Sniper, who finished 5th of 5 in the Phoenix Stakes ran at Dundalk today. He had finished behind Sudirman twice, beaten a little over six lengths each time.
Timeform rated him a 4 star chance
, declaring that he had
not gone on from races 1 to 2
but that he had shown
"much improved form"
when 5th in the Phoenix Stakes. You would think that this opinion, from such a clearly highly regarded outfit, would mean he should go very close at the least in maiden company today as 9/4 2nd favourite. However, he could only finish 8th beaten 11 1/2 lengths.
We are supposed to believe that this horse finished 6 1/2 lengths behind Sudirman, then didn’t improve next time, then he magically improves third time to finish almost exactly the same distance behind Sudirman. This is no doubt this assumption was made so that they can give credibility to their theory that
Sudirman had to make good improvement to beat War Command, it just wouldn’t do that War Command might have been disappointing.
Now that 7 other horses have beaten Sniper and he is still a maiden after 4 races, where does that leave the Phoenix form? A fellow maiden has beaten him by five lengths further than Sudirman could at the Curragh in a group 1 and unfancied maidens have also finished ahead of the Gp 1 competitor.
The stopwatch boys tell us the Phoenix was a good race, so it must be disappointing that one of the protaganists looked so ordinary today.
There is talk that War Command needs further but Aiden O’Brien said before the Phoenix Stakes:-
“We’ve very happy with War Command since the Coventry and the plan is to run him next in the Phoenix,” said O’Brien of a colt who is already clear 5 to 1 favourite for next year’s 2,000 Guineas. “He has a lot of speed as he showed in the Coventry.”
What do you mean Steve by "Timeform rated him a 4 star chance"? Where was this and 4 stars out of how many? Was there a 5 star chance in the race?
In the Phoenix Stakes (6f good-firm) Sniper was blinkered for the first time, after a very poor 5th of 7 at Galway over 7 furlongs on good-soft. What Timeform actually said about Sniper after the Phoenix was "remains to be seen if able to back this up". ie The horse may well be inconsistent, the fact he was blinkered so early in his career seems to suggest temperament. You’d think having run well in them once – connections would stick them on again. But today, on yet another different surface of Polytrack – they chose cheek pieces. Presumably they think Sniper needs to be kept interested by ringing the changes. I wonder if the naming hints at a horse to be wary of. His full brother Titus Mills is another inconsistent animal who often wears headgear.
You are just making things up about Timeform Steve. Deliberately making up stuff to suit your opinion. Parr for the course on this site. 
Timeform do
not
think Sudirman showed (how you put it) "good improvement to beat War Command", it was just
2 lbs
improvement from the Railway Stakes. And Timeform
did
think War Command’s performance (as you put it) "disappointing", describing his effort as "tame". But they also say it is too early to be writing him off, with the Phoenix performance rating 4 lbs short of the Coventry.
If you think just because two horses are the same distance apart in a maiden and 6 weeks later a Group 2 that they’ve run to the same marks – you’ve got a lot to learn about handicapping Steve.
Fact is the Coventry form suggests War Command would’ve been an impressive winner of the July Stakes, Goodwood’s Champagne and Richmond.
Aiden O’Brien says the same thing about every horse he’s trained "He has a lot of speed" (well, it is unusual for him not to put a "listen" in front of this sound bite). 
Looking forward to seeing just how good Sudirman and War Command really are in the coming weeks and months.