I’ll be honest – I thought Cyrname was going to win the King George VI Chase at Kempton.
I was on the From the Horse’s Mouth podcast and Paddy asked me who I’d have in it – and I picked him out.
I said beforehand that pacey horses tend to win, more so than sluggers. I thought that Cyrname was going to do it.
If I was still riding, my choice of ride would certainly have been Cyrname. Didn’t work out though, did it?
Cyrname never wanted to go. He never looked like the horse we saw in Ascot twice last year and this year when beating Altior.
Paul Nicholls’ runner was as flat as a pancake and so was Lostintranslation. If I had backed Cyrname, I would have been sweating by the time they got to the second fence, let alone by the time they got to the second last.
I don’t think he ever got going – he just had an off day. I think the same for Lostintranslation, and in hindsight – which is a wonderful thing – did Cyrname and Altior, who we may see again this weekend, both have too hard a race in Ascot?
It was a brilliant race between them that day but being so early in the season, has it had a huge effect on them both already?
That’s the way it looked to me.
Lostintranslation looked like he wasn’t over his exertions of beating Bristol De Mai in the Betfair Chase at Haydock, either.
I never fancied Cyrname for the Cheltenham Gold Cup anyway, over three-and-a-quarter miles, but would I give him another chance generally?
Yes, most definitely, but over three miles around Kempton or Punchestown.
I’d give him another chance in one of those.
