Ben Linfoot tries to sum up a strange afternoon of racing on both sides of the Irish Sea as some stars sparkled and others flopped in bizarre circumstances.
Saturday reports and free replays
It wasn’t a vintage Saturday in the history of National Hunt racing, but it was eventful. Let’s try and make sense of it all.
In Ireland Flooring Porter hung his way around Punchestown for third, perhaps distracted by a loose horse. Gaelic Warrior beat 10 equine mannequins for a still thoroughly pleasing chasing debut. Order Of St George had his first winner as a jumps stallion before lunchtime, the slightest of eyebrow-raisers for Flat racing fans.
In Britain there was an Irish-trained one-two as Mullins (Emmet) beat Mullins (Willie) in the most interesting handicap of the day, the old Fixed Brush, the pair of Slate Lane and Fine Margin absolutely streets ahead of their hapless British-trained rivals in a race where Ireland had just two runners.
The suitably minted Joe Donnelly had an afternoon to remember. The prominent owner likes to invest in works of art and top-class racehorses and while his State Man had a serene four minutes and 20 seconds as he danced his way to Grade 1 glory in the Unibet Morgiana Hurdle, his Shishkin whipped round at the start and refused to race in the Nirvana Spa 1965 Chase down at Ascot.
Nicky Henderson’s horse had hinted he might plant himself at the start before, but he’d never actually gone and done it. The first-time cheekpieces, a headgear addition made to focus the nine-year-old’s mind on the job in hand, failed miserably in their task. One job cheekpieces, one job.
Henderson tried to run away from Luke Harvey on ITV before reluctantly giving an interview. Perplexed by Shishkin, he bemoaned the similar start in the King George and wished he’d entered him over hurdles. I’m checking for a justice refund. This is what it has come to.
As for Shishkin, Henderson will be scouring the programme book for an opportunity. Could he accompany Constitution Hill up the A1 next weekend and take in the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle? L'Homme Presse won it last year off a mark of 164, throwing his hat into the King George ring in the process. Shishkin is rated 8lb higher, but it doesn't feel very Henderson, does it?
Even the Grade 1 feature of the day at Haydock, the Betfair Chase, had a touch of the wacky races about it.
Protektorat jumped like Dick Fosbury, giving the top bar plenty of air in the most inefficient of styles. He wasted so much energy with the technique he folded away tamely, beaten even by Grand National winner Corach Rambler who ran like he was looking for Becher’s Brook.
That left Royale Pagaille and Bravemansgame to fight it out and while the latter jumped beautifully in the main, showing Protektorat a textbook way to get from A to B, he was simply outclassed by the Venetia Williams-trained horse who was too strong and too good on the day.
The nine-year-old landed a mini gamble as he was backed into 5/1 on the off, his very good batch of Haydock form giving him a chance, though he was smashed 22 lengths by A Plus Tard in this very race two years ago and he’d probably want the ground even softer to be at his absolute best.
Is he suddenly better than ever, or was Bravemansgame below par? It has to be one or the other and all reasonable logic points to the latter, for all that it wasn’t noticeable judging by his fencing. At least Paul Nicholls and Harry Cobden went four from four at Ascot, after all that. Who saw that coming?!
The upshot is a King George market in absolute disarray.
Bravemansgame is out to 11/4, Shishkin 9/2 and taken out of the betting by some layers. Royale Pagaille is generally 10s and Pic D’Orhy, the beneficiary of the Shishkin plant, is into 12/1. Even Frodon was nibbled. Irish horses are being backed everywhere you look – Allaho, Hewick, Conflated.
Mainly Allaho, to be fair, who is generally 4/1 now and would be shorter than that were it to be confirmed that he’ll be coming over. In moments like this, punters look to Willie Mullins.
Allaho, of course, for all his talent, wouldn’t be described as Mullins’ number one staying chaser. That would be Galopin Des Champs, who runs on Sunday in the John Durkan.
After a bit of a head-spinning Saturday, full of good horses misbehaving, a racing-by-numbers win is just what the doctor ordered for the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner.
You couldn’t be sure, against four stablemates and Fastorslow, the horse who beat him and Bravemansgame in the Punchestown Gold Cup when last seen. But right now he looks the most solid option in the Gold Cup division. For 24 hours at least.
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