Races that "leave their mark"

[Posts: 1740Joined: 03 Mar 2001, 20:25Location: Barnsley]

Alan King is quoted in today's Weekender as follows: "The plan with [Romulus D'Artaix] now will be one more run and then go for the valuable Punchestown bumper in April, as I feel he is potentially very good. That race is restricted to horses sold at the Goffs Land Rover Sale and has prize money of 100,000 euros. I am not overly tempted by the Cheltenham Festival bumper as I feel it is a race that tends to leave its mark on many horses."

We regularly see comments like this and not only in relation to the Cheltenham bumper. The RSA Chase is often referred to as a race which "bottoms" horses. The Triumph Hurdle used to attract similar comments although this is less common nowadays and on the Flat it is not unusual to see the Derby itself put forward as a race which can set a horse back.

But where is the logic in King's views? Is there any or is it just superstition on his part? After all, using the bumper example, both races are run over similar distances, both attract large double-figure fields and a horse is likely to have to display a high level of form to win one. The ground would probably tend to be a little bit softer at Cheltenham in March than at Punchestown at the end of April which would be regarded normally as an argument in favour of the Cheltenham race as far as the relative effect on the long term well-being of the horse is concerned.

Is there anything per se about the Festival bumper (as opposed to the Land Rover bumper) which would "leave its mark" on a horse?

[Posts: 3315Joined: 15 Dec 2003, 15:48Location: Naas Co. Kildare]

The record of the runners in the Festival Bumper would appear to give the lie to King's opinion. Nick Mordin had a system going for years backing all the runners in their first 3 starts over hurdles which was in profit until it got better known recently. Have a look at the field in last year's contest and what they've done since and it won't put you off running a good horse in it. I suspect his real reasons are that he a) loves having runners at Punchestown (stays in the Killashee and has a nice relaxing week) and b) thinks that for the money the Punchestown race might be easier to win, almost certainly true.

[Posts: 632Joined: 06 Nov 2008, 22:31]

There's not much any actual evidence that the RSA leaves its mark either. Florida Pearl, Looks Like Trouble & Denman being examples of winners who have thrived afterwards. I believe the overall record of runners is above average also...though don't have the figures to hand.
Henrietta Knight certainly put the idea of it being a race that left its mark into the public arena after Lord Noelie's run...but the truth was he was just below top class.

[Posts: 4432Joined: 01 Feb 2004, 19:54]

Gus

Though it's a different code, there's an excellent piece on overfacing horses too early in their career on the ATR website (Legends videos - Henry Cecil; part 5) which should answer most of your question fairly precisely, imo.
As to the specifics of the 2 Championship Bumpers, I'd suspect that the Land Rover is less competitive, being a restricted race, and also less likely to be run at the frenetic pace that most Cheltenham Festival races are.
Certainly worth listening to the words of the master, whatever your conclusion.

[Posts: 4299Joined: 14 Mar 2006, 11:35Location: Doha, Qatar and Co.Clare, Ireland.]

Surely its a case of individual races leaving their mark on individual horses rather than a specific race applied to the general racehorse population.

To that end, in his book, Nicholls comments on Denman's behaviour after his Gold Cup win were interesting.

[Posts: 3089Joined: 06 Jul 2007, 11:38]

I think it is more of a case of how demanding and strenuous a certain race has on different horses rather than the race itself. With some horses, races like the Derby and Grand National can defintely leave their mark - along with a few other top races.

The King George of 1975 was a perfect example. In a gruelling encounter and run at breakneck speed, dual Derby winner and 2,000 Guineas runner-up, Grundy, just got the better of Dick Hern's Bustino.

Subsequently, Grundy never won another race and Bustino didn't run at all.

[Posts: 5012Joined: 21 Dec 2003, 15:21Location: St. Helens]

The Kentucky Derby is another - like our Derby owners are that desperate to have a runner that unsuitable horses are entered and as such their careers are ruined by overfacing them or running over the wrong trip (see various 6-7f horses entered in the KY Derby each year).