2 hugely contrasting news stories - its Goodbye to one and Hello to another!

This Saturday we received 2 huge and contrasting news stories onto our laps, one declaring the immediate retirement of a horse and one declaring a 2 time Arc winner would be staying in training. I know which one of these stories made me smile more! Certainly the news that Australia will not be illuminating British Champions day next weekend takes some of the gloss away from the event, and it is a shame that the so called 'Greatest Horse I've ever trained' - big claims by Aidan O'Brien - will not be kept in training next year so he can show us just how good he actually was. On the track this year there is a certain sense of what-could-have-been after being beaten on his final start in Ireland and not going for the Arc with the intent of turning up at Ascot this weekend. His Derby win was very impressive, and he had the speed to finish 3rd in a great renewal of the 2000 Guineas; if you really are as good as his trainer thinks why did O'Brien not actually send it to the Arc? I think he is clearly a very good horse however by retiring him now do really feel like there is a sense of unfulfilled potential here. It makes business sense to ship him off the stud, however there have been boundaries left unpushed with Australia and while his stud value may be better off protected the racecourse glory spared for the likes of Frankel and even Kingman this year by the racing public will not be adorned on Australia sadly.
While we said goodbye to one horse who we perhaps haven't seen the best of on the track we said hello again to one who we certainly have. In fact we have probably seen Treve at her best and worst on the racecourse in the same season, in the space of 2 runs even! This wonder mare, the two time Arc winner, will not be going for a third Arc after connections decided to keep her in training for next year. Fantastic news and it makes a really refreshing change to see connections go for more racecourse glory rather than going for the money that a breeding career would bring, especially when your mare has the trophy cabinet collection that Treve does. This surprised me even more with the well publicised health issues that Treve suffers from, and those that trainer Criquette Head-Maarek has done wonderfully well to overcome thus far. I really hope that this brave and bold decision by connections is rewarded next year and it will certainly add intrigue to the 2014-15 flat racing season.
Finally another welcome hello was said this weekend to young jockey Bryan Cooper, out since suffering a crashing fall at the Cheltenham festival last year. By all accounts his leg fracture was one of the worst the experts had seen so the fact that he is even back in the saddle is a huge achievement and speaks words of the desire and strength of Cooper. His one ride was Guitar Pete on Sunday; sadly for Cooper and his followers it wasn't a winning comeback, ironically beaten by the same horse that was Cooper's companion in that crashing fall! Horse racing; its a funny old game.
Talking of funny old games Sunday saw the running of the crazy Velka Pardubicka 4.25 mile jumps race in the Czech Republic. This race is absolutely fantastic and makes our Grand National look like it should be contested by the flat horses such are the ferocity of the fences that make up this legendary race. Amazingly there was even a 61 year old jockey who competed in this years renewal, Josef Vana, and impressively Vana managed to complete the course on his mount, however he couldn't add to his astonishing 8 wins as a jockey in the event already. This years renewal went to the hot favourite Orphee Des Blins, who was taking the event for the third time. However when you watch the race you can see why previous course form is so vital! I've attached some images of the obstacles the horses fence in this stamina test to this blog, and let me assure you it is worth taking ten minutes or so to watch the race on youtube!

We're building up to a cracking weekend for fans of both codes this weekend, with Future Champions Day on Friday, Champions Day on Saturday and the Showcase meet at Racing HQ - that's right Cheltenham is back and I can't wait for it. Should be a great weekend and one all racing fans will be awaiting with glee. Thanks for reading this week's musings and onwards we go!