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The naysayers like Zarkava for daring to suggest he was a near enough good thing for the Arkle. Vindication.
Three main Cheltenham prospects remain Grands Crus/Sprinter Sacre/Grandouet.
Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!
Nobody ever collected on a horse shortening up in the market. Sprinter Sacre has beaten a couple of horses in two chases – he has plenty to do in order to prove that he actually is a superstar.
I think the way Donald McCain has introduced Peddlers Cross to chasing, is excellent in the fact that before today, he didnt really have the calibre of opponents such as Sprinter Sacre.
However, that could then result in the old ‘well, what has he beaten’ questions arising.
Sprinter Sacre really turned on the gas today, and Peddlers Cross was well beaten. It may be that he is a better horse going left handed, but i dont think he particularly needs more time between his races, as his racing history suggests he has had shorter breaks, but actually won his next appearances.
I just think he was beaten today, by a better horse, and Sprinter Sacre looks one to be on the right side of.
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.
The Ryanair ??!!!
He’ll either go for the Jewson or give PC one more run in a month or so and have another crack at SS in the Arkle.
Personally think he’ll go for the Jewson
The naysayers like Zarkava for daring to suggest he was a near enough good thing for the Arkle. Vindication.
Huh? Makes no sense.
Sprinter Sacre was indeed very impressive, but a three runner contest around Kempton is a pale comparison to the type of challenge that awaits him at Cheltenham in March.
Kingfisher
brings up an interesting comparison. Regular TRF members will remember that I was strongly against Finian’s Rainbow last year and he was my lay of the meeting. He was visually impressive throughout the season, but I just didn’t like the way he jumped as a novice and he always came up short at Grade One level when travelling better than anything over hurdles.
Contrary to the vast majority, I wasn’t overly impressed with his jumping with a view to Cheltenham. He was near foot perfect, but the style required to jump around Kempton and Cheltenham couldn’t be more different. Just take a look at how Al Ferof jumps compared to Sprinter Sacre. It’s no surprise that he has already floated around Cheltenham.
Style can bring you success at Aintree in April, but it does not win you an Arkle.
Without tooting my own horn (and regular TRF memebers will remember), I was adamant that Tidal Bay was an Arkle winner after his defeat to Leslingtaylor at Doncaster and I never lost faith in Captain Chris last season. They were battle hardened warriors with a touch of class and had form around Prestbury Park.
I was never a fan of Sizing Europe as a hurdler, but he looked an ideal chaser the moment I saw him. Before I get carried away, yes, I also suggested Calgary Bay as an Arkle horse, but three out of four ain’t bad!
WORD OF WARNING: For those of you dismissing Peddlers Cross, just remember. Captain Chris reversed several pieces of form to win his Arkle and Tidal Bay stuffed his Donny conqueror out of sight at Cheltenham.
At this very moment I strongly fancy Al Ferof. He hasn’t put a foot wrong around two of the most daunting tracks for a novice – Cheltenham and Sandown. He powered away from Sprinter Scare to win at The Festival last year and he will get a real tow in the Arkle, which is just what he needs.
I hope Alan King changes his mind and gives Walkon a crack at two miles. His Exeter triumph from Zaynar and Notus De La Tour is beginning to look pretty useful form. He loves Cheltenham and has plenty of stamina, which is a must for any Arkle winner.
I think you’re absolutely spot on there, Bos and couldn’t agree more about Al Ferof. I’ve never seen a horse put in 2 such incredible rounds of jumping – and those were his first 2 runs over fences.
My Way De Solzen managed to reverse a 10 length deficit into a 5 length victory between the Henry VI and the Arkle, albeit on 4lb better terms.
Sprinter Sacre was indeed very impressive, but a three runner contest around Kempton is a pale comparison to the type of challenge that awaits him at Cheltenham in March.
Kingfisher
brings up an interesting comparison. Regular TRF members will remember that I was strongly against Finian’s Rainbow last year and he was my lay of the meeting. He was visually impressive throughout the season, but I just didn’t like the way he jumped as a novice and he always came up short at Grade One level when travelling better than anything over hurdles.
Contrary to the vast majority, I wasn’t overly impressed with his jumping with a view to Cheltenham. He was near foot perfect, but the style required to jump around Kempton and Cheltenham couldn’t be more different. Just take a look at how Al Ferof jumps compared to Sprinter Sacre. It’s no surprise that he has already floated around Cheltenham.
Style can bring you success at Aintree in April, but it does not win you an Arkle.
Without tooting my own horn (and regular TRF memebers will remember), I was adamant that Tidal Bay was an Arkle winner after his defeat to Leslingtaylor at Doncaster and I never lost faith in Captain Chris last season. They were battle hardened warriors with a touch of class and had form around Prestbury Park.
I was never a fan of Sizing Europe as a hurdler, but he looked an ideal chaser the moment I saw him. Before I get carried away, yes, I also suggested Calgary Bay as an Arkle horse, but three out of four ain’t bad!
.Sprinter Sacre is a much better horse than Finians Rainbow
Now Peddlers Cross has been put in his place the troops have come up with a new challenger in Al Ferof. This one is laughable at least Peddler’s Cross was a good traveller.
The problem Al Ferof faces is he is very likely to come under pressure from a long way out in the Arkle and Ruby will have to keep at him to keep in touch as Sprinter Sacre just by the way he travels without effort is going to guarantee and exceptionally fast pace.
That is going to make life very hard for a horse who clearly lacks mid race pace and was sent chasing for that very reason.
If you doubt that ask yourself why a horse who beat Spirit Son so easily in the Supreme is jumping fences instead of heading towards the Champion Hurdle like the horse he beat?
If ever a horse was made not to beat another one it’s Al Ferof V Sprinter Sacre. Sprinter Sacre travels miles better than he does and will gain so much ground mid race unless he stops no way will Al Ferof get within challenging distance at any point in the race.
If Sprinter Sacre is to be beaten I suggest you Al Ferof fans switch camps and come up with a better horse than him.
Paul Nichols made a wise decision at the time to send him chasing but he never reckoned on meeting this horse. I bet now he wishes he’d kept to hurdling and gone fencing next year.
It’s funny cos Finian’s Rainbow travelled like a dream and Captain Chris was being ridden from a long way out in last years renewal and we all know what happened there.
I very much doubt – given the stamina issue – that the intention will be for Sprinter Sacre to lead in the Arkle. He may of course pull himself to the front. Having said that I would prefer to see him allowed to bowl along rather than the come there cruising at the last scenario where we have the possibility of a mistake or not finding as much as expected off the bridle.
i’m with hurdygurdyman here. I think it’ll be very difficult indeed for al ferof to keep tabs on sprinter sacre in the arkle and i’m very confident that he’ll reverse form from the supreme.
also i’m far from convinced that al ferof’s jumping is as faultless as some have made out, he fell in a point to point and on his chasing debut (ok this might be nitpicking here but the arkle is a ruthless examination) he dived at a couple early on.
In fact i’d still rate peddlers in front of al ferof, and mccain seems to now be convinced that he wasn’t himself at kempton (although i’m not sure i’m totally convinced by that)
basically sprinter sacre is a monster and I believe he’ll be racings next superstar. I think he’ll put them to the sword in the arkle. sure you could fancy peddlers or al ferof in a normal arkle, but it’s my belief that sprinter sacre is no ordinary horse.
stilvi
Thu Dec 29, 2011 1:49 pm
I very much doubt – given the stamina issue – that the intention will be for Sprinter Sacre to lead in the Arkle.what stamina issue? I think too much is made of sprinter sacre not "getting up the hill" in the supreme. in my eyes he got up the hill fine for such a young horse, who clearly is big and gangly and had some strengthening up to do. I think we can tell already that he’s strengthed over the summer break and connections have alluded to that.
he got up the hill no problem, just that on the day spirit son and al ferof got up the hill better. It’s not like he completely faded out of it to finish 7th or 8th. he still finished ahead of cue card, who connections think stays further than 2 miles.
you could make the argument I suppose, that al ferof will charge up the hill again and nab sprinter sacre like he did in the supreme, but I think that he won’t be within hailing distance after the last for that even to be an issue.
In the Supreme he went from travelling best to finishing third. He managed to hold off a horse who consistently finds little off the bridle.
If you think beating a couple of rivals at Kempton and Doncaster is proof that he will see out a much stiffer test at Cheltenham that is up to you.
Fist argues whenever anybody says that Al Ferof beat Sprinter Sacre in the Supreme, saying that hurdling is a different ballgame.
Now he comes out and uses that Supreme run as proof why Sprinter Sacre will beat Al Ferof…
Why do you think the Dom Alco French-bred Al Ferof got stoked up? Because he gave his hurdles lots of air and lost ground to the others. Yet Sprinter Sacre was fine because he hurdled well.
Now that Sprinter Sacre won’t hold that advantage over Al Ferof, that brings things into Al Ferof’s favour.
That’s your problem Zark you never looked beyond the end of your nose before plunging in on Al Ferof. To you he won the Supreme so therefore he must win the Arkle.
What you didn’t take into consideration was Sprinter Sacre wasn’t trained all out to win the Supreme as he was still a big baby.
You say I am double timing for want of better words and my assumptions are wrong yet I wrote a post about how I thought the Wayward Lad would go and against all odds I was 100% correct.You could have written the commentary of the post before the race.
Nothing clever about spotting an exceptional horse like Sprinter Sacre or spotting that Peddlers Cross is a very good traveller that lacks finishing speed. All you do is ignore the media and the hype and look beyond the obvious. No matter how many times I watch the Champion Hurdle I see a a horse who failed to quicken at the end of his race.
When I look ar Al Ferof I see a horse who is not a great traveller who is very likely to need stoking up to keep in touch at some point in the Arkle.
At Sandown you would imagine a high class horse would have just quickened away from a mediocre one when challenged. Al Ferof never Ruby had to drive him for dear life to get going which he eventually did about 10 yds from the post.
AlFerof is as fast as they come once he gets going but he can’t quicken instantly if his performances in the Supreme and at Sandown are to be believed.
The last type of horse he wants to be meeting is a horse who can quicken and chance race pace instantly, jump like a gazelle and gain lengths on you at every fence especially if you are slow to respond. The last horse he wants to be taking on is Sprinter Sacre.
Interesting that Donald McCain is now saying Peddlers wasn’t himself which I find odd. He’s ran a good race in defeat considering his first fence blunder but he’s finished miles clear of the third as expected. Looks like he’s thinking of having another go.
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