Ascot Saturday

Guyz watch variety club next season he will do us proud

anyone think soft falling rain shld have gone for the breeders cup instead??

neigh Wrote:

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> Igugu IMO is half the horse she was in SA.
> Something very amiss there. Very sad !!


That is a completely invalid statement. How can you compare her form in South Africa with what she has done overseas? On what basis do you say that she is half the horse?
How can you compare the ratings she achieved in SA with the ratings that she is running to currently?

IMO she was never going to be competitive yesterday. Distance too far, going very soft and competition much stronger than she has ever faced.

What other outcome did you expect?

Simply because she won the triple crown in SA as well as the July and the Met does not make her an international superstar.

She is small and was by far the best of quite a weak generation.

That doesn't mean she isn't a superstar in SA, just not in other parts of the world.

IMO the only true superstar SA has ever exported has been Horse Chestnut. I know he only won a GR2 in the USA but it wasn't what race he won, where he won it or who he ran against but rather the manner of his victory.

I have no doubt he would have been competitive at the Breeders Cup had he not gone wrong.

Also Dubai in my opinion is not really a yardstick as the best horses traditionally don't race there because of the funny part of the season.

Let us wait and see how Variety Club does but let him prove himself first by winning outside of the country and then doing well at the biggest horse racing 2 day event on the planet.

This morning paper says that igugu has been retired 2 stud

FREZ Wrote:

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> This morning paper says that igugu has been
> retired 2 stud


and if SFR had won,he would have probably followed her...

London News, Sun Classique, Jay Peg, Irridescence, JJ, Shea Shea to name a few didn't do too badly overseas.

The top UK horses don't normally travel to the East so it's not easy to gauge. There haven't been too many SA champions who have actually competed in the UK and yes our horses are prob below the UK best but given the breeding options over the years I think we've done remarkebly well. Trying to take on the massive UK racing operations in their own back yard is very tough.

SFR did pretty well in his 2 races in the UK before Champions Day. Don't you remember the Ooh! Ah! Awesome! comments of the commentators when he won a Gr 2 at Newmarket last time out? You'all forget so quickly. They didn't think they were seeing a fluke win by an inferior colonial horse, they thought they were seeing a superb performance full of courage by a potential Gr 1 winner. Remember the fast opening fractions, and yet how he powered up the notorious Newmarket rise - graveyard of so many bright hopes - to the winning post?

But the going at Ascot DID mess that plan up (sorry Winzip but it's a fact) and SFR ran second-last to go with Igugu's stone last. Poor Mike de Kock must have felt there was more mud on his face than on the whole of the Ascot track.

After Igugu left S.A, she was never the same horse. I think the long travelling to get overseas affected her badly. Thank goodness she has gone to stud.

Mavourneen Wrote:

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> SFR did pretty well in his 2 races in the UK
> before Champions Day. Don't you remember the Ooh!
> Ah! Awesome! comments of the commentators when he
> won a Gr 2 at Newmarket last time out? You'all
> forget so quickly. They didn't think they were
> seeing a fluke win by an inferior colonial horse,
> they thought they were seeing a superb performance
> full of courage by a potential Gr 1 winner.
> Remember the fast opening fractions, and yet how
> he powered up the notorious Newmarket rise -
> graveyard of so many bright hopes - to the winning
> post?
>
> But the going at Ascot DID mess that plan up
> (sorry Winzip but it's a fact) and SFR ran
> second-last to go with Igugu's stone last. Poor
> Mike de Kock must have felt there was more mud on
> his face than on the whole of the Ascot track.


Mav,just read the topic "Sitting 200 Miles Away"
A lot of posters got excited about SFR at Newmarket.He looked good against second rate performers

Dave SFR is good, but you canie be brilliant on very fast going and be good enough to win on heavy against top opposition .
SFR is built like a bull was never going to act on the surface, hence the betting drift from 2/1 to 8/1

hibernia Wrote:

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> Dave SFR is good, but you canie be brilliant on
> very fast going and be good enough to win on heavy
> against top opposition .
> SFR is built like a bull was never going to act on
> the surface, hence the betting drift from 2/1 to
> 8/1


Should have pulled it out then.

T H Igugu left SA after 12 races (10 wins and 2 seconds) with a MR of 117 ( today 123) she retired to stud with MR of 109. Ok you are correct not half the horse. She never lived up to what we expect of MDK horses going abroad. IMO there was/is something a miss with her. Sour, hormone's, injury, don't like the souties WTF ever. That is always very sad for me when our horses don't perform overseas and there aren't many ! England IMO has the best breed horses in the world and its not easy to take them on in their back yard. IMO MDK is still finding his feet over there, but wait till he gets it right and he will. Back to Igugu. Small has never been a reason for performing below par or below the horses ability. Super star I don't think she was but well above average. She seemed to lose the will to win. She will unfortunately go down as a disappointment to me I expected more ! I'm sure one of the clanners knows the reason/reasons and it would be interesting to find out. Hope she becomes a top broodmare.