Without Being to Pessimistic

Craig Pienaar wrote: Looks like Magi has some serious competition with the ARM that are currently around :whistle:

you either blind or under the influence go to page one on Dubai thread

I was referring to Chicken but if the shoe fits :whistle:

My opinion is that South African horses just cantilever cut it with European Grade 1 horses. The best option is the USA route. Mondialiste, a Grade 3 horse in the UK horse has won the Arlington Million and a Grade 1 at Woodbine in Canada. The weekend that past a former Grade 3 winner in France won a Grade 1 in the States for Sheik Hamdaan in its fourth start or so in the States. Also Woodbine as Polytrack races.

Craig Pienaar wrote: I was referring to Chicken but if the shoe fits :whistle:

me an ARM, no chance, but may just try it. Lets see what wins the last at Meydan

at least the jockey bashing has stopped

naresh wrote: My opinion is that South African horses just cantilever cut it with European Grade 1 horses. The best option is the USA route. Mondialiste, a Grade 3 horse in the UK horse has won the Arlington Million and a Grade 1 at Woodbine in Canada. The weekend that past a former Grade 3 winner in France won a Grade 1 in the States for Sheik Hamdaan in its fourth start or so in the States. Also Woodbine as Polytrack races.

Thanks Naresh I agree

My problem with the article is Derek Brugman is making it out to be a financial problem. The best option is the USA route. I am just not sure we have the horse at the moment. Not the will or the finances .

Maybe they can ask van vuuren to help with the air fare......... :sick:

True we could also investigate the Australian route

Warren L wrote:

naresh wrote: My opinion is that South African horses just cantilever cut it with European Grade 1 horses. The best option is the USA route. Mondialiste, a Grade 3 horse in the UK horse has won the Arlington Million and a Grade 1 at Woodbine in Canada. The weekend that past a former Grade 3 winner in France won a Grade 1 in the States for Sheik Hamdaan in its fourth start or so in the States. Also Woodbine as Polytrack races.

Thanks Naresh I agree

My problem with the article is Derek Brugman is making it out to be a financial problem. The best option is the USA route. I am just not sure we have the horse at the moment. Not the will or the finances .

I must say ,when the affordability of flight became an issue,my thought was as yours!!!!
-they fly horses from all over, back here before they even know if they any good,so that didn't quite make sense.
Insofar as our horses vs the rest, MdK has pointed out that the Dubai stakes are attracting more and more competition so its getting tougher,so maybe what we sending is not necessarily weaker,just that the competition is stronger ....interesting that our horses have never managed to go to the UK ,and run to the ratings they earned in Dubai-we don't actually have much to boast about on our UK record!
It may be a perception ,but is that why MdK is also including more foreign breds in his arsenal?

I am also on record (with abuse ) of believing Marinaresco,Silver Mountain and The conglomerate are overrrated in SA(more emotionally than arithmetically) ,never mind overseas......and even Legal Eagle seems a better horse on the highveld!

We also must remember 90% of the stars being proposed passengers performed below par during the WC season

RF - that's my problem I expect the truth when reading these articles and get some cock and bull story. Why not just tell the truth.

fafi wrote: and actually nothing will change until we realize that our ratings arent what they are

Impossible to quantify without regular external competition. So there will always be horses that are internationally overrated but also some underrated. So it's unrealistic just to rubbish the ratings based on perception.

Regularly the SA horses end up not far off their SA ratings , sometimes improve, and yes some run way below. The same happens to a lot of horses that don't travel and earn their ratings here.