Agree incredibility competitive probably the most competitive ever I really thought id bought my
flat team forward but other trainers have zoomed by me and left me behind I have tried everything
taken it as far as I can go and next season should there be 1 more season of So6 they will be cast offs
I really dont have the stomach to spend a ton of time just to make a minuscule of improvement.
im concentrating on the jumps side and the bars and already began work. Have trialed nothing yet but
have improved some of the bars also added in 80% jump speed. I know i can make the difference on the
jumps side maybe big improvements. Where as with the flat i really believe I have gone as far as i can go.

Did Leon ever say anything about a solution to the dead heat counting?

No Have not anything on the subject since last season

I doubt you have gone backwards Paul, it is just that more people have taken on board the methods applied by the top tier and caught up, and given we all play the same game on the same code, more trainers have hit what I agree is a zenith with as far as you can take breeding against said game code. At this point it feels to me it really comes down to luck, luck of the ck, the break, the ai jockey etc. If my horse hits top speed a fraction before yours, as there more than likely statically the same you won’t catch me. This gets played out more and more, it is just now there are more trainers in that mix. Where you do see more degrees of freedom is in the longer distances where it is harder to breed through bars, likely why there is more single horse dominance in these races. Racing style also is becoming increasingly important as a differential, and perhaps some of the stats that often get over looked, though the margins are I think increasingly small.

Plundered some flat handicaps and now feel dirty, must go back to getting beaten in graded races

Couple of NH wins, ‘Time to Kill’ continues to look a bit special and nicks a G1.

2 winners on the flat for me today;

Wuchang Grassor thought my 1m2 horses were going to be decent this year but they'd pretty much disappointed, this horse was my 4th choice, but did get well in the handicapp after falling out the stalls on it's first run, might well be thereavouts in slightly higher graded races too though.

Cenxi Cariosus I really like this at home, pretty much my best sprinter but it massively disappointed first time out trying to front run, think it can run a few decent races this year.

Vinny

Just when I complained I got a win!! Aldgate Put in the hunt. So good to finally break my maiden this season.

A blank on the flat today but a great day over fences with 5 winners, a couple by a short head.

Should you be disapointed with winning a race?

The best Grand National horse I have ever bred, Northern Shore, has won the last 2 weeks in 4 mile plus races. She is now rated at 160 and now probably has no chance in the National. After falling in week 1 in a 4m 2f race, maybe I should have "bent the rules" and run her in a couple of 3m 2f races the last couple of weeks. Ah well, hindsight is a wonderfull thing. If I have got time next week, since breeding National horses takes ages, I might see if I can get a decent replacement uploaded after week 5 but I think Northern Shore was a bit of a freak as she was bred from two 3 mile horses.

7 winners so far this week over fences. I think the softer going this week has really helped my horses.

3m2?

surely a national horse has to run at least at 3 miles 6 I know the distance rules for national
horses are somewhat relaxed but surely not by 1 mile 1 furlong that would be ridiculous and
certainly open the door to some shady dealings so far i dont think either of my national horses
have run under 4 miles

Why replace it? Sure, get a second horse to compete in the National with it but don't replace it - test it out - see if it has the class to carry the weight.

can we confirm what is the minimum distance a national horse can compete over if its 3M2 i think
that opens a big can of worms not having a pop at anyone Jim's post has brought light to this and
he has raced his horse over the correct distances but id he was able to run his national horse over
3m2 thats just crazy you could enter a national horse in a 3m2 maiden 2 handicaps and each time
would get hopelessly outpaced most likely pull up and would most likely rated under 100.

I had the same issue as Jim last year bringing back the national winner the season before but ran
him in the national that was the only reason to bring him back

I was under the impression that you had to have run over 4 miles to qualify for the national and assumed that the horse still had to have a distance marker of at least 29f as it is a handicap.

The same thing that is happening with your horse Jim is what happened to my Ettrick Mill last season when he won the same 2 races your horse did this season. I couldn't get him in to any races at all after that until the Cheltenham Festival.

I can understand that Gray needs to handicap horses on ability but giving a 4 miler a rating so high effectively rules it out of the season. I mentioned this in my commentary and would never enter a horse in that Florence Nightingale race again if it had already won. If it is already a winner of a maiden so has been given a high mark Gray has no alternative other than to put it up again nad then there are no races it can run in as it handicapped out either my weight or the distance marker

Its a Grade 3 that is why it goes up a big raing i could make it a G3H next season this would stop the hike up in ratings but you end up going for the grade 1 at Cheltenham the Paul Moorse Race you will end up top weight in the ratings get rid of Group races above 3m 5f ?.


Gray

That's what I said Gray !!

We all know you have no choice other than to put it up a chunk if it wins a G race. Last season I didn't realise that most of the 4m+ races are 140 or lower … don't suppose it will ever effect me again to be honest as I doubt I will ever get another one that high.

Maybe make the odd Moores Qualifier an open rated to allow the higher rated horses a run. There are usually 2 a week, maybe one could be open and one could be 120 in some weeks. As I said doesn't really effect me this season but was just trying to show Jim that he wasn't the first to have had that happen. I believe John has had it happen too and wouldn't be surprise if Paul, Leon and Joshua had as well.

I am sure no one want to see horses unable to race for 9 weeks of the season so maybe the MM races can be used now and again to get these horses a legitimate run.