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Altior was nowhere near the horse he was at Newbury. Just looked off colour throughout and was possibly amiss, winning in spite of that.
I agree; I was hoping for an exhibition performance but Altior was nothing like as impressive today. I felt the race panned out much like the Henry VIII, except that Charbel (unfortunately) fell rather than being able to serve it up to Altior all the way to the last. As with some of his novice hurdle races, NdB was ‘at’ Altior well before the home turn, and he only really found top gear after the last (much like at Sandown). Maybe ‘dead’ ground didn’t help, but whilst his jumping was good, fast and accurate, he wasn’t gaining ground at the fences for the most part, and in running he just didn’t look the stand-out horse in the field. That was disappointing, especially given the ‘avoiding Altior’ tactics that have surrounded the decs for this year’s novice races. Good though Cloudy Dream and Charbel are, I can’t help thinking it would have been even better to have seen Yorkhill in here.
Overall: ‘job done’, but NJH deserves credit for having resisted the calls to take on Douvan. As a 7B Arkle performance, this for me was more like Simonsig’s (who was later shown to have been under par) than Sprinter’s. Good but not outstanding. On this performance he has a long way to go to fill King Sprinter’s shoes.
If he didn’t race at Newbury would we all be satisfied? He won by 6 lengths. He wasn’t as impressive but I think he was still good, the horse has serious gears.
Yes ordinary performance by Altoir by his own standards.
Still think the horse is a superstar! Next season let’s hope they take on Douvan. Altoirs best part of the race is always the final part which is a good sign. I think the tactics will be interesting if they meet as i feel Ruby will try to either ride the finish out of Altoir or try to bag a relatively comfortable lead and try and get first run.
Well the odds must be different now.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
I was chipping away at Altior and was happy he went unchanged after his race yesterday, would imagine he’ll be fav now
Blackbeard to conquer the World
Douvan dreadful.
Bit late to say that he might have been overrated, but with the benefit of hindsight he probably was. Didn’t look that big to me when I was watching the race just now on ITV plus one and always in his races had a habit of reaching for his fences.
I wonder with all the withdrawal of the Mullins horses and the switching of the O’Leary string whether there’s been a problem with the mullins yard? Maybe some lingering virus?
Or was he (douvan) got at?
I’ve always said Altior will beat Douvan. Altior WILL get Douvan out of his comfort zone. Even if things get a bit tough for Altior he ALWAYS finds under pressure and he finds lots. Douvan would have to beat Altior on the bridle and that simply won’t happen.
I wonder with all the withdrawal of the Mullins horses and the switching of the O’Leary string whether there’s been a problem with the mullins yard? Maybe some lingering virus?
Or was he (douvan) got at?
Theres been no problem with the mullins yard, look at the prize money hes won, elliots rise plus bad luck have been a combination in why it appears hes having a horrid season….. douvan clearly amiss today, i cant take that literally, i just cant
Post the Ryanair, the race that I really want to see in the Champion Chase 2018 is a defining clash for the ages – Altior v Douvan v Un de Sceaux. That would have shades of Moscow-Azertyiuop- Well Chief.
Cheltenham 2017 has given us a slightly disappointing Altior, a major ‘blow-out’ in Douvan, but an affirmation of just how good UDS actually is. Folk were disappointed with UDS at the back end of last year, and concluded that he’d been over-hyped, couldn’t handle good ground etc. etc, but all that actually happened was that he’d finally met a real superstar in Sprinter Sacre, and was unable to cope with him. Special Tiara winning the QM tells us exactly the same – and takes us back to that defining moment of the QMCC in 2016, when NdB sliced through the pair of them with the Black Aeroplane. Come next March, Special Tiara will be 11 and UDS 10. ST will probably be too old, but UDS should still have the legs (and the mind set) to serve it up to a Champion Chase field – and be a benchmark against which to compare Altior and Douvan to Sprinter.
Looking at the QM replay, my view is that Douvan was totally unused to jumping at that pace from the get-go, and that his jumping went to pot as a result – the early speed ‘blew his brains’ if you like, and the injury happened as a result of his erratic jumping. Bossing around small fields comprised of inferior rivals is one thing, but it’s no prep for a Champion Chase (that’s exactly why Altior went the Arkle route). I find myself wondering why WPM didn’t send Douvan to England for the Tingle Creek, Clarence House etc (especially given Sprinter’s retirement) just to get him more used to jumping at 2-mile championship pace, and let UDS boss it at home over 2 miles in Ireland instead.
UDS was below par for me at Cheltenham/Aintree 2016 compared to today. Ruby attacked the fences today rather than last year he seemed content to fiddle over them, I’d like to see Stilvi’s opinion on today’s performance in comparison of last year.
Where do you think they will target for Yorkhill Titus Oates…? He is currently shorter for this than the Gold Cup with the Ryanair another option.Blackbeard to conquer the World
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