Marquand

Horse hit flat spots in each of it's last two wins, was going as fast as it could today, what happened was always on the cards, but still nearly won, just ran into a freakish performance.

He got the whip caught up with the rein as well so

he couldn't hit it

Did you see it hit flat spots? Honestly i didn't. Saw it TM give 10 plus lengths though

I know he won merchant but he hasn't been riding well in awhile ,horses been very wrank with him

Would have won comfortably if a bit closer to the leaders

stayed on stands rail he wins simple as that

obviously outpaced but who didn't anticipate that.

lost a few lengths by going right and going up the middle. where he thought the pace was. all if's n buts.
unlucky the line came to soon.

No whip too

Every single jockey and most people watching that race thought the winner went too fast, so expecting a pace collapse from him was acceptable,beat everything bar the freak out front, can't blame the jockey in this case IMO as frustrating as it must be to his supporters.

Backed him four times this week. They pretty much summed up my betting week.

Comfort Zone
Bullet Point
Balantina
More Thunder

Nothing he could have done on Bullet Point, but on the other three he has run out of track. Not great.

His missus isn’t doing a lot better at present.  Having a leaner than usual time of it.

Did nothing wrong imo.
Was flat out and scrubbed along after 2f. Then got a lovely clean run through but li evcane 2 yards too soon.
But for that incredible start from the winner he)d have won a length or more.

line came

I don't think he did much wrong either. If he could have laid up closer to the pace, he certainly wouldn't have finished as well as he did. The timings show it was a freak performance too hold on off those splits.

Unlucky horse there might've been Holkom Bay.

It probably finished best of all

I backed it and have no complaints about the ride and couldn't have gone a yard faster

Well he was doing the knitting. Can't have helped. Anyone who knows anything about racing knew the jolly would be flying late. Just a question of if the stiff finish would allow him to get home.

We are talking fractions. Yes, he couldn't go as fast as the leaders, but was Marquand riding his head off to keep up? No. Could he have been a fraction closer in early stages? Yes. We are talking a half length. Given he ran threw the line with more to give I doubt being half a length closer would have stopped his run. It certainly isn't obvious that it would as the above post suggests.

Well imho it does

And we will never know

Finest of fine margins in these races. In retrospect, Marquand went a split-second too late, Rossa Ryan in the next was a split-second too soon.
I love repeatedly coming a extremely close second and feeling my fancy coulda/shoulda won :-(

Pretty much identical to Newmarket, nutted someone on the line there and was nutted himself today. Both were coin flips.

He will obviously do better stepping up in trip but trying to milk the handicaps at 6 before needing to step up.

horse reminds me of Montaasib...

no doubt will get further...

wouldn't be a huge surprise to me if it won a Haydock Sprint Cup one day if there's a bit of juice about.

Strictly literal view a half length closer would have done Marquand, but he wouldn't be thinking to that extreme finite view "I need to be a half length closer"in the run, if he was of a mind to be closer it would have been to a greater extent and maybe ridden the finish out of him earlier. He could have been forgiven for dismissing the thing in front and he was close enough to the rest. IMO

ne,s drawn next to hoklham bay who led the standside, beaten half a length he stays where he was beats holkham bay ,he wins

i am the first one to criticise a jockey if he rides a poor race but that horse couldn't have gone a yard faster at any stage. At the Craven meeting he only just got up on soft-ish ground. Same on good ground at the Guineas meeting. he may well be a decent sprinter but he will surely step up for one of the 17 7f handicaps worth £100k in the next few weeks (I exaggerate). Bunbury Cup for a kick off.

Hornby.   Sparkling Pink.   6.53 Ling.
Didn’t try a leg on the horse from a possible winning position.
I don’t know how he gets away with it.

Marquand said he was disgusted with himself. The jockey apologists on here  should give him a call. Cheer him up

everyone thought he,d be outpaced, the horse could go any faster, so why give up distance as well as all of the above by moving in behind down the centremwhen high drawn horse got beat half a length

Honcho i wont back hornby for that reason another befair eddie

I didn’t ( and can’t ever ) back him.  He is dreadful any time.   I layed the fav. for a substantial return to be out of the first four.  He gave up and could easily have been 4th.

Posters keep saying Get It was the 'freak' winner. This known fast out the gate front runner, did the same when winning the Stewards Cup last year, and won from the front last month at Ascot beating the CD record !

Honcho ,sorry i misread ,well done on that one ,thats were the value is

I bet edd walker cant beleive he got shoemark
To ride his plots

Only one horse wins each race unless there is a dead heat and in big handicap races, most jockeys and trainers are very hopeful of winning so all but one will be disappointed. Most of the others  will wish they had done something different either in the preparation or during the race.

Tom got his stick caught up in the reins, so naturally would be disgusted with himself about that, as it was more than likely material to the outcome. Very unusual for a professional jockey, never mind in one of the biggest handicaps of the year, and in RA.

That is an obvious mistake. The other beaten riders might keep quiet about theirs.

and yet another haggis handicapper in a listed race turns out to be a handicapper, brutal for anyone who backs these haggis horses

What Alex Steedman said...course record, 1st two inner trips, Marquand caught three wide for the first three furlongs.

Weren't they all handicappers - top rated 96?

With the dominance of a few owners and trainers in Group races, trainers such as Haggs, Varian and Beckett are getting their potential Group 2/3 horses into handicaps. Merchant is clearly expected to be one of those.

Wow, some ride that. 7-30.

He got a 1.25 fav home in a 3 runner race. Misjudging pace yet again