1985  RATING 184.
  DOES ANYBODY REMEMBER JOHN FRANCOME WORDS TO JENNY PITMAN I DO, BUT MIGHT NOT BE THE EXACT WORDS.NEVER  FORGOT THAT CONVERSATION BETWEEN THOSE TWO.

Cheltenham Gold cup. not just staying the distance. but having to carry  11ST 10LBS.Big problem for a lot of  horses.

The weight issue is possibly being exaggerated here. On Monday, the horse carried 12 stone. In its previous 5 runs it carried at least 11-7. If the horse had flattened out in the straight, the extra weight might be the issue (i.e. now behind its handicap mark). But it's not credible that half a ton of horse was beaten a mile out because it carried 7 lbs more than it is used to.

I think the going was the main drawback but it is now clouded by the Nicholls comment that historically the horse had had a few "minor issues".  Very strange comment to make compared to his bullish interview published by Timeform in the immediate pre-race run up.

An 11lb rise in the weights is a fair old jump for quite an exposed horse. I did not think he had an easy task on New years day. It was not that he could not win but he needed to achieve a career best performance at a short price.

Agreed.

True, but he was floundering far too early for it to be that. The going seems a far more likely reason, though as LH points out, Nicholls has clouded the issue.

Horse had 6/8 wins on soft plus one second , only failure on soft was its PU in Ballymore .Never ran on heavy before Mon .

but it was as a summer jumper that he made his name so yard obviously think it prefers good ground

LH, my reference to Tesco was an exaggeration to make a point. Many trainers have runners at more than one meeting several days a week and still have to look after the shop back home and perhaps once in a while have a day off. They employ staff to cover for them or delegate to fathers, sons, wives etc. Paul Nicholls tends to be present on course on most days but many successful trainers are not. I suspect that the issue with Stage Star was having a very hard race first time out. He won but at what cost to his future?

I still don;t get it.  Anyway, case closed as far as I am concerned.