The performance of Cue Card in the Betfair Chase lit the fuse to a wire wrapped around the trapped energy of national hunt racing enthusiasts. What appears a fairly straightforward race to analyse was in its aftermath spun across the realms of social media and expert review to extremes, from a win/race that 'proved little' to a win that opens the door for Cue Card to remain unbeaten forever, achieving misty ratings well in excess of 400 over staying trips. Or something akin to that.
There were doubts about the official-versus-actual times and distances of the race but these are irrelevant. Of far more interest is what the animals themselves were doing, the how and why, relative to each other. Perhaps the most surprising thing about responses following the race was the near total absence of attempts to connect Cue Card's Ryanair win to his win here, at Haydock. Given that he is characterised by quite a rare commodity - he is an extraordinarily high class front runner - this is even more surprising. In the 2013 Ryanair Chase Review it was noted specifically that:
"His residual class is very high (as suggested by his Arkle Chase run): in this race he was at the front throughout, continually pressed by Champion Court, but that pressing was well within Cue Card's comfort zone. His jockey reported after the race how he was able to continually change the pace to his liking, getting numerous breathers into his mount which no doubt helped him finish his race so strongly. Setting off on the second circuit was an example of this, he was able to move Cue Card forward easily into a clear lead to again stretch the pace, before reducing it later on"
The Betfair Chase was a carbon copy of the Ryanair Chase, only over slightly further. Cue Card ran from the front; was 'pressed' for the lead on the first circuit well within his own comfort zone by horses with exposed limitations (Roi De Mee and Long Run); slowed the pace subtly by being held onto more around each bend, then stretched the pace again in the straights (at Haydock the field spread wide, meaning he wasn't being pressed even though Silviniaco Conti was almost as forward as him at times); and finished his race strongly as a result (as noted some time after by Paul Nicholls, among others). The effect of all this was compounded by the fact that this was not a Festival race where every opponent was hard fit and peaking but a seasonal opener for his three main rivals. Cue Card himself had a race fitness edge (whether he actually needed it or not) having been third on his seasonal debut at Exeter. They will be discussed in turn but Dynaste (second) ran a race of quality with good, even energy distribution and appeared beaten on merit but may have more to offer; Silviniaco Conti easily closed up on Cue Card when the leader was getting breathers but raced as wide as possible throughout each straight (indicative of racing 'safely') and having chased and closed upon Cue Card's final pace injection he tired approaching the last fence; and Bobs Worth was simply 'not ready' for this race in any meaningful way, with his trainer this season most likely only concerned with regaining the Gold Cup in March.
We can see already that a King George, firstly, then a Gold Cup in March, will present much different tests for Cue Card's elite characteristics. It is a peculiar habit to be intent on concentrating on ratings, distances, form and so on but it is him, his physicality, that is most crucial for determining his future performances. Kempton is a prime example because the curious question arises of what happens when they cannot control the pace to get the breathers into him?
The natural early pace down the first straight spreads the runners...
By the time they are ready to exit the first bend they have closed up as a group due to the pace slowing...
After the slower bend the pace is naturalised again and the runners are spaced out. Cue Card has gone clear for the time being.
There is no need to be dogmatic about why Joe Tizzard, who is excellent on him, rides Cue Card for this effect. We don't know the limits of Cue Card's stamina, nor his ability, but we do know he has limits. In both of his recent Grade One wins it may have been that they were a little unsure about his stamina; or that they wanted to use his speed; or that they wanted to unsettle his opponents generally; or that they wanted to inhibit the staying types with stop-start tactics. The simplest answer is that they are concerned only with their own horse, that as a front-runner it makes little sense not to control the race to best effect, and that given his class if they do that with him they pose a big problem to any opponent. This is why the King George is an entirely different test for Cue Card rather than, say, Dynaste. At Kempton there is no let up in the pace. All his opponents will be hard fit and all will appreciate an end-to-end gallop. The corners at Kempton are tighter; Ruby Walsh has described it as going around on roller skates because as soon as horses start to turn they are flung into the straight and carry on the gallop. The term "speedy track" refers to this aspect but it is often used erroneously with a King George, where actual "speed" has no real relevance. The winner has to be able to gallop at an elite pace (elite gallop pace is different to speed, which indicates acceleration) for as long as it takes to break the will of those that cannot do so. At that point, with most runners nearing exhaustion, the winner and challenger battle on behind the bridle, with stamina and force of will. There is no "speed" in a King George. The peculiar constellation of the strength/depth of the race, a prolonged elite gallop and the demands on the horses legs made by the track as a result combine to produce a winner with (the) highest residual class and the right blend of physical characteristics.
Cue Card will likely be prominent (unless there are fears of a pace burn up after the start), as will Al Ferof. Silviniaco Conti will be behind them, and Dynaste behind him (roughly speaking). The four main players together with anything with less residual class choosing to get a look at the cameras from the front will produce a gallop that will then be hard to slow at any stage. Out in front, even on goodish ground, Cue Card will need to gallop harder and for longer than in the Betfair Chase. Unlike Haydock he will have top class close-up company all the time. After that, he will then have to race behind the bridle to race with and fend off the challengers. Whether he is capable of doing so can be left to individual opinion but understanding the very different nature of his task here is the interesting aspect. Not least as whatever his performance level here, he will then be asked to race for even longer under similar conditions in a Gold Cup. This leads us in a way to Cue Card's conundrum. What is the ratio of the amount of energy and class he expends on the bridle (racing comfortably) to that expended when challenged? In Cue Card's profile it can be noted that owing to his sheer level of class he has defeated opponents without being seriously challenged. Correspondingly, perhaps, when beaten he has been a little bit 'swept aside' i.e. he has done his racing but then had no response to the winner. This happened in the International Hurdle and Supreme Novices Hurdle; understandably when beaten by Sprinter Sacre; and also at Exeter first time out, where a huge weight concession made life very difficult. This is therefore Cue Card's biggest test to date: can he produce a finish, quite possibly a war, with a rival or rivals of similar ability (Silviniaco Conti) or potentially similar ability (Al Ferof)?
Many of the aspects of physicality discussed regarding Cue Card apply to Dynaste. There is little doubt, on all known evidence, that Dynaste at this stage carries less residual class than Cue Card. His runs last season were very much on a progressive curve. Despite defeat his Jewson Novices Chase effort had a lot of merit and his training for the race was reportedly interrupted by small physical niggles. He went to Aintree a stronger, more complete horse, and won impressively, but only at a respectable level. His run in the Betfair Chase rewarded the patience and training plan of David Pipe. He has always been an ebullient traveller and part of this has been because he has been racing against inferior rivals quite often. For his Feltham win, for example, the pace was very slow early and when it was increased it was done so by Poungach. There were also two fences omitted. By four out Dynaste was travelling so powerfully still that he had little other option than to jump the fence and bound on, which he did. Third Intention gave chase, as he would later at Cheltenham and Aintree. He was not asked to hide at the Festival, however. Prominent the whole way he was sent to the front fully three out to try and grind away his rivals and stuck to his task admirably. He was the best horse at Aintree but at Haydock it was notable how much of an even race he ran: initially held up but never far away in part due to the field closing up together when Cue Card eased the pace around the turns. He didn't do anything quickly (rapid surge and tire, rise and fall movements often signify a physical problem) but instead stalked his way patiently into the race and into a challenging position two out, from where he could only maintain his gallop pace, unable to affect the leader.
He may have needed the race; he may have been on the outer limits of his stamina at that level of racing; or, put another way, he may just lack some of the residual class of his rivals in this division. Many will point to his Feltham win and wand vague notions of "the track" about but as described above that race is not worthy of meaningful comparison. In the King George, the elite gallop will claw at any minor chinks in Dynaste's stamina and/or class, meaning he will have to race harder, for longer, and then find a great deal more off the bridle than he was able to muster at Haydock. He is a very good horse already but defeat at Kempton (the possibility of defeat is mentioned for each runner under analysis) would leave the Ryanair Chase as perhaps his most viable encounter at the Festival, particularly if there was rain about, although he should now be physically mature enough to handle the drop to a shorter trip tactically under any conditions.
Silviniaco Conti was reported by his trainer to look "a few kilos heavy" before the race and then referred to how hard it had been this season "for some reason" to get horses ready first time out, a sentiment shared by others (including Nicky Henderson). Cue Card, too, had clearly benefited from his opening race. If the counter-view to that proposed here holds true and Cue Card did not dictate the shape of the race from the front then Cue Card is likely more vulnerable than his position in the market suggests. If he stop-started a gallop well within his own comfort zone his levels of class mean he can still pose a threat with a more even, stronger gallop because, as noted, we are yet to learn fully about his stamina. If he ran (as Tom Scudamore suggested) at a gallop that took no prisoners and then stayed on he will find it almost impossible to confirm that form with Silviniaco Conti and probably Dynaste, who were able to get alongside him comfortably without the aid of a run.
In some ways Sil Conti's run was just as impressive given his own level of fitness compared to the year before, where he had a run in demolishing a Charlie Hall field. The intent this time around was very much for Sil Conti to run his own race. He was taken purposefully to the opposite side of the track down each straight, well away from Cue Card. As Cue Card filled up around each bend, Sil Conti was taken diagonally toward him, close up, then taken away to the far side of the course again. This is indicative of a prep run. Having won the race last year, Sil Conti could have been asked to race with Cue Card given that Ruby Walsh rode a similarly tactical style when beating Long Run on him as Cue Card did here under Joe Tizzard. This did not happen. For sure they tried to win with him, no doubt.
Attack: Fehily is aware of a) Tizzard's tactics and/or Cue Card's unproven stamina and b) how well his own horse stays, and (from a few lengths back) launches his horse at Cue Card before three out. Dynaste is never far away.
This move would have been interesting had Silviniaco Conti had race fitness on his side but instead he is just behind Cue Card going over the second last and cannot find any more, staying on for third as Dynaste himself closes up as much as he can to take second. It is only a simple task then to try to imagine the outcome if Cue Card had been pressed or at least 'kept honest' by a top class horse the whole way round, moving faster around sharper bends against race fit elite rivals.
The concern for Sil Conti and probably the reason he was not taken to Kempton for the King George last season is the amount of energy he will be required to use to track the kind of pace that unfolds in a King George and how this impacts upon his ability to then stay on. In many ways this underlines how, similarly to Cue Card, we know quite little about Sil Conti in a top class staying race context. As the above graphic shows, he clearly has elite gallop pace but his trainer views him as a "thorough stayer", citing how at home he would work with Neptune Collonges (Grand National winner) whereas Al Ferof would work with a two miler. The Aintree race following his Gold Cup fall cautiously backs this general view. Again never far from the pace he made a crashing error which set him back but he was subsequently able to grind away resolutely behind the bridle to chisel away at the leading duo. Given his Gold Cup exertions the performance is most notable for the level of mental toughness he displayed and again here he gave his all. At Kempton it will be interesting to see how closely he is asked to chase the initial pace, and how much impact he can then make from behind the bridle under King George conditions. It can be reasonably argued at this early stage that of the King George principals, it is Silviniaco Conti who would be most suited to a Gold Cup war at Cheltenham and he is in a patient position whereby defeat here would likely enhance his claims for that race.
Whereas we cannot be certain about HQ for Al Ferof, but only because the flow of racecourse information was suspended by a minor tendon injury. Looking back from the future retrospectively after the event, he may have been the 'obvious winner' in many ways. He was beaten 8L by Cue Card in the Festival Bumper but reversed that form with eight hurdles to beat Cue Card nearly 7L in the Supreme Novices. Until trying to jump four out too early in the Arkle Chase, Al Ferof had comfortably matched Cue Card's pace on the front end. He won the Paddy Power Gold Cup on soft ground in the manner of a top class horse in waiting (Long Run failed to win the race off 157 before winning his first King George) and Al Ferof, long targeted at the Kempton showpiece by connections, was around 5/1 second favourite when his injury occurred. In the intervening time, the King George has been the sole aim. Stable jockey Daryl Jacob was urged to go to Ascot to ride him in a match race with French Opera. From the front, jumping easily and naturally, he sauntered home by 8L and after a constant flow of support he now occupies roughly the same position in the market as twelve months ago.
We cannot know where the runners will position themselves after the first fence, but it would not be unreasonable to assume that Al Ferof will be prominent; he may even help Cue Card lead the field. If that occurs, a definitive answer will be given as to the limitations, if any, on Cue Card's elite level staying power. Both he and Silviniaco Conti are by resolute stamina influence Dom Alco, but Al Ferof has clearly showcased the greater capability to run at the sharp end of elite level pace gallops. This is why the unforgiving distance of a Gold Cup may serve Silviniaco Conti better than Al Ferof, at this stage of their careers at least. Al Ferof's distribution of energy when racing is probably the most even of all the runners in this field: he has a formidable blend of elite pace and desire to race behind the bridle; his mix of residual class, potential and physicality gives him the characteristics to win this race. Ruby Walsh, without a ride in the race, still has no doubt about his suitability for the contest: "Al Ferof was impressive in the Amlin 1965 Chase and he jumped super. From Swinley Bottom he was always going to win. He looked in control of the race so far from home. It was a really taking performance and I think he had the King George written all over him." In terms of "if defeated", as with the other runners, much hinges on the nature of the defeat (mistake, fall, merit, stage of race etc) but it is notable that Al Ferof's Ryanair price has contracted correspondingly to the approaching time of the King George. This is understandable given his earlier form with Cue Card at shorter trips but it does not account for the trainer and owner having little time for the Ryanair Chase in this context. Old fashioned blue ribbands only need apply for a horse they believe is potentially out of the top drawer. The King George will be the first acid test of that hope.
We can see already that a King George, firstly, then a Gold Cup in March, will present much different tests for Cue Card's elite characteristics. It is a peculiar habit to be intent on concentrating on ratings, distances, form and so on but it is him, his physicality, that is most crucial for determining his future performances. Kempton is a prime example because the curious question arises of what happens when they cannot control the pace to get the breathers into him?
The natural early pace down the first straight spreads the runners...
By the time they are ready to exit the first bend they have closed up as a group due to the pace slowing...
After the slower bend the pace is naturalised again and the runners are spaced out. Cue Card has gone clear for the time being.
There is no need to be dogmatic about why Joe Tizzard, who is excellent on him, rides Cue Card for this effect. We don't know the limits of Cue Card's stamina, nor his ability, but we do know he has limits. In both of his recent Grade One wins it may have been that they were a little unsure about his stamina; or that they wanted to use his speed; or that they wanted to unsettle his opponents generally; or that they wanted to inhibit the staying types with stop-start tactics. The simplest answer is that they are concerned only with their own horse, that as a front-runner it makes little sense not to control the race to best effect, and that given his class if they do that with him they pose a big problem to any opponent. This is why the King George is an entirely different test for Cue Card rather than, say, Dynaste. At Kempton there is no let up in the pace. All his opponents will be hard fit and all will appreciate an end-to-end gallop. The corners at Kempton are tighter; Ruby Walsh has described it as going around on roller skates because as soon as horses start to turn they are flung into the straight and carry on the gallop. The term "speedy track" refers to this aspect but it is often used erroneously with a King George, where actual "speed" has no real relevance. The winner has to be able to gallop at an elite pace (elite gallop pace is different to speed, which indicates acceleration) for as long as it takes to break the will of those that cannot do so. At that point, with most runners nearing exhaustion, the winner and challenger battle on behind the bridle, with stamina and force of will. There is no "speed" in a King George. The peculiar constellation of the strength/depth of the race, a prolonged elite gallop and the demands on the horses legs made by the track as a result combine to produce a winner with (the) highest residual class and the right blend of physical characteristics.
Cue Card will likely be prominent (unless there are fears of a pace burn up after the start), as will Al Ferof. Silviniaco Conti will be behind them, and Dynaste behind him (roughly speaking). The four main players together with anything with less residual class choosing to get a look at the cameras from the front will produce a gallop that will then be hard to slow at any stage. Out in front, even on goodish ground, Cue Card will need to gallop harder and for longer than in the Betfair Chase. Unlike Haydock he will have top class close-up company all the time. After that, he will then have to race behind the bridle to race with and fend off the challengers. Whether he is capable of doing so can be left to individual opinion but understanding the very different nature of his task here is the interesting aspect. Not least as whatever his performance level here, he will then be asked to race for even longer under similar conditions in a Gold Cup. This leads us in a way to Cue Card's conundrum. What is the ratio of the amount of energy and class he expends on the bridle (racing comfortably) to that expended when challenged? In Cue Card's profile it can be noted that owing to his sheer level of class he has defeated opponents without being seriously challenged. Correspondingly, perhaps, when beaten he has been a little bit 'swept aside' i.e. he has done his racing but then had no response to the winner. This happened in the International Hurdle and Supreme Novices Hurdle; understandably when beaten by Sprinter Sacre; and also at Exeter first time out, where a huge weight concession made life very difficult. This is therefore Cue Card's biggest test to date: can he produce a finish, quite possibly a war, with a rival or rivals of similar ability (Silviniaco Conti) or potentially similar ability (Al Ferof)?
Many of the aspects of physicality discussed regarding Cue Card apply to Dynaste. There is little doubt, on all known evidence, that Dynaste at this stage carries less residual class than Cue Card. His runs last season were very much on a progressive curve. Despite defeat his Jewson Novices Chase effort had a lot of merit and his training for the race was reportedly interrupted by small physical niggles. He went to Aintree a stronger, more complete horse, and won impressively, but only at a respectable level. His run in the Betfair Chase rewarded the patience and training plan of David Pipe. He has always been an ebullient traveller and part of this has been because he has been racing against inferior rivals quite often. For his Feltham win, for example, the pace was very slow early and when it was increased it was done so by Poungach. There were also two fences omitted. By four out Dynaste was travelling so powerfully still that he had little other option than to jump the fence and bound on, which he did. Third Intention gave chase, as he would later at Cheltenham and Aintree. He was not asked to hide at the Festival, however. Prominent the whole way he was sent to the front fully three out to try and grind away his rivals and stuck to his task admirably. He was the best horse at Aintree but at Haydock it was notable how much of an even race he ran: initially held up but never far away in part due to the field closing up together when Cue Card eased the pace around the turns. He didn't do anything quickly (rapid surge and tire, rise and fall movements often signify a physical problem) but instead stalked his way patiently into the race and into a challenging position two out, from where he could only maintain his gallop pace, unable to affect the leader.
He may have needed the race; he may have been on the outer limits of his stamina at that level of racing; or, put another way, he may just lack some of the residual class of his rivals in this division. Many will point to his Feltham win and wand vague notions of "the track" about but as described above that race is not worthy of meaningful comparison. In the King George, the elite gallop will claw at any minor chinks in Dynaste's stamina and/or class, meaning he will have to race harder, for longer, and then find a great deal more off the bridle than he was able to muster at Haydock. He is a very good horse already but defeat at Kempton (the possibility of defeat is mentioned for each runner under analysis) would leave the Ryanair Chase as perhaps his most viable encounter at the Festival, particularly if there was rain about, although he should now be physically mature enough to handle the drop to a shorter trip tactically under any conditions.
Silviniaco Conti was reported by his trainer to look "a few kilos heavy" before the race and then referred to how hard it had been this season "for some reason" to get horses ready first time out, a sentiment shared by others (including Nicky Henderson). Cue Card, too, had clearly benefited from his opening race. If the counter-view to that proposed here holds true and Cue Card did not dictate the shape of the race from the front then Cue Card is likely more vulnerable than his position in the market suggests. If he stop-started a gallop well within his own comfort zone his levels of class mean he can still pose a threat with a more even, stronger gallop because, as noted, we are yet to learn fully about his stamina. If he ran (as Tom Scudamore suggested) at a gallop that took no prisoners and then stayed on he will find it almost impossible to confirm that form with Silviniaco Conti and probably Dynaste, who were able to get alongside him comfortably without the aid of a run.
In some ways Sil Conti's run was just as impressive given his own level of fitness compared to the year before, where he had a run in demolishing a Charlie Hall field. The intent this time around was very much for Sil Conti to run his own race. He was taken purposefully to the opposite side of the track down each straight, well away from Cue Card. As Cue Card filled up around each bend, Sil Conti was taken diagonally toward him, close up, then taken away to the far side of the course again. This is indicative of a prep run. Having won the race last year, Sil Conti could have been asked to race with Cue Card given that Ruby Walsh rode a similarly tactical style when beating Long Run on him as Cue Card did here under Joe Tizzard. This did not happen. For sure they tried to win with him, no doubt.
Attack: Fehily is aware of a) Tizzard's tactics and/or Cue Card's unproven stamina and b) how well his own horse stays, and (from a few lengths back) launches his horse at Cue Card before three out. Dynaste is never far away.
This move would have been interesting had Silviniaco Conti had race fitness on his side but instead he is just behind Cue Card going over the second last and cannot find any more, staying on for third as Dynaste himself closes up as much as he can to take second. It is only a simple task then to try to imagine the outcome if Cue Card had been pressed or at least 'kept honest' by a top class horse the whole way round, moving faster around sharper bends against race fit elite rivals.
The concern for Sil Conti and probably the reason he was not taken to Kempton for the King George last season is the amount of energy he will be required to use to track the kind of pace that unfolds in a King George and how this impacts upon his ability to then stay on. In many ways this underlines how, similarly to Cue Card, we know quite little about Sil Conti in a top class staying race context. As the above graphic shows, he clearly has elite gallop pace but his trainer views him as a "thorough stayer", citing how at home he would work with Neptune Collonges (Grand National winner) whereas Al Ferof would work with a two miler. The Aintree race following his Gold Cup fall cautiously backs this general view. Again never far from the pace he made a crashing error which set him back but he was subsequently able to grind away resolutely behind the bridle to chisel away at the leading duo. Given his Gold Cup exertions the performance is most notable for the level of mental toughness he displayed and again here he gave his all. At Kempton it will be interesting to see how closely he is asked to chase the initial pace, and how much impact he can then make from behind the bridle under King George conditions. It can be reasonably argued at this early stage that of the King George principals, it is Silviniaco Conti who would be most suited to a Gold Cup war at Cheltenham and he is in a patient position whereby defeat here would likely enhance his claims for that race.
Whereas we cannot be certain about HQ for Al Ferof, but only because the flow of racecourse information was suspended by a minor tendon injury. Looking back from the future retrospectively after the event, he may have been the 'obvious winner' in many ways. He was beaten 8L by Cue Card in the Festival Bumper but reversed that form with eight hurdles to beat Cue Card nearly 7L in the Supreme Novices. Until trying to jump four out too early in the Arkle Chase, Al Ferof had comfortably matched Cue Card's pace on the front end. He won the Paddy Power Gold Cup on soft ground in the manner of a top class horse in waiting (Long Run failed to win the race off 157 before winning his first King George) and Al Ferof, long targeted at the Kempton showpiece by connections, was around 5/1 second favourite when his injury occurred. In the intervening time, the King George has been the sole aim. Stable jockey Daryl Jacob was urged to go to Ascot to ride him in a match race with French Opera. From the front, jumping easily and naturally, he sauntered home by 8L and after a constant flow of support he now occupies roughly the same position in the market as twelve months ago.
We cannot know where the runners will position themselves after the first fence, but it would not be unreasonable to assume that Al Ferof will be prominent; he may even help Cue Card lead the field. If that occurs, a definitive answer will be given as to the limitations, if any, on Cue Card's elite level staying power. Both he and Silviniaco Conti are by resolute stamina influence Dom Alco, but Al Ferof has clearly showcased the greater capability to run at the sharp end of elite level pace gallops. This is why the unforgiving distance of a Gold Cup may serve Silviniaco Conti better than Al Ferof, at this stage of their careers at least. Al Ferof's distribution of energy when racing is probably the most even of all the runners in this field: he has a formidable blend of elite pace and desire to race behind the bridle; his mix of residual class, potential and physicality gives him the characteristics to win this race. Ruby Walsh, without a ride in the race, still has no doubt about his suitability for the contest: "Al Ferof was impressive in the Amlin 1965 Chase and he jumped super. From Swinley Bottom he was always going to win. He looked in control of the race so far from home. It was a really taking performance and I think he had the King George written all over him." In terms of "if defeated", as with the other runners, much hinges on the nature of the defeat (mistake, fall, merit, stage of race etc) but it is notable that Al Ferof's Ryanair price has contracted correspondingly to the approaching time of the King George. This is understandable given his earlier form with Cue Card at shorter trips but it does not account for the trainer and owner having little time for the Ryanair Chase in this context. Old fashioned blue ribbands only need apply for a horse they believe is potentially out of the top drawer. The King George will be the first acid test of that hope.
Amazingly detailed analysis..... thoroughly enjoyed reading this, but where is your conclusion?!
ReplyDeleteHi Anon, thank you for the comment that's very kind. For the 'Big Races' (particularly prior to the Cheltenham Festival) I usually leave my idea of the runner-up then winner until last, so here I am effectively predicting a Nicholls 1-2 favouring Al Ferof for the win (by implication Sil Conti more so for the Gold Cup). I could make it more explicit but I'm not really interested in "tipping" as such and more concerned with the kind of analysis of top class horses I produce, rightly or wrongly. I find that mainstream forums, social media sites etc do not cover (generally speaking) the details I'm most interested in before a big race. Hope that explains the slight lack of finality to the piece! Matt.
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