Denman: A no thresholds barred assessment

Jamie Lynch / Jamie Lynch / 09 December 2011 / Leave a Comment

Jamie favours Denman's Hennessy over Kauto's Gold Cup

"If you could watch a replay of Denman's attacking and near-brutal display of power in the 2007 Hennessy under top weight, in which he achieved a Timeform rating of 177, or a replay of Kauto Star's awesome and near-perfect display of class in the 2009 King George, where he won by a distance and ran to 191, which one would you choose? It's Denman for me."

How good? How bad? How human? Jamie Lynch looks back on Denman's career with his Chief Correspondent hat on.

The temptation is to go all sentimental when a sudden retirement is announced; to focus on and even elaborate the strengths while at the same time ignoring or making light of any weaknesses. Anybody - and that probably includes everybody - who has had to sit through a pretty uncomfortable and toe-curling ten minutes of a workplace send-off to a departing colleague knows what I mean.

People gather round with half-smiles that betray how much they really want to be there, then the boss takes his place next to Bob and reminds everyone just what a top bloke Bob is, what brilliant work Bob has done and what a big miss Bob will be, before bestowing on Bob whatever the £70 whip round stretched to. Think of it a bit like sex - an obligatory and fairly routine if slightly awkward ten-minute procedure in which both parties go away falsely contented. Agreed?

The temptation for so-called correspondents like me is to ham it up a notch when looking back on Denman's career; to use the word 'racehorse' where 'horse' would do (much in the same way that managers say 'this football club' to make themselves sound all the more serious), or to bandy about words like 'great' and 'legend' without really thinking it through, or, perhaps worst of all, to go anthropomorphic by trying to make the horse into a human.

So let's try and tell it how it is. Denman was a brilliant racehorse. Sorry. Denman was a brilliant horse. Not quite so brilliant as Kauto Star, nor even Long Run, nor seven other chasers in Timeform's experience, but a brilliant horse all the same. Denman couldn't match Kauto Star for class - very few can in history - and yet in races in which they went head to head and both completed, Denman twice finished ahead of him. How did that happen? It's here I think that we come to the crux of what set Denman apart and why he is more worthy than most of a Bob-style golden handshake from the racing business. The vast majority of horses, in any grade, do as well as they can or want and no more, no matter how many whips are allowed - that's why the principle of handicapping exists and generally works well in our sport - but Denman seemed to me to be willing and able to go through the barrier.

At times Denman looked to give his all and then some, which in part explains his off days, and, let's face it, there were more of them than you'll hear about in the immediate mushy aftermath of his retirement. Denman was beaten ten times in his career, seven as favourite, but three of those came hot on the heels of his overbearing performances in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. For anything worth having one must pay the price, and Denman was worth having.

We're not so ruthless or robotic here at Timeform to state that Denman was the joint-tenth best chaser by our reckoning and that's that, as horses can't be encapsulated by a rating alone, and then there's the personal view. Everybody has one. If you could watch a replay of Denman's attacking and near-brutal display of power in the 2007 Hennessy under top weight, in which he achieved a Timeform rating of 177, or a replay of Kauto Star's awesome and near-perfect display of class in the 2009 King George, where he won by a distance and ran to 191, which one would you choose? It's Denman for me.

Summing up Denman, I'd say he was a great racehorse with a rare spirit. That's 'great', 'racehorse' and a human characteristic in one soundbyte. Ah well, if you can't beat them...

Just enough time for me to answer a few e-mails that have come in over the last seven days, mostly surrounding this weekend's racing. Honest.

Do you think Denman can win the Lexus Chase over Christmas? Dave
No.

I've recently been made redundant, complete with a phony-baloney send-off by workmates who I have hated all along. Any jobs at Timeform? Bob
I'm sorry to hear that Bob, but no.

I'm doing all of Henderson's on Saturday. Which ones might win? Kenny
Oscar Whisky will win. Mossley might win. Tanks For That won't win.

What about Grandouet? Kenny
To be honest, Kenny, I've got my doubts about Grandouet in this class at this track. There'll be no let up in the gallop with Overturn in the field, and I'm backing Menorah to outstay Grandouet and Brampour up the hill.

Am I right to choose Sunnyhillboy? A.P.
Yes. Massive eye-catcher under a 10-lb claimer at Haydock, and Sunnyhillboy has a belting chance of going two places better than in this race last season.

What do you think of the 20:20 at Wolverhampton? Stu
Lucky that you have brought this up Stu, because it's my best bet of the weekend. Mull of Killough. Having sat out most of the turf season, Mull of Killough is a fresh horse for the time of year and has shaped well at Lingfield the last twice. I've got a suspicion that Wolverhampton will suit him that much better, and I've also got a suspicion that first-time headgear will do something for him, as will Shane Kelly, who is the ideal jockey for Mull of Killough.
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