Everybody seems to have a very strong view on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this year as we seen our star So You Think run well but get beaten into 4th position.
Opinions are like bums- Everybody has one! And that is what makes racing the game that we love. Whether you are right or wrong, sometimes we will never know, but we can all have an opinion. Some punters are saying he was just disappointing and pulled out the ‘overrated’ tag. Others are saying the ride slaughtered it. And then there are the people calling for the horse to be taken off Aiden O’Brien as he has ruined it by ordinary tactics since it has gone to Coolmore.
On doing the replay there is very little that could have been done from the barrier (14). Their tactic was to drop him back, get a smother and pour the pace on up the front through a pacemaker. That is exactly what happened, but the stumbling blokes were a leaders track and a really classy filly called Danedream. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and maybe they could have done without the pacemaker and tried to get him in a much handier position to fight the finish out? Possibly, but I don’t think they did a lot wrong. They could not have gone any harder up front and he was smoking his pipe on the rails and had a trouble free run in the straight. If they pushed on and were caught four wide the entire trip then punters would be even more upset.
At the end of the day I was as upset as everybody that So You Think was beaten. But you had to be proud of the way he ran, and he will win many more races in Europe. We can come up with many reasons why he went down and what decisions were right or wrong, but in the end of the day the two things that beat our champ were barrier 14 and a bloody good mare Danedream that was unbeatable on the day no matter what!
Here is the replay for those who have not seen it yet.
