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Have had a cheeky bet on my old chum Take The Breeze. He gets further, has pace, likes going left handed, looks like he’s improving with every run and jumps well.
Just hope he gets there now
Crack Away Jack reportedly out for season.
Tendon injury, he was the 1st Ante-Post fav for the Arkle this season,its a horrible feeling when your Ante-Post selection gets injured!Lets hope he makes a full recovery!
Give me one tougher course Euro? By the way,i have said the Arkle fav wont win all season,not just because the Captain was going to put him to the sword and you can be on the aftertiming bandwagon and say Sizing Europe is vulnerable!If every major Bookmaker makes him favourite,then i am putting my very knowledgeable head on the line! why dont you have a go and make a big statement?
A big statement? At the prices the worst value currently on offer for any big race is the 7/2 about St Nicholas Abbey winning the Guineas. He’s a Derby horse and has no chance.
Give me one tougher course Euro? By the way,i have said the Arkle fav wont win all season,not just because the Captain was going to put him to the sword and you can be on the aftertiming bandwagon and say Sizing Europe is vulnerable!If every major Bookmaker makes him favourite,then i am putting my very knowledgeable head on the line! why dont you have a go and make a big statement?
A big statement? At the prices the worst value currently on offer for any big race is the 7/2 about St Nicholas Abbey winning the Guineas. He’s a Derby horse and has no chance.
Fairly big statement!particularly when Steinbeck at 12/1 will develop into that unfurnished frame of his this winter! Now how about a tougher course than Cheltenham?
Towcester for sure. Maybe Hexham and Chepstow as well.
Good lad Towcester is the only course comparable to Cheltenham,
I"ll give you that one! Hexham,sorry no,and Chepstow Nowhere near, Burrough hill lad won the 83 Welsh National there but struggled at Cheltenham to win the 84 Gold cup! Carvills Hill did the same at Chepstow with 11-11 and yet couldn"t hack it at Cheltenham!- Total Posts 17716
The Cheltenham hill isn’t as stiff as the finish at Kelso or Carlisle. It’s the undulations that make it so hard.
CHepstow is hell on earth when the ground is heavy and not many get home but Hexam? Stiff for the spectators and like to walk up from the main road but the course is nothing like Chelters.
Towcester? Don’t know if I’ve been there memory is fading.
The Cheltenham hill isn’t as stiff as the finish at Kelso or Carlisle. It’s the undulations that make it so hard.
CHepstow is hell on earth when the ground is heavy and not many get home but Hexam? Stiff for the spectators and like to walk up from the main road but the course is nothing like Chelters.
Towcester? Don’t know if I’ve been there memory is fading.
and the chances of St Nicholas winning the 2000gns?
Grasshopper will go mental if he discovers us discussing the 2000 Guineas on the Arkle thread.
As for Chepstow, I was reaching when I said it might be tougher than Chelters but I do think the Burrrough Hill Lad/ Carvills Hill comparisons are a bit off whack as the Welsh National is only a handicap and will always be easier to win for 180+ chasers than the Gold Cup.
Does anyone think that Sizing Europe would’ve beaten Captain Cee Bee if he had of stayed up? My reaction, as Im sure was the same as the majority, was that Captain Cee Bee was travelling all over the winner until he came down. But a friend of mine, whos opinion I respect immensely, is adamant that Sizing would’ve kept finding when challenged. Im just curious to see if anyone thinks the same as my friend?
Tough to say, SE did idle once clear. I think the reaction on Betfiar, where Captain is now favourite, is over the top.
Does anyone think that Sizing Europe would’ve beaten Captain Cee Bee if he had of stayed up? My reaction, as Im sure was the same as the majority, was that Captain Cee Bee was travelling all over the winner until he came down. But a friend of mine, whos opinion I respect immensely, is adamant that Sizing would’ve kept finding when challenged. Im just curious to see if anyone thinks the same as my friend?
Sizing Europe and finding extra are a bit like comparing Colin Montgomerie with Tiger woods,they are both p*ss weak in a finish!
Sizing Europe is fine in a finish, as demonstrated in the Greatwood and AIG hurdle races. LTO he looked to be dossing around in front after the last, ears skyward, with plenty left in the tank. Seemed that the Captain fell over because the pressure was applied; maybe it was just a novicey mistake but hardly a glowing recommendation for a white-hot Arkle pace battle.
Both them races were many moons ago BB. Sizing Europe has clearly had skeletal problems since and he has never found a whole lot for pressure since. Look at his three runs in the Morgiana behind Hardy, the December Hurdle behind Sublimity and the Punchestown Hurdle behind Solwhit. On each of those runs he travelled smoothly but he folded tamely when asked to go and win his race.
He never put any distance between himself and Osana after the last at Leopardstown. Had you paused the race when he was coming down to the last you’d have thought he’d go an put another four or five lengths between himself and Osana.
Captain Cee Bee is a hardy battler which he has shown several times in the past. He looked beat miles out in his Supreme but he stayed on like a train up the hill and collared Binocular at the back of the last. Similarly at Naas, it looked for all the world like Zaarito would just sweep past but CCB kept finding for McCoy. Zaarito has subsequently hacked up in a decent beginners chase at Leopardstown.
Jumping is the name of the game and you’d obviously prefer if CCB hadn’t fallen. However, he seemed to jump the fence fine but he just couldn’t get the landing gear out quick enough. It wasn’t a heavy fall where he ploughed through the fence though and I doubt it will knock his confidence too much.
You’re right there, IC.
The reaction to making CCB favourite for the Arkle isn’t just based around his run against Sizing Europe it is indeed due to the ease at which Zaarito won the other day.
I could say the same about Forpady in the Arkle though, always just doing enough, and he has enough ‘2s’ in his form to assume he finds nothing, when in fact he’s an excellent horse who just needs certain conditions. It is possible his injury problem will make him "hurt", but I’m not sure trouncing Osana can be used as evidence of that.
LONG RUN[/color:39ty5pui], if turning up, would worry them BOTH, imo.
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