Wouldnt mention it in the same sentence as Moscow Flyer bud.
[quote=âFranâ]Any link to these comments?
Iâve always liked francome, very knowledgable, frank and fair[/quote]
Im jogging my memory here a bit but didnt the âgreatest jockeyâ have to make a public apology to the people of Ireland there a few years back, something he said regarding us not being able to use a telephone? Hes good but hes no Ted Walsh
Horse Racing and Greyhound racing is going to be ok in these lean times thankfully. The industry directly employs 18,000 people. Fair play Martin.
We understand how important horseracing is in the countryâ Minister Cullen said. âThereâs not many huge brands that we can develop as a nation but the horse is a fantastic brand for this country. One of the immediate touchstones people have of the country is our horse racing industry.
ââŹ440m has gone into the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund and I want to acknowledge how well that has been used. The transformation of the facilities in both horse and greyhound racing has been phenomenal and thatâs what the punters deserve.
âThereâs no point now in us putting down the head and worrying about whatâs coming up. I am personally committed and so is my department, to rejuvenating the fund on an ongoing basis, not just yearly but to draw out another five-year plan. Thatâs my commitment to you now.â
Any fancies this afternoon in racing HQ?
[quote=âHangBlaaâ]Horse Racing and Greyhound racing is going to be ok in these lean times thankfully. The industry directly employs 18,000 people. Fair play Martin.
Any fancies this afternoon in racing HQ?[/quote]
For some reason I like WOAâs chances in the Durkan. Not really sure outside of that. Just think the extra few days in unfamiliar surroundings wonât do the English horses any favours.
Couldnt resist the 3/1 about WoA myself,
Noland just about held on from the listener
:mad:
Scratch that
Noland first and the Listener ridden by Davidstown man Daryl Jacob in second. WOA third. Obviously the extra few days helped the English horses settle :mad:
Another big Irish win for Nicholls.
Didnt see itâŚ
âŚbut Nichoolls is fairly sweeping up all the good Irish prizemoney this year. Now we know ho they have felt for the last 10 years.
Smart money on Noland and young fella on board. Article in the tribune at the weekend re Samâs woes
The sorrows of Sam
Colm Greaves
With his career plagued by many public mishaps, Sam Thomas has a chance to start making amends at Punchestown
Happier times celebrating Denmanâs Gold Cup win at Cheltenham inpho
Crashing down: Sam Thomas falls from Kauto Star at the final fence in the Betfair chase at Haydock a fortnight ago
1 2 Normally, the sub-editors in Tribune sports start to salivate on their sharp little red pencils if they detect even a hint of a joke that remotely involves grammar. This is why such gags are as rare on these pages as a League of Ireland season without a financial meltdown. But as itâs the time of goodwill and all that, letâs see if they will show some mercy to an old one on the grounds of relevancy and seasonality. Here goes: âIs it true that the little helpers in the back of Santaâs workshop are âSubordinate Clausesâ?â
Okay, so itâs not the greatest joke ever, but some little helpers and subordinates have been going through a rough patch lately. Last Monday night at Anfield, for instance, Rafa Benitezâs 20m little helper, Robbie Keane, was substituted for the 15th time in 18 games and looked as though he may have been subordinating some very malign intentions for the boss. And it wouldnât take a brain surgeon to deduce that Ruby Walshâs little helper, Sam Thomas, shared one or two frustrations with the Tallaght man this week.
This time last year Thomas, second jockey at Paul Nichollsâ stable, was unfolding a career-defining season following an injury to Walsh and finished off his âannus miraculousâ with an acclaimed ride on Denman to claim the Cheltenham Gold Cup. History partially repeated itself three weeks ago when Walsh sustained another injury that was expected to sideline him for a couple of months.
This time, the outcome for Thomas has been different. He paid the price when he was packed off to ride at Chepstow yesterday, while Tony McCoy got the winning ride on Master Minded in the Tingle Creek at Sandown.
One of the usual benefits of being a subordinate is that you can rely on your leader for comfort and protection when things take an ugly turn. If the wheels fall off a bike on Christmas morning Santa wonât be calling the North Pole News to embarrass the little helper that didnât tighten the nuts properly like any good man (elf?) manager, he deals with these things âin grotto.â It hasnât quite worked out this kindly for Sam Thomas
The comfort that Thomas received from Paul Nicholls was lukewarm. Sounding slightly insensitive to his employeeâs traumatic experience, Nicholls declared his intention to consult an even higher power. âIâm in the same position as a football manager with an out-of-form striker, so Iâm going to ring up Fergie to get his thoughts. I want to know what he would do if Cristiano Ronaldo was having a spell where he kept hitting the crossbar and missing penalties. I have to work out the best way for Sam to start scoring goals again. I have no doubt weâll get him back to his best itâs just a case of working out the best way of doing that.â
Nichollsâ man-management techniques are unlikely to be copied by Fergie. The next time Wayne Rooney messes the leap frog in training Sir Alex will not ask Nicholls publicly to help his striker with his jumping technique. Rubyâs other retaining trainer, Willie Mullins, is in the same position as Nicholls. He just legged up his young claimer, Paul Townend, and quietly guided the kid as he booted home winner after winner.
Nichollsâ ambivalence created a media circus around his young rider and it slowly became the week of death by a thousand newspaper headlines for Sam. For instance, here is the daily sequence from the Racing Post since he fell off Big Bucks at the last in the Hennessy. [Sunday] âThomas Pressure Mounts after Big Bucks Blow.â [Monday] âNicholls undecided on jockey for Master Minded.â [Tuesday] âSmith (Owner) to consult Nicholls over jockey decision.â [Wednesday] âMcCoy 4/11 to ride Master Minded.â [Thursday] âMcCoy to Ride Master Minded in Tingle Creek.â
There are many opinions as to what is going wrong for Sam Thomas. The only real certainty is that he is now churning in a vicious circle where his confidence has been dented by the mishaps, which leads to scrutiny of his technique, which further drains confidence and increases the likelihood of more mistakes. A more technical opinion is that Thomas didnât have full control of Kauto Star or Big Bucks at the last fence during their recent exits.
One experienced rider explained to the Tribune that: âSam jumped the fences on the buckle end of the rein, long and flapping, which you can get away with only so long as your horse jumps straight and true. A contact on the head is essential to keep your horse balanced coming in to, and out of, the fence. In the case of Kauto Star, had he a hold on the horseâs head he wouldnât have been as unbalanced, then when the horse did blunder he could have rebalanced himself against the riderâs hands and it would not have been so severe. If he can try to keep a closer contact with the horseâs mouth he can keep both himself and the horse more balanced. Have a look at McCoy you always see him with a short rein whilst jumping a fence.â
There is little doubt that Thomas has been working hard with his own trusted advisors this week to identify and fix any flaws that may have crept into his technique. With Ruby back next week he can slip back under the radar for a while and rebuild away from the glare.
Thomas rides the favourite, Noland, in the Grade One John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown today. Nicholls seems to have relaxed some earlier indications that he would avoid Ireland while Ruby is out. Noland is good enough to be challenging at the last. If he does there will be a collective holding of breath between the take-off stride and landing. For Godâs sake Sam, hang on. Hang on tight.
Anyone have anything they fancy in Cheltenham tomorrowâŚReckon Enda Bolger and Nina should have a bit to spare in the cross country with Garde ChampetreâŚ
Pass Me By is weighted to beat Garde on last Cheltenham run Puke.
Actually fancied Wonderkid for this race last year and then 5 mins before the race i thought to myself âwhat are you thinking TDBâŚBolger always wins these racesâ. So had 50 on Headsontheground and you can guess what happened !!
Didnât see Drombeagâs run in Punchestown but was said to be mighty impressive.
Havenât had a bet yet but might back Pass Me By each way or for a place on Betfair.
Garde Champetre won well in the end, never looked under pressureâŚJP macnamara gave lâami a cracking ride in secondâŚ
Reckon I will lump on Character Builder in the big one with a sly e.w on star de mohaison
[quote=âThe Pukeâ]
Reckon I will lump on Character Builder in the big one with a sly e.w on star de mohaison[/quote]
think iâll do parsons legacy each-wayâŚheâs stormed up that hill beforeâŚ
Fuck it anywayâŚCould have made a right few bobâŚgreat finish to the raceâŚ
fancy Cloth Fair in Gowran⌠Nice horse, and Kielyâs are bang in form.
Pandorama runs on Sunday in Navan
[quote=âThe Pukeâ]Garde Champetre won well in the end, never looked under pressureâŚJP macnamara gave lâami a cracking ride in secondâŚ
Reckon I will lump on Character Builder in the big one with a sly e.w on star de mohaison
[/quote]
yeah good shout on garde puke but dont agree with your point on mcnamara. should have let LâAmi go 2 out. Not been pedantic but itâs JT McNamara
Feud on the way here due to pedantry
You are of course right DBâŚA momentary lapse on my partâŚ
I would find it hard to blame him, Ninaâs horse still had plenty in the tank and would have won regardless I would say
Saw Denis OâRegan at a Cheltenham preview last year and though he was a gas man. Good interview in the ITimes today-
THE NORTH east of England is down one rather prominent Corkman recently but while the areaâs charms might have paled for Roy Keane there is another Rebel who has settled in rather better.
Denis OâRegan doesnât ration his time there with flying visits by chopper either but rather he has happily added to the numbers of a rather unlikely jockey enclave.
Racing is hardly the first thing that comes to mind when the city of Middlesborough is mentioned but its environs are where OâRegan has decided to ply his trade from. He has hardly had reason to regret his decision either.
Itâs just over a year since the 25-year-old Youghal native made the move from Ireland to take up the job as retained jockey to the top National Hunt owner Graham Wylie.
The plusses of such a gig are obvious.
Wylie, a North East native himself, formed his own computer company Sage on leaving college in 1980 and 21 years later sold it on with a global valuation of almost 3 billion.
Wylieâs personal wealth has been estimated at about 150 million. When he decided to fill his spare time in 2004 by investing in racehorses, the ching-ching signs in the eyes of an entire industry lit up.
Such expectations were proved to be correct as he has invested heavily in a string of almost a hundred horses and they are concentrated in the Durham stables of trainer Howard Johnson.
There is, however, a pressure that comes with riding for such a high-profile team and the evidence of it was clear when Wylie came to head-hunt OâRegan in the summer of 2007.
One Irish jockey, Paddy Brennan, had just quit the job after only a year and another, Graham Lee, had lasted only a little longer. Stories of Johnson being less than easy to work for were plentiful.
There was some surprise that OâRegan decided to quit Ireland: there was none that he was a target for one of racingâs most powerful outfits.
The previous couple of years had proved OâRegan was one of the best young riders in the country. A victory on board the Ballybrit legend Ansar in the 2005 Galway Plate while he was still claiming highlighted a real big-race talent that could have started to become frustrated by a lack of opportunity.
With a limited number of chances for an ever-increasing pool of riding talent, the competition in Ireland is intense. OâRegan was more than holding his own but Wylieâs offer represented a step up.
Little wonder then that an ambitious young Irish jockey followed a well-worn path across the Irish Sea. Ending up in Middlesborough, however, is a bit left-field.
âItâs only 50 minutes from the yard and Iâm only two minutes from two motorways if I need to go anywhere else,â he explains.
"When I came over first I stayed with another jockey, Paddy Aspell, for a couple of months and I got to like the area.
"Iâve bought a place now just down the road from him and Graham Lee is living around here too. Itâs a very nice place to live. I love going into Newcastle. There is a big difference with Ireland where everything is still more relaxed.
âItâs a bit more crazy over here but living in the north is a happy medium. Itâs a lot faster again down south,â OâRegan adds.
Already it seems Englandâs north-south divide has made itself apparent to the Irishman whose acclimatisation to life across the water was made easier by initially not having had time to ponder it too much.
Vital first impressions were almost universally positive despite a howling blunder at Fakenhamâs notoriously trappy track last January when he rode a finish at a circuit too early.
That resulted in a two-week ban and a barrage of criticism that could have unsettled someone without OâReganâs innate self-confidence.
Proof that that hadnât been dented came less than two months later when Inglis Drever won the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival for the third year in a row and OâRegan also carried Wylieâs distinctive black and beige colours to an Arkle success on Tidal Bay. Not surprisingly, the job is looking good with the bulk of this winterâs campaign still to come.
âIâve loved it over here. There is plenty of racing and Iâm lucky in that I have good horses to ride,â he says before dismissing any concerns there might have been about getting on with Johnson, an archetypal gruff northerner who calls a spade a shovel.
âWe get on very well. I think heâs good craic, good fun to work with. There is obviously pressure but I just donât feel it too much,â OâRegan reports.
Even the vastly increased travelling requirements for being a professional jockey in Britain donât bother him too much.
âIt helps when things are going good, obviously. Going to Folkestone or Taunton can be tough, but the good thing is if I have to go there itâs usually for horses that have a chance,â he says.
Christmas is inevitably a busy time for any top jockey and OâRegan doesnât imagine he will be able to make a trip home to Cork on Christmas Day. But he is always keen to come back to Ireland if there is a good spare ride going.
âIf something decent came up at Leopardstown, and I didnât have to ride here, Iâd be over quick,â he laughs.
And the good news is that with Irish support for Sunderland declining in the wake of Keaneâs departure, plane seats shouldnât be too dear!