Challenge Stakes 2008

[tenbob]

my ratings

136 laa rayb
128 major cadeaux
125 ordnance row
114 stimulation
112 racer forever
105 baharah
104 duff
104 summit surge
103 II ward
101 captain marvelous
101 utmost respect
99 al qasi
98 express wish
95 cat junior
92 royal confidence
90 balthazaars gift
67 sharp nephew

will back laa rayb to win

[guskennedy]

I quite like Cat Junior in this. He has some very decent form to his name and will be very well suited by the drop in trip.

[halfwaytoheaven]

I quite like Cat Junior in this. He has some very decent form to his name and will be very well suited by the drop in trip.

Strongly with you on this Gus.

I think Cat Junior has completely underperformed this season. Brian Meehan obviously sees this horse as one of his best and the copious amounts of group entries taken up this season seem to back that up.

Cat Junior seemed to come unstuck in the final furlong last time out over 1m1f and the drop right down to 7f is intreguing. Brian Meehan is no mug, he knows what he’s doing and I think Cat Junior could turn in with a very good performance. The only negative is the booking of Jamie Spencer who seems to be worringly off form when riding Meehan’s horses of late including a poor record on horses who really should be hacking up.

Of the others, Major Cadeaux was unlucky last time out and got bumped around a lot. Realistically Major Cadeaux should be able to win this and has a superb record over 7f. With the Hannon team in superb form and looking back at how many of these he beat last time out (including Laa Rayb) it would be the sensible option to keep the faith here.

Utmost Respect doesnt quite seem to do it for me over 7f yet if he was to hack up here then it would install a little bit of confidence for a small wager on US Ranger next week in America. Racer Forever is supposed to be doing well on the gallops according to the RP and the booking of Olivier Peslier is the most interesting jockey booking. As for the others, Duff may not be quite good enough for victory here in my opinion and the booking of Kevin Manning doesnt install much confidence (despite recent good rides).

It would surely be a fairytale end to the season for Balthazars Gift should that long awaited victory come here but the competition is of high quality and a step back up to 7f after a season over 6f probably should have been tried in lower company before this.

However, Cat Junior provides the value here at the odds available. I’d be interested to hear what Mr Wilson thinks of Baharah’s chances here.

Can anyone tell I’m looking forward to this one? Haha.

1pt Cat Junior (19.5 BF)
1pt Major Cadeaux (5.3 BF)

[thebairn]

This looks like an ideal opportunity for Major Cadeaux to me. However Barry Hills’s record with longshots in this race means I will probably have a bit of a saver on Royal Confidence as well.

[thebrigadier]

The Major ought to take this which I wish they would upgrade to GR1 status.

[carvillshill]

Barry Hills’s record with longshots in this race means I will probably have a bit of a saver on Royal Confidence as well.

With you on that- just the sort of unexposed animal Hillser wins this with- watch tonight’s 16/1 vanish in the morning.

[Author]

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