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I agree about
Cue Card
Steeple,i too thought he was a boy against men as a hurdler,i like him as a Chaser but he is not an Arkle horse,he’s got ‘Jewson’ written all over him after that comfortable if somewhat ‘iffy’ round of jumping there at Newbury.
I backed Cue Card today but I am struggling to see how anyone could be confident about him jumping round Cheltenham let alone winning. He didn’t complete last time he was there and the bigger field and better race would only increase the danger. I don’t think it would be the worst move to skip the Festival and try and build some confidence.
It is blatantly clear if you watch all Al Ferof’s races that he’s far better at jumping the bigger obstacles. In quite a few of his hurdles races he didn’t jump particularly well, but in both chase starts so far he’s been near on perfect at every fence. This is the reasoning behind why the Sprinter Sacre fans are saying he will easily turn round Supreme Novices form as he will make a far, far better chaser than hurdler,
Sprinter just comes across as the more natural, big strapping chaser type. I’ve watched the Supreme numerous times and as the big four approach the last they’re almost in a line and SS just looks so much bigger in the shoulder than the other three. I think Al Ferof will make a good chaser and may win an ordinary renewal of the Arkle, but SS looks incredibly special and Barry thinks he’s an important horse for the future.
I backed Cue Card today but I am struggling to see how anyone could be confident about him jumping round Cheltenham let alone winning. He didn’t complete last time he was there and the bigger field and better race would only increase the danger. I don’t think it would be the worst move to skip the Festival and try and build some confidence.
Agree. Actually thought he jumped much the worst of the 4.
The form of this race isn’t worth my either in my opinion. Walkon probably needs further and his jumpimg absolutely killed any chance he had in the home straight. Cue Card didn’t jump particularly well either, and at Cheltenham i wouldn’t touch him. They’ll go alot faster, and i don’t think his jumping can handle that. Even if it did, i don’t think he’s good enough anyway.
I was relatively impressed with Menorah. I feel like he can jump at pace very well, but seems lazy sometimes. I mean you wouldn’t be totally confident in his jumping yet, but i believe it’s better than Cue Card’s.
Good as Sprinter Sacre looks, I think it would be folly to dismiss Cue Card for the Arkle, especially at the price still availiable.
He wasn’t fluent at times today, granted but Tizzard did the right thing in making all as the horse’s prime need over fences is to be travelling fast enough to have a proper cut at them. Restraint at Cheltenham caused the unseat imo – he was giving Grands Crus 5lbs that day when the grey was a very marginal favourite. (6/4 -7/4) and given he didn’t get the best ride at Newbury, combined with his tendency to idle, I think there’s a reasonable argument he could be 3 from 4 and who knows what might have happened had he stood up at Cheltenham?
At Newbury he gave Bobs Worth 7lbs. Today he gave the runner-up 7lbs and beat him much further than Al Ferof did at levels.
His idling habit and good jumping at pace on decent ground will, I believe, make The Arkle ideal for him, allowing Tizzard to hold him up. He also looks to be one of those ‘no specialist distance’ stuck somewhere between 2m and 20f that The Arkle’s stamina/speed test suits perfectly.
20s was too big yesterday and 14s is still way too big today imo.
Cue Card is a bit of a loose cannon when it comes to jumping to say the least but he gets from A to B his way. I was just saying today in another thread I think at long last he’s got the message and he could be a force to be reckoned with now.
He’s got the beating of Al Ferof if you believe the Sandown form but that’s really shooting at the moon. Al Ferof was bored sh!tless at Sandown IMO and the collateral form is worth next to nothing.
So after all the frustration and let downs he finally finds his way and level so what does Colin Tizzard do? He drops him down in trip to take on potentially the best Novice seen in 40 odd years.
Well done Colin go sit in the corner and stick that pointy hat with the D on your head
Nothing wrong with Cue Card’s jumping. He looks quite clever, actually, and his technique is generally fine. Any errors are due to inexperience.
I can certainly see why connections are giving serious consideration to the Arkle. A strong traveller, he has a touch of class and can hold his form over further. Stamina is a key attribute for any potential Arkle winner.
There are a couple of glaring concerns, though. The first is his apparent lack of battling qualities. The second is that he just doesn’t appear to like other horses! He simply hates being crowded and you need only look at his bumper success to see the effort Joe Tizzard made to give him plenty of space.
I can certainly see him running a big race race, but the only way for him to be truly effective in this type of contest is to set off and try and make all, which will be a very, very difficult tactic to execute in such a rough, competitive race.
Rumour has it that Al Ferof is going for the VC Chase as his Arkle prep. Makes sense I suppose, as at least he’ll get something like a proper test & will be getting weight rather than giving it away. Also allows for a longer break between his Arkle prep and the Arkle, as the Kingmaker comes some 3 weeks later.
And that rumour looks like being true. Given an entry, although despite running off the same weight as Finian’s Rainbow, he’s the 5/2 favourite with FR an 11/4 shot…
Could be another reason. If Al Ferof beats Finian’s Rainbow, which I sincerely doubt, don’t forget PN isn’t shy at coming forward and could send him for the QMMC as he did Master Minded.
If he is successful he’s probably got as much chance of beating Sizing Europe as he has Sprinter Sacre.
If the RP are correct it looks like Messrs Nicholls and Hales are already heading towards the QMCC with
Whatever it messes with my ante post bets on Szining Europe as i cannot have Big Zeb winning but the race would be nicely set up for Al Ferof to win 
Very much doubt he’ll run in the Queen Mother.
Hurdy – Master Minded ran in the Queen Mother because he wasn’t a novice.
"Hurdygurdyman wrote: If Al Ferof beats Finian’s Rainbow, which I sincerely doubt,
Finians Rainbow
has the profile of a 7yo but at the end of the day he’s actually 9yo,he is a proper 160 Chaser who looks the part but there’s not an ounce of scope left in him,if anything he comes across as a touch fragile.
Al Ferof
would have more to fear from this
Sprinter Sacre
who also comes across as a ‘Ming Vase’,drop him once and he’ll shatter!
Al Ferof
has had the odd ‘off day’ but still wins,I think the ‘real’ Grey will be tuned for the minute come Cheltenham so the Victor Chandler will only confirm how fit he is on that day and that in itself will give Paul the answer as to which race he goes for come March.He’ll run away with the Arkle,no question.The Champion Chase has got a certain
Sizing Europe
and
Big Zeb
to deal with and you have to respect those who have got the ‘T’ Shirt.
Very much doubt he’ll run in the Queen Mother.
Hurdy – Master Minded ran in the Queen Mother because he wasn’t a novice.
"Like he did Master Minded
Why on earth would you doubt it? You too busy correcting me to say something that justifies such a statement?I doubt if Paul Nichols thinks he can beat Sprinter Sacre and he’s simply contemplating going where the best place money is. 40k more for finishing 2nd than in the Arkle
What you’re line of thinking I’d be interested to know what sparked your constructive one liner.
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