Equinties - Saturday at Ascot

Gm Equinauts

Today is a day to enjoy good horses.

Happy Saturday.

Let’s dive in.

HEADINE ROUND UP

NO CHAMPION

Paul Nicholls is the kind of man who likes to wear his heart on his sleeve. This isn’t a new piece of information. Things haven’t been quite right with his yard all season, and just as if things couldn’t get any worse, CALDWELL POTTER lost when well-backed yesterday.

Firstly, fair play to GIDLEIGH PARK, and fair play to Harry Fry. That was some training performance to get him fit enough to win a race like this on his first start after a heart issue. He’s a big-framed horse, so to get him fit at home wouldn’t always be easy.

CALDWELL POTTER went off 4/6, and approaching the second-last, it looked like he had it in the bag, however, once the second-last was jumped, GIDLEIGH PARK found more, and the writing was on the wall.

Once Nicholls’ post-race comments and interviews were released onto Twitter, the racing community truly got stuck in, and PFN got stuck back into them.

In one corner of the ring, Racing X screamed ‘what a waste of money’. In the other corner of the ring, Nicholls retaliated with ‘people have no idea’.

Here’s our take. Firstly, of course, we’re quite sure no jumps gelding is worth the €740,000 outlay. We aren’t saying this as a reactionary statement like many people on Racing X are doing, and we certainly are not saying this to prod PFN, but no jumps horse should really cost this much, even if they were guaranteed to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup, the most obvious problem being they have no value as a potential stallion due to the lack of crown jewels! There is no way people will make back the money.

But let’s say the horse was guaranteed to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup, impossible we know. How much is that worth to someone who doesn’t have any money trouble?

750k? We’re not sure!

As is rightly (and regularly) stated, these kinds of owners are not in the business of making money in jumps racing. It’s a bloody expensive hobby.

For owners Done, Ferguson, and Mason, racing is their playground. Plus, they swooped up nearly a million with SPIRIT DANCER across the last two Bahrain Internationals, and that’s before we talk about the £944k collected for winning the Neom Turf Cup. They took a swing at a really well-bred Grade 1 winner at the sales but it seems as if they have missed. It’s not that big of a deal for them.

Furthermore, it is naïve to think that this big-priced jump horse is the only big ‘failure’ in recent times. Let’s not forget Jim and Clare Bryce spent £350,000 on the 115-rated BUCKNA for Warren Greatrex, and these are just the sales we know have occurred publicly! So many store horses or PtP winners have sold for an eye-watering six-figure sum and failed to raise a leg. It happens, that’s racing.

Yes, the sourcing of horses in the UK for jumps is a small issue currently. In fairness, Anthony Bromley bought CALDWELL POTTER for the lads, but Tom Malone has bought his fair share of expensive flops in recent years, and this is part of the reason behind Willie Mullins’ domination. His men are simply better than Nicholls’ team. They source better. They have a better eye. They are better.

Anyway, back to CALDWELL POTTER. He was disappointing, and he looks a bit tripless at the moment. We still think he wants two-and-a-half miles. He looked to be going full pace yesterday against a horse (GIDLEIGH PARK) who, ultimately, will want further himself. Add in the fact that MIGHTY POTTER and BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD stayed two-and-a-half miles and you have to think that two miles maybe isn’t his bag.

His feet are a problem too. That means he’s difficult to train (soundness) will continue to give Nicholls problems going forward.

The Grand Annual was put forward as a possible target by Nicholls, though the Paddy Power Gold Cup could be a long-term aim if he can get him there.

Rightly or wrongly, racing X certainly got their fair share of shots in yesterday but todays a new day. On to the weekends racing…

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