Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts
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Githyanki
Group 1 winner
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:16 pm
Posts: 2533
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 Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts It’s not the AI it’s the racekit handicapping. Not much that can really be done.
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| Tue Jul 14, 2026 9:57 am |
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ghosty
Group 2 winner
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:59 pm
Posts: 892
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Githyanki wrote: It’s not the AI it’s the racekit handicapping. Not much that can really be done. My Sham finished 4th in her first maiden and then ran a shocker this week in 11th and it didn't go down a pound, that's tough. If u horse is badly hcap then it could take a long time to come down. Just looking through the lincoln and the horses at the back are only going down 1 to 4 pounds, it must be because its a high class hcap. We will not have enough lower rated horses to run in them races at this moment.
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| Tue Jul 14, 2026 10:55 am |
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speedster591
Selling plater
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:45 pm
Posts: 16
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Firstly, delighted to have my original account speedster591 back! (Mark Loveday you're a legend!) And it's wonderful to be entering horses in SOPL again and seeing so many familiar faces!  Week 2 - Day 1
Good Charlotte: 22nd - Tough run in the Classics Trial Maiden - a lot of my horses will likely favour Handicaps. I think this is the next step for this one Mysterio 11th - Similar to Good Charlotte, lost touch towards the end in the Naas Mile Maiden. Always doing to be tricky for this one at this level. A strong number of my horses are simply to test the waters again, as it's my first time back. Send It Simon 1st - Over the moon! What a win in the Free Handicap with a dead heat! (Sorry to Grayham Clutterbuck by the way after your horse Visage got DSQ'd) Definitely fancied Wise Whispers over this one - and even then, these aren't my strongest runners. But I definitely felt we could compete in Handicaps. Great job by the commentators by the way! Unfortunately I do have to correct the record haha! I have won the Welsh Grand National with Twenty Ten and the Gimcrack Stakes with The Minstrel during the SO4 era - obviously a long time ago! But thank you anyway! Wise Whispers 5th - Great effort in the Free Handicap - was actually confident as he had a free run on the outside of the main pack. It seems though that the rail would have been better hence the result for Send It Simon
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George Morgan - also known as G1 Gamer!
Commentator for the FIA Formula Regional European Championship, International GT Open, Euroformula Open, F1 Sim Racing World Championship, PDC Darts, 3. Liga - as heard on Sky Sports, ITV, BT Sport, DAZN etc.
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| Tue Jul 14, 2026 11:27 am |
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Paul Parsons
Handicapper
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:15 am
Posts: 180
Location: Perth Western Australia
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Week 2 Day 1 Flat My stayers are certainly looking the goods at the moment. Sun Lover making it 4 wins from 4 starts for the stable in races 1m6f and over. Most of my 1m4f horses ran okay with Never Better, Daunting and Come On Over all placing. All of them should do better on tracks that suit them. Sew It Up was a big disappointment finishing 12th. The one 2yo in my stable didn't do much either, but there was always a chance of that happening. Odd thing is, in game my 2yo's win everything but then fall away as 3yo's, but in the CK and league it is my 3yo's who are the star performers. NH Time for a little bit of friendly banter... Little Bay - to help Martin with the commentary; My Little Bay is a front runner. John's isn't. My Little Bay is a grey. John's isn't. My Little Bay is half decent...  Of course, those words will come back to bite me later in the season for sure!! I didn't have much time getting my NH stable together this season, so I just chose classic names from the 70's & 80's. I knew John does something similar with some of his, so I actually checked his stable before naming mine - but obviously missed Little Bay. John - I think we should gang up and make sure we enter the same race each week just to keep Martin on his toes!! Dawn Run - Like Martin said, she needs to be good to be named that, so the pressure is on. Left her run too late. She is the daughter of last season's Triumph Hurdle winner, so watch her run up the hill at Cheltenham. Sebastian - whilst 7th doesn't look great on paper, 3m1f was always going to be on the short side. Stayed on well and will be better over slightly longer. Good luck to everyone for the rest of the week.
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| Tue Jul 14, 2026 12:06 pm |
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Githyanki
Group 1 winner
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:16 pm
Posts: 2533
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Quote: My Sham finished 4th in her first maiden and then ran a shocker this week in 11th and it didn't go down a pound, that's tough. If u horse is badly hcap then it could take a long time to come down.
Just looking through the lincoln and the horses at the back are only going down 1 to 4 pounds, it must be because its a high class hcap. We will not have enough lower rated horses to run in them races at this moment. A long time ago I trialed in the racekit, you can run 50 races and the handicapping hardly moves, it can take that long to develop highs and lows, the the racekit is so vague at times the movement gets stagnated. There will be a number of both positive and negative effects from this: 1 - Returning horses will be harshly punished. 2 - We will have some massive handicap fields and the top tier will be present in many. Lane draw will be more important. 3 - There will low end handicaps hardly anyone able to enter them, they will need a bump or wider handicap brackets more ‘75’ and ‘85’ etc 4 - There will likely also be bigger group and graded fields, since why not run them if your not avoiding the bigs in handicaps. With all the normal boxing and front runners going backwards etc. I don’t however think it will all be negative, Big fields can really mess with certain horses and run styles, I think this will effect everyone to some degree.
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| Tue Jul 14, 2026 12:16 pm |
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Githyanki
Group 1 winner
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:16 pm
Posts: 2533
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Congratulations on the come back win George.
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| Tue Jul 14, 2026 12:24 pm |
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speedster591
Selling plater
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:45 pm
Posts: 16
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Githyanki wrote: Congratulations on the come back win George. Thank you mate! Appreciate it! Hopefully more to come 
_________________
George Morgan - also known as G1 Gamer!
Commentator for the FIA Formula Regional European Championship, International GT Open, Euroformula Open, F1 Sim Racing World Championship, PDC Darts, 3. Liga - as heard on Sky Sports, ITV, BT Sport, DAZN etc.
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| Tue Jul 14, 2026 1:31 pm |
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ghosty
Group 2 winner
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:59 pm
Posts: 892
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Paul Parsons wrote: Week 2 Day 1 Flat My stayers are certainly looking the goods at the moment. Sun Lover making it 4 wins from 4 starts for the stable in races 1m6f and over. Most of my 1m4f horses ran okay with Never Better, Daunting and Come On Over all placing. All of them should do better on tracks that suit them. Sew It Up was a big disappointment finishing 12th. The one 2yo in my stable didn't do much either, but there was always a chance of that happening. Odd thing is, in game my 2yo's win everything but then fall away as 3yo's, but in the CK and league it is my 3yo's who are the star performers. NH Time for a little bit of friendly banter... Little Bay - to help Martin with the commentary; My Little Bay is a front runner. John's isn't. My Little Bay is a grey. John's isn't. My Little Bay is half decent... Of course, those words will come back to bite me later in the season for sure!! I didn't have much time getting my NH stable together this season, so I just chose classic names from the 70's & 80's. I knew John does something similar with some of his, so I actually checked his stable before naming mine - but obviously missed Little Bay. John - I think we should gang up and make sure we enter the same race each week just to keep Martin on his toes!! Dawn Run - Like Martin said, she needs to be good to be named that, so the pressure is on. Left her run too late. She is the daughter of last season's Triumph Hurdle winner, so watch her run up the hill at Cheltenham. Sebastian - whilst 7th doesn't look great on paper, 3m1f was always going to be on the short side. Stayed on well and will be better over slightly longer. Good luck to everyone for the rest of the week. I thought Martin was loosing his mind when he said Little Bay was leading, I thought I was watching a different race until I saw u little bay  Little Bay wars, my Little Bay is coming for your Little.
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| Tue Jul 14, 2026 3:23 pm |
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nick_driver
Group 1 winner
Joined: Thu May 15, 2008 2:07 pm
Posts: 1267
Location: Redhill
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Week 2, Day 2
Flat
Princess Palace ran so well in Australia but went legless in the final half furlong after making the running. Imhoteps Curse ran well but expected better off such a low weight. Egyptian Queen didn't follow up on her promise in Week 1 while Illuminant looks like he could be very competitive and may go to the Coventry Stakes. The rest poor.
NH
Les Ferdinand ran a huge race but just got chinned albeit in a weak NHF race, Brilliant Rain improved on week one and could still be half decent, same goes for Moonlight Oasis who could pick up a handicap somewhere. Bull Pit looks to be the best horse in the stable and was over the moon with his run pretty much nearly off top weight against some top trainers in the Haldon Gold Cup. Plenty of options for him at group level over 2m2f or could step up to 2m4f for the Old Roan.
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| Wed Jul 15, 2026 3:23 pm |
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ghosty
Group 2 winner
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:59 pm
Posts: 892
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Well it's been a shocking( in a good way) start to the season for my flat team. I thought my horses would get caught out for not having found 95%+ potential, but luckily they make up for it with great cruise. They probably have the highest cruise of any team ive ever had. I thought my strongest division would be my 1m2 horses but they look my weakest and a division I was totally in the dark sprinters are my best. I couldn't work if my times were quicker than my old team.
The biggest shock is how fast the flat races are now run, much quicker than ever before. My team are not slow but they never get near the front.
My jumpers are all over the place, my 4m+ and two milers seem competitive but my 3 to 3m5 horses have been a little underwhelming especially as they have had most work.
It's great to have the league back and thanks to the boys who are putting the work in behind the scenes.
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| Thu Jul 16, 2026 7:38 pm |
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David1uk
Group 2 winner
Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 1:31 am
Posts: 704
Location: Doncaster
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts 3 winners in week 2
Speed Up in a good 2m1 maiden hurdle, Good to have a choice of Supreme or the Mares Novice Hurdle now
Magic Word in the 2m3 maiden novice hurdle, will go in all the 2m4 group races now, and the 2m1 Novice Mares Novice is the aim too, big ask,but her dam is Supreme/Champion Hurdle winner The Last Word, so speed is there
Ace Queen - Winning the Smoke Screen Listed Mares, good to see she's still got it, she's off to France now for the 2m3 g3 hurdle and expecting a big run again
I had 6 second places too, the main ones
Royal Duty, just missing out by a short head to Darren's Horse Fine Melon in The Tipperary Hurdle G2
Diamond Princess was second too in The Charlie Hall Chase, just losing out to Josh's horse The Monsterous again
Disappointing horses
Star Guest 9th in The Walters Graded Chase. He had everything in his favour today, but not the jockey shocker
Sixth Gear, Last season's Arkle winner ran a shocker in 12th
Well done, everyone, with winners and places
Thanks to everyone who helps run the league
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D Hooley
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| Thu Jul 16, 2026 9:16 pm |
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leonvr
Group 1 winner
Joined: Wed May 14, 2008 2:50 pm
Posts: 2563
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts On the board on the flat. have a winner Fair Reckoning my first full potential 4yo. Will keep her in handicaps and hopefully run up a sequence.
NH is going better picked up a G3 with At Close Range which was a GI Joe contemporary and have it for years. Have a few NH horses that look ok hopefully soft ground will see some improvement
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| Fri Jul 17, 2026 8:51 am |
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Mattcooper
Handicapper
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2022 9:59 pm
Posts: 110
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Re: Season 18 Trainers Post Race Discussion and Thoughts Up to I think 11 or 13 combined winners after 2 weeks. Only 2 flat winners though which my flat game hasn’t improved much. Although the big fields probably isn’t helping. Think the n hunt has improved again but too early to tell.
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| Fri Jul 17, 2026 6:57 pm |
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