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And it’s good for racing that these horses are taking each other on before March. Football has clashes like this throughout the season. Horse racing is too geared towards Cheltenham and keeping horses apart til the big day. My father often recalls the old days when top horses would race more often.
Still think there’s a few horses who haven’t played their Arkle cards yet
The sad thing is this showdown could spoil the party proper.
If either PC or SS win with ease and a reversal at Cheltenham looks highly unlikely then he’s going to go very short indeed for the race.
Granted Al Ferof or Menorah could still topple Tuesday’s winner but the media will go way over the top about the winner, the bookies will cut him to the bone on price and all of a sudden what looked like being exceptionally competitive Arkle will look like a forgone conclusion.
For the sake of the Arkle it would have been much better if these two hadn’t met so soon.
See ‘Clashes’ – yet another Christmas repeat.
And it’s good for racing that these horses are taking each other on before March. Football has clashes like this throughout the season. Horse racing is too geared towards Cheltenham and keeping horses apart til the big day. My father often recalls the old days when top horses would race more often.
Still think there’s a few horses who haven’t played their Arkle cards yet
Ask you dad about The build up to the first clash between Arkle V Mill House and Sea Buscuit V War Admiral. They were 2 of the most exciting times racing has ever seen closely followed by Kauto Star V Denman
Tomorrows race is good for Kempton and it should be great to watch but it’s not good for the Arkle or the Cheltenham festival which is the World Cup final of NH racing.
The Buzz going around at the thought Binocular V Hurricane Fly were going to meet at Cheltenham left a huge whole in the Champion Hurdle when Binocular failed to show his form and was ruled out due to a treatment he was taking for an alergy.
It’s not like football at all it’s the unknown between budding champions that makes these clashes so exciting and worth waiting for. Once the party is over and you the picture is clearer rematches become less exciting as the individual horses don’t change like a football team can when it brings in someone like Ronaldo and change the whole face of a team.
I’m sure we’ll all enjoy the race but there can be no doubt it’s a bit of a blow for Cheltenham.
As far as others popping their heads into the picture I doubt if any will if they have easier options as this looks one hot Arkle which Grand Crus swerved without hesitation.
One horse who has already played his hand and could be dropped back from 2 1/2 miles is Alan King’s Walkon.
His demolition job of Zaynar who has since franked the form would put him in the Arkle with a decent chance.
He lost his way last season but the fact he hammered Zaynar who beat him two or 3 times over hurdles could be a pointer to he’s better than ever. Back in his novice days he actually beat Reve De Sivola the same distance as Peddler’s Cross did round Cheltenaham but Walk On was giving him 7lbs. It must have at least crossed Alan Kings mind to run him but it would appear by the betting they favour the Golden Miller over 2m4f.
Others like Dunguib and Solwhit would be interesting recruits but I have no idea what’s happening with either of them
What do you mean it’s garbage Hurricane Fly is the highest level not some Micky Mouse gee gee he beat in the Neptune ffs.
I was referring to your remark that Peddler’s Cross has been beaten at the highest level easily. Hurricane Fly is the best 2 Mile Hurdler i’ve ever seen (In large because im too young) ; i am not downplaying him. Rather, Peddler’s Cross gave him a good race and has proven to be the 2nd Best 2 mile Hurdler around. Quite contrary to your idea that he has failed to deliver at the highest level.
So winning a neptune is nothing, yet Sprinter Sacre tanking for most of the race only to finish 3rd is something different? You seem to cherry pick ideas without understand they contradict something else you’ve said.
Get used to it. Just laughable reading some of his posts. Speaks as if what he says is gospel. I’ve opened up 4 threads on Cheltenham and read about 6 contradictions from him with everybody else saying his posts make no sense. No surprise.
Ask you dad about The build up to the first clash between Arkle V Mill House and
Sea Buscuit V War Admiral
. They were 2 of the most exciting times racing has ever seen closely followed by Kauto Star V Denman
This would make you what, about 85?
Sprinter Sacre was excpetional there. The engine is ridiculous and he’s wonderfuly athletic. One of the best cruising speeds i’ve ever seen.
I’d still be slightly wary of Cheltenham with him, and do think Peddler’s Cross will get alot closer at Cheltenham, but it’s difficult not to get excited.
It doesn’t matter greatly to me as I am already on both Sprinter Sacre and Peddlers Cross but it does seem a little premature for McCain to be effectively waving a white flag where the Arkle is concerned. Sprinter Sacre was very impressive but Kempton was always likely to suit him more and the blunder at the first wouldn’t have helped the favourite either. Yes, a difficult task to reverse the form but impossible?
Sprinter Sacre was excpetional there. The engine is ridiculous and he’s wonderfuly athletic. One of the best cruising speeds i’ve ever seen.
I’d still be slightly wary of Cheltenham with him, and do think Peddler’s Cross will get alot closer at Cheltenham, but it’s difficult not to get excited.
Like i said the other day, the spectacular leaps are impressive but equally are the clever jumps, where he corrects himself.
Superb run, PC needs further, and the only way the form is reversed is injury or SS being brought down. Can’t see it.
I also agree that Sprinter Sacre was absolutely exceptional, but Kempton at the end of December and Cheltenham in March are 2 very, very different things. Take away the poor jump from Peddler’s at the first and it would’ve been a lot closer.
Also have to remember that this is a race that Henderson farms. 5 wins in the last 9 runnings before today. Those horses fared 5th, 8th, 3rd, 5th and the 2001 Festival was abandoned so Dusk Duel couldn’t get a run. Obviously Sprinter Sacre is a completely different horse and looks much better than any of those horses, but he also still has to get up that Cheltenham hill.
Henderson also has an utterly abysmal record with chasers at Cheltenham. It’s something like a 6% strikerate, despite having some high-profile victories on his CV.
Needless to say that all the value has completely disappeared and those who are on at 10/1+ have done very well.
I also agree that Sprinter Sacre was absolutely exceptional, but Kempton at the end of December and Cheltenham in March are 2 very, very different things. Take away the poor jump from Peddler’s at the first and it would’ve been a lot closer.
Also have to remember that this is a race that Henderson farms. 5 wins in the last 9 runnings before today. Those horses fared 5th, 8th, 3rd, 5th and the 2001 Festival was abandoned so Dusk Duel couldn’t get a run. Obviously Sprinter Sacre is a completely different horse and looks much better than any of those horses, but he also still has to get up that Cheltenham hill.
Henderson also has an utterly abysmal record with chasers at Cheltenham. It’s something like a 6% strikerate, despite having some high-profile victories on his CV.
Needless to say that all the value has completely disappeared and those who are on at 10/1+ have done very well.
Decent enough points but both trainer and jockey have a good record in the Arkle and Sprinter Sacre is a better horse than Finians Rainbow, and more likely to stay up the hill.
Also, Henderson’s chase record at Cheltenham is a surprisingly low 8%, but he’s had umpteen placed horses, and i daresay the stats have improved since Geraghty joined the team.
I see no reason at all for PC to reverse the form ( Maguire’s record at Cheltenham is diabolical ) and i’m not surprised they are thinking of stepping him up in trip
I don’t even think he’ll have to get up the hill that well, as he’ll be so far clear by the last that it won’t really matter.
This
Sprinter Sacre
is as short as 2/1 for The Arkle now after what most would describe as a scintillating performance around Kempton,he does remind me of both
Travado
and
Remittance Man
both of whom could jump like stags at speed.
Peddlars Cross
should not have been swept aside with such ease today which makes the winners performance all the more merited.I have said before that i just cant see Peddlars Cross getting round Cheltenham and i saw the exact problem why today,he all too often trys to hurdle his fences and that will be his downfall come March.Sprinter Sacre likes to have a look around quite a bit i noticed and his ears were twitching constantly which suggests there’s plenty going on in his head but because he’s such a fine specimen i would imagine its because he really has bags of scope for further improvement,at no point today did he ever look like falling even when he fiddled one,he jumped big but always landed travelling and that will stand him in good stead for the future,so what can beat him in the Arkle? 2 things,the first is inexperience,i still believe he is mentally immature,he was physically immature last year and that told in the ‘Supreme’.Oh and the other thing that can beat him is the same horse that did just that…
Al Ferof
,this fellows what you would describe as a ‘Hard’ horse,we’ll see.
Listening to Henderson it appears that it was somewhat fortuitous that he ended up in front today as the plan was to track Peddlers Cross. With the doubt about the hill I suspect they will not be looking to hit the front too soon at Cheltenham. If he comes there cruising at the last there is still plenty that might go wrong. For me he is far from bombproof.
I made the following observation on the wayward lad novices thread :
Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:12 pm
a lot of people seem to be implying that peddlers cross didn’t run to form, but i’m not so sure.nick mordin is his column, made the point after peddlers cross last run at bangor that peddlers cross needs a long break in between his races, because he puts so much into them.
he tends to be the opposite type of horse to the one who just does enough, and predicted that if he ran again soon after that bangor run he would get beat and would drift out for the arkle, and would then be a good bet for the cheltenham race. so you could argue he bounced.
he was probably right about that but looking at the race today he was dwarfed by the henderson horse, who simply took lengths out at him at every fence, and for a big gangly horse showed a huge amount of accelaration in the home straight to back up his exhiliarting jumping. it could well be that mccain has simply made a mistake with peddlers cross and that he should have been kept to hurdles, as his career was progressing nicely in that sphere.
Anyone remember this?
"Good luck and if you are correct so be it but my advise is back Sprinter Sacre for the Arkle right now because he’ll be no better than 2/1 by 4pm on Tuesday."
Any talk of reversing form or getting closer because it’s Cheltenham is a waste of breath.
Donald McCain isn’t a stupid man he’ll eat his humble pie and go for the Ryan Air.
Peddlers isn’t a speed horse that was made blatantly obvious today and you’d have to say he was flattered like I said before by his proximity to Hurricane Fly in the Champion Hurdle..
Even if you took Sprinter Sacre out of the Arkle, Such is the difference between hurdling and fencing there’s no guarantee Al Ferof or even Menorah who finished behind him in the Champion Hurdle won’t have the beaten of Peddler’s Cross in the Arkle.
Some horses will improve no end when switching to fences. A trainer once told me a long time ago me the amount of air they can take in when jumping fences is greater and some horses benefit more than others.
At the end of the day Peddler’s Cross is more about stamina than he is about speed and I’d say he’s a certainty to go for the Ryanair now.
Pity and I knew it would, it’s ruined what would have been an exciting build up to the Arkle but connections of PC will be glad they found out now and can change directions.
It may suit your bluster to suggest otherwise but it is perfectly reasonable to assume Peddlers Cross would get closer at Cheltenham. He made a bad blunder at the first, Cheltenham and Kempton are chalk and cheese and he was giving away 2lbs. In my opinion McCain should give Peddlers at least one more run over two miles – preferably against some reasonable opposition – before making a firm decision.
It would be very strange if the trainer were to suddenly consider taking on experienced chasers in the Ryanair after facing only a handful of rivals in three chases.
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