# Kauto may miss the Gold cup!



## 3Beasties (1 March 2012)

As title, he took a bad tumble last week when schooling and although he's not lame he is not quite right!

At the moment Paul has said there is only a 50-50 chance of him running


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## TelH (1 March 2012)

It will be heartbreaking not to see him come up the hill one last time but they have to do right by the old boy...I'd rather he didn't run than end up trailing in near the back or being pulled up or worse still falling


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## 3Beasties (1 March 2012)

Completely agree TelH 

He owes nothing to anybody!


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## millhouse (1 March 2012)

Nothing in the paper about this this morning.  What a shame.  So long as he is safe though.


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## Elf On A Shelf (1 March 2012)

Running scared of Long Run already?


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## Dobiegirl (1 March 2012)

EKW not for one minute, if he dosnt make the gold cup I hope there is a race for him at Aintree, if not a honourary retirement.

Has anyone else seen the statement by Ruby Walsh, Im appalled at his lack of concern, i always thought he thought the world of Kauto.


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## amage (1 March 2012)

Dobiegirl said:



			Has anyone else seen the statement by Ruby Walsh, Im appalled at his lack of concern, i always thought he thought the world of Kauto.
		
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In all fairness Ruby is well documented as having respect rather than love for horses Kauto included!!! His job is to ride them not to care for them....there is an extensive team of people to care for the horse


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## Crazy_cat_lady (1 March 2012)

Dobiegirl said:



			Has anyone else seen the statement by Ruby Walsh, Im appalled at his lack of concern, i always thought he thought the world of Kauto.
		
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Agree with this you'd think after all Kauto did for him he'd at least have stayed to check he was ok.

I just have a nasty sense of foreboding about the Gold Cup and think it may be a race too far.

I'd have retired him after the King George on a high then let him parade at the Gold Cup then re train him for an active career. 

I think he'd do really well in ror classes.


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## LadyRascasse (1 March 2012)

EKW said:



			Running scared of Long Run already?
		
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Hardly!! He has had a very serious injury. If they were worried about him being beaten the would have just retired him after his last run. I hope King Kauto makes a full recovery and if he makes the gold cup thats good but if they retire him thats better imo. He is a true great and I would hate to see him go the was Best Mate did, that was just tragic.


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## Elf On A Shelf (1 March 2012)

Sorry, I've always been a Denman fan, never a Kauto fan.

I can assure you he will not have a serious injury! He will be a bit bashed and bruised if that. It's probably his confidence that has taken more a knock than anything. Your forgetting that that is half a tonne of muscle, it can take a bit of a battering without feeling too many, if any, ill effects. 

Clive Smith won't let his horse run if he thinks it won't be up at the front with Long Run, no matter which crosses the line first, and secondly he thinks to much of the horse to risk it in such a high class, fast paced race.

As to Ruby Walsh - the jockeys job is to steer them round the track and to gain the best finishing position as possible - hopefully always first. They are not paid to love the horses. They respect them, who wouldn't have a bit of respect for half a tonne of horse hurting around over mahoosive fences?!? He will be keeping in touch with the yard as to how he is getting on whilst at the same tie discussing other riding options in the Gold Cup. That's his job. To point, aim, steer and not get emotionally attached during their careers.


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## Dobiegirl (1 March 2012)

He is 12 years old so is not going to bounce back like a younger horse but will be given every treatment possible to get him back  to where he was before.

I know jockeys have a job to do but this is Kauto Star we are talking about and is very likely the best horse Ruby Walsh has ever ridden or ever likely to ride. I would expect that even a hardened jockey would have a very big soft spot for Kauto considering he is the best since Arkle imo.


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## TelH (1 March 2012)

I think maybe Ruby has a rather well hidden soft spot for Kauto  You could argue a pretty good case for Kauto being the greatest ever, Ruby has even been quoted as saying Kauto's longevity sets him above Arkle. But he has a job to do and if he's worrying about Kauto whilst he's lining up on Hurricane Fly or Big Bucks or whoever there's something wrong.


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## Xander (1 March 2012)

The horse is a legend so please retire him now (I wanted him retired after the King George) He can have a bit of fun in other spheres.


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## Andalusianlover1 (2 March 2012)

It will be awful if he doesnt run, the race wont be the same without him but quite rightly the team wont run him if he isnt 110%.

As for being "running scared" of Long Run!!!!  I dont think so.  Kauto wasnt at his best last year, Long Run will never be in the same league as King Kauto!

Got my fingers crossed he's fit and well!


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## amage (2 March 2012)

LadyRascasse said:



			Hardly!! He has had a very serious injury. If they were worried about him being beaten the would have just retired him after his last run.
		
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Eh no he hasn't got a very serious injury. He has cantered every day since the fall and is just stiff. If he was an average handicapper going for a chase around ffos las he'd be running but you don't go to the biggest race of the year without being 100%! i would imagine the biggest concern is that they will be hard pushed to get a couple of good pieces and enough schooling to be sure he is confident in time. His biggest asset over Long Run this season has been his jumping yet now he is after a fright and in the mean time Long Run is tuning up with some schooling with Yogi Breisner. Timing is everything with horses....fingers crossed he'll improve over the weekend


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## Alec Swan (2 March 2012)

The answer it seems to me,  is simple.  The race should be delayed,  or set back,  until he's fully recovered.

Alec.


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## MadisonBelle (2 March 2012)

EKW said:



			Running scared of Long Run already?
		
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Hahahahahaha..................... Let's just see if Long Run achieves what Kauto has done.....

A good horse but please.......seriously not in the same league as Kauto!!


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## Daffodil (2 March 2012)

Too right, Alec  !!

Incredible bad luck for him to have this accident now, when he's been round that schooling arena a million times, with as far as we know, no incidents.

Apart from the physical legacy of his fall, I'm as much worried about what it's done to his confidence.   It took him a year to get over his fall in the Gold Cup of 2010.


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## KautoStar1 (2 March 2012)

I think some people are being a bit melodramatic and are taking Rubys words a bit too literally.  He is famous for his cool no nonsense approach and for being direct.  Its not that he doesnt care, its just he doesnt fluff it up with sentiment.   He just says it how it is.  When he said he didnt hang around to find out how the horse was he didnt mean the horse fell, so he drove off in his car without a second glance.  He means he wasnt then part of the team who tended to the horse in the following days.

I think hes having a gallop today or tomorrow and then theyll re-assess him.  My understanding its a muscle soreness, which for any horse (or human) can take a while to get over.    I expect it was a typical Kauto fall.   He seems to find it all so easy that its like he just forgets himself so when he falls its catastrophic !!!  At least it was in the relative softness of the school and not a racing pace fall.  Id be more worried about the effect it has on him mentally.
I would suspect, if he doesnt  make Cheltenham but recovers well, hell go to Punchestown for one last hoorah.

As for Long Run, well if Kauto doesnt make it, I cant see anything else in the race that will worry him and it will be a much more open race for the places.  However, he will never be in Kautos league.  Except if he wins 16 grade 1s over all the championship distances.  Not likely.


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## TelH (2 March 2012)

Alec Swan said:



			The answer it seems to me,  is simple.  The race should be delayed,  or set back,  until he's fully recovered.

Alec.
		
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Excellent idea  

Long Run is certainly there to be shot at if Kauto doesn't turn up. I'll be interested to see where Grands Crus goes. With the whole Kauto/Long Run scenario I think the RSA should have been the route he took but if, heaven forbid, Kauto doesn't make it perhaps running Grands Crus in the Gold cup wouldn't be such a crazy idea after all. I believe the final decision on Kauto is being made a week tomorrow.


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## Phoebe (2 March 2012)

I truly hope they dont run him... I will already be a nervous wreck watching if he is running fit and well....


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## Clodagh (2 March 2012)

Odd that he should fall just cantering round the school. I love him and hope he runs...but only if hes going to win! Long Run doesn't even deserve to look over the practice fence with him IMO.

Did anyone see PN lose his rag on RacingUK today? So deserved, he is nothing if not up front about his horses.


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## amage (2 March 2012)

Clodagh said:



			Odd that he should fall just cantering round the school. I love him and hope he runs...but only if hes going to win! Long Run doesn't even deserve to look over the practice fence with him IMO.

Did anyone see PN lose his rag on RacingUK today? So deserved, he is nothing if not up front about his horses.
		
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he was schooling over fences....bit different from cantering round a school!!


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## Clodagh (2 March 2012)

Well he was jumping fences in the school, so I can't believe he was going faster than a canter.


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## Tank_08 (2 March 2012)

PN was so disrespected by Lydia in her interview on RUK today she was like a dog with a bone implying that he had withheld vital information from the press and public, she was way out of order and only the owner and trainer need know if there is a hiccup (betting sucks!) doesn't she understand how an athletic individual as fit as you can get him can just throw themselves about in sheer exhuberance. Lydia you need to appologise to PN.


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## amage (2 March 2012)

Clodagh said:



			Well he was jumping fences in the school, so I can't believe he was going faster than a canter.
		
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=u_pjpX_gaTQ#! 

they go decpetively quick....quicken off the corner!


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## amage (2 March 2012)

Tank_08 said:



			PN was so disrespected by Lydia in her interview on RUK today she was like a dog with a bone implying that he had withheld vital information from the press and public, she was way out of order and only the owner and trainer need know if there is a hiccup (betting sucks!) doesn't she understand how an athletic individual as fit as you can get him can just throw themselves about in sheer exhuberance. Lydia you need to appologise to PN.

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Didn't see the interview but actually they do have a duty of sorts to punters to keep them informed. There is already about £50,000 in bets on Kauto with Paddy Power alone. Owners and trainers have to declare if horses have had wind ops etc and this would come under a similar vein of thought. People including pro gamblers will be backing the horse/factoring him into accumulators etc. It's part of the sport which Nicholls & Clive Smith are very familiar with.


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## Phoebe (3 March 2012)

There's a lot of money on the horse ap but a couple of the bookies have promised to refund if he doesn't win. Think Nichols yard is a little out of sorts at the moment so must be concerning for him, he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't


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## Little Squirrel (3 March 2012)

I can't see him not running to be honest. He cantered 10 furlongs yesterday.


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## Alec Swan (5 March 2012)

The news from PN seemed much more positive when he was interviewed on The Morning Line,  so I would be very surprised if he doesn't run.  As others,  my heart will be in my mouth!!

Alec.


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## TelH (12 March 2012)

Kauto is running on Friday. The dream lives on  

http://betting.betfair.com/horse-ra...me-kauto-will-run-in-the-gold-cup-120312.html


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## digger2 (12 March 2012)

Great news


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## Elf On A Shelf (12 March 2012)

Good news all round! I know I got a few of you riled up over my Long Run comment and it did exactly what I wished it to do  But in all seriousness he is a very good horse, he has youth on his side, his jumping does let him down upon occassion but so does Kauto's. Don't rule him out! He is only just getting firing! And before you ask, no I have no great love of the Waley-Cohens, Twiston Davies or any of his connections but they do warrant the utmost respect.

After all - it is a Jumps race and anything could happen!

As for tomorrows racing - I can't see Hurricane Fly being beaten in the Champion Hurdle. I would dearly LOVE Celestial Halo to gain a place as I really admire this horse. And then you have Sprinter Sacre in the Arkle - can't be beaten! He is a class apart! He was a good thing at the Festival last year so we know he gets up the hill. He is a cracking wee jumper and I don't think anything can touch him. Al Ferof will fill up one of the places.


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## amage (12 March 2012)

Cannot wait to see Hurricane Fly do his thing tomorrow. I quite like Sizing Australia for the Cross Country race aswell


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