Wall of Fire

Australian connections of Wall Of Fire have decided to spell the horse in Victoria while they decide who trains him into the future.

Another horse that was backed for a stack, and failed in the Cup. The bookies must have been in a delirium of joy.

djebel wrote: How on earth did a importedhorse that had a start before cup fail ?

Do you have any more silly questions, or is that the only one ?

Well, the winner was the first to win without the local lead-up run since Vintage Crop, and no doubt if you kept backing them, Rekindling would be a small consolation to the depleted betting bank.

Shrunk in the Wash wrote: I still fail to see why people liked this horse

I think just simply the run pre Cup and the myth that it matters/ed.

Raw numbers don't tell us much, but we know when nothing wins in 23 consecutive years, and there have been 0/97, the losses are "total". If the average price of them was 20/1,( close to it, I'd say) it would only have been a marginal loss to back everything over the 23 years that had indeed had a lead up run. Not that it would have mabe any sense to do that, laying the others would have been a very successful operation obviously.

3blindmice wrote: Quite a few went very close so it was more a hoodoo than a requirement. The late great MC campaigner Red Cadeaux missed by a pixel (supposedly)

I agree with that, the data set is so small, but people have a tendency to impart significance to that which in statistical terms, is most definitely not significant. There were quite a few seconds and thirds, which were they absent, might have lent credence to the theory.

Lord Hybrow wrote: I put the pen through him for the MC on the basis that he’d never won a black type race. Every MC winner for the past 30 years has at least won a black type race prior to its Melb Cup victory.   Only 2 MC winners in the past 50 years didn’t meet this criteria - Black Knight and Beldale Ball. Anyway it will be interesting to see who connections decide to place him with here in Australia.

Is that part of a method you use when picking a winner for the Cup? Its certainly an interesting factor to considwr.

max manewer wrote: It would be a matter of how many in the market didn't have a win in black type. Might be very few.

This year Wall of Fire, Thomas Hobson & Nakeeta were the 3 runners that had never won a black type race - so I immediately discounted them as winning chances.

I doubt any formulaic method is going to help much with the Melbourne Cup these days, it being a much-changed, and still changing event.

New trainer is Ciaron Maher





Wall Of Fire was last year trying to become the first English-trained Melbourne Cup winner but this year he will be striving to win the Cup for a home-grown Aussie trainer.

Hugo Palmer put the polish on the European stayer when he started at $11 in last year’s Melbourne Cup off the back of an excellent Australian debut when powering home into second in the Group II Herbert Power Stakes.

Wall Of Fire failed to flatter in the 2017 Melbourne Cup, finishing 16th behind Rekindling, but remained in Australia and is now in the care of Ciaron Maher.

Wall Of Fire has only recently come into Maher’s stable but he has high hopes for the stayer who he would have trained in last year’s Melbourne Cup if it wasn’t for a six-month training suspension.

Maher has previously had two Melbourne Cup runners (Jameka finished 15th in 2016 and Mr O’Ceirin second last in 2014).

But it is possible Maher’s career Melbourne Cup representation could be doubled this year with Wall Of Fire and also Light Pillar who he purchased from French trainer Andre Fabre.

Maher says Wall Of Fire, who has passed the ballot clause for the Melbourne Cup, is a pure stayer that he is delighted to get his hands on.

“He would have run for me last spring but I had my own set of circumstances and I spoke to the owners and said it was the best thing for the horse at the time to stay with Hugo,” Maher said.

“He is a medium-sized horse with a good aerobic capacity and hopefully he is bound for the Melbourne Cup.

“There is plenty of quality about him, it is just about getting him used to the different conditions out here and he probably appreciates a bit of give in the track.

“The first thing is to get him back fit and get a couple of trials into him.”

Maher hasn’t decided Wall Of Fire’s spring campaign, preferring to let the stayer tell him which races to run in as he attempts to get into the Melbourne Cup.

“I will map the program as we go with him,” Maher said.

“With these European horses, they don’t really handle a lot of galloping.

“It is just about getting them feeling well and getting some miles into their legs for conditioning.

“He will go through his campaign and I will just let the races bring him on.

“He is a pure stayer, an out-and-out stayer.”

Wall Of Fire is currently a best-priced $81 with Ladbrokes to win the 2018 Melbourne Cup.

We can cut that line I had drawn through him.

djebel wrote: We can cut that line I had drawn through him. Is he going first up into the Metropolitan ? I like it. Not sure I will back him, But I like it.

He’s not good enough for a Metropolitan Hcp, but the RM Ansett Classic at Mornington looks more his grade.

And 2400m first up shouldn’t be a problem.

Ciaron recently got another import in BIG BLUE to win a 3200m hurdle first up for nearly a year. Then he won again over 3480m at his 2nd up run.

This horse is being set towards the Melbourne Cup.
Don’t expect him to be doing anything this weekend.
At this stage Sydney is the front runner

djebel wrote: How good do you think the Metropolitan is ? A horse will not need to be remotely group 1 class to win it.

Fair enough comment looking at the latest market.

It’s definitely not as strong as is should be. The likes of Avilius, Ace High, Vengeur Masque, Sir Charles Road, Ventura Storm and several of Lloyd’s imports should all be running in the Metrop. It’s one of only a few G1 races any of these horses are capable of winning in the Spring.

Seems like the rise of the Bart Cummings Stks as a ballot free MC race is cannibalising the Metrop, despite only being a G3 race!