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Does anyone know what’s happening with Soldatino?
I get the feeling that Nicky Henderson is keeping plans open for the horse.
Was a very impressive winner i thought, of the Triumph, especially off the pace that Barizan set that day.
Nicky Henderson does have a wealth of talent in the hurdling division, so i imagine once plans for other horses become a little clearer, then there may be more concrete plans for the grey.
On the subject of Barizan, any idea whats the plan for him after his run at Wincanton? Is he a horse that needs to be on the go all the time, like last season, or needs more time between races? Im in the States the last few weeks, havent seen the racing, just got results. Saw his finishing position, was it that bad a run?
Menorah I can’t have Philip Hobbs is in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks he’ll win a Champion Hurdle.
I don’t think he is, very impressive winner under top weight.
JohnJ
Well well well!!!!!!
Suprised to see no posts on here after the events of the fighting fifth hurdle at the weekend given all the opinion on this thread that peddlers cross is not fast enough for two miles !!
Well what do all you doubters think now?? I fully accept that Binocular may not have been reved up totally for the race but neither was peddlers cross as McCain stated during the week. Explaining that he was only fit enough to run and he had the horse no were near 100% firing. He said that he expected the horse to improve for the run!!
Improvement will certainly be expected form binocular also and he is the current champ but he is never consistent, where as peddlers cross has yet to be beaten over the smaller obstacles at a variety of trips!!To think how impressively he won his point over here in Ireland and the fact that davy russel who schooled him described him as jumping like a stag makes the mouth water at how good he will be over fences later on!! McCain has been qouted as saying that he cant believe how fast the horse is at home so it must be acknowledged that this is surely the most exciting horse in trainning!! What a bargain he was, having been bought for around 16,000 according to Ted Walsh who was speaking about the horse on tv earlier this year.
In time im sure he will be even better over fences and longer trips so i would be confident he will be a real contender to be a gold cup heroe in seasons to come!! As for this year i feel the horse is red hot for the champion hurdle at this years festival and cannot see any horse, even binocular charging up to hill at cheltenham in front of peddlers cross or heading him before the line, the horse does simply not know how to loose a race, he truely is an expceptional animal with the ability and potential to be one of the all time greats over hurdles and fences!!
Wonder what odds on him winning the Champion hurdle, gold cup and grand national in the next 5 years
Fairplay to D McMain too he truly is going to be a force in the coming years and him and Jason Maguire are surely destined for champion status before too long, Nicholls nor McCoy cant dominate champ jockey and trainer titles forever For now i am as impressed now as ever with peddlers cross and think he is the choice for this years champion hurdle given all goes well between now and then and the horse stays right no matter who he lines up againt him in Cheltenham!!
For me, still can not see past Binocular and Hurricane Fly.
However I was going through some stats of horses winning at Cheltenham and then the next year coming back and winning again, especially moving up the ranks so to speak, and it is very impressive.
If Hurricane Fly makes it to Cheltenham this time round fully fit i simply can’t see him being beaten in the Champion Hurdle. The past couple of years i have backed him ante-post and unfortunately he’s got injured. He bounced back from injury last time out to win the Rabobank hurdle, beating Solwhit in the process. Looking at the facts, at six going on seven he’s the right age for a Champion Hurdler. He’s raced in and beaten the best company in Ireland, winning four Grade one’s in the process, in fact the only time he lost was to Solwhit on Heavy ground, something which he will not encounter at Cheltenham. His turn of foot is exceptional, whenever asked the question he can win a race in a matter of strides. Willie Mullins once described the horse as " a machine ", which has more or less been proved considering the horses he has beaten and like mentioned earlier, the way he came back last time was like he’d never been away. The one grey area is will he get up the hill? We won’t know this until the day however i see no reason why he won’t. He’s racing in the Hattons Grace Hurdle next Wednesday, re-arranged from last Sunday. A step up in trip and ground dependent we’ll see how he gets on, if he comes up short in this i won’t be reading too much into it as regards to the Champion Hurdle, after all he is likely to come on for the run. This is a horse i’ve followed closely from the beginning and should he get to Cheltenham fully fit, he’s my bet of the meeting
I think at 20’s Dunguib is a great bet. With a better ride he would of won the supreme and will be a lot fresher this time around with a light campaign planned this year. This horse runs better when fresh and i would be surprised if he had more than 2 runs before march
kybher king still in the reckoning ? take binocular out of the equation and KK was a top winner . also saw a preview evening when paddy brennan said he was like a ferrari in greatwood 2009 .
14/1 has to be worth a shout
kybher king still in the reckoning ? take binocular out of the equation and KK was a top winner . also saw a preview evening when paddy brennan said he was like a ferrari in greatwood 2009 .
14/1 has to be worth a shout
14/1 for a horse that doesn’t exist!!!! . . . . Don’t you mean khyber kim? The 2011 champion hurdle is also a world apart from the 2009 greatwood hurdle, so paddy brennans quotes mean nothing
RE: Khyber Kim
Paddy tweeted that he was on him in the gallops in the week and was in tremendous order.
Menorah I can’t have Philip Hobbs is in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks he’ll win a Champion Hurdle.
LMFAO
Can’t believe how the phrase ‘rock-solid’ applies to Menorah. He was a dismal flop at Ascot, McCoy messing up and moving the last hurdle helped him fall over the line to win at the Festival and he must have ran about a stone below form when turned over at Aintree. Today, he benefitted from the messy pace and stalking Cue Card rather than the other way round. Cue Card travelled like the best horse in the race and with natural improvement and if they can get him to settle better off a faster pace then it is not out of the question that he could give the winner a much closer race if they met again.
I will be astonished if Menorah does not finish in the first three come March, he is a seriously good horse. He won the supreme novice easily, he idled when he hit the front, I don’t think he fell over the line as you put it, his Ascot run was in a race with hardly any pace, he was beaten after half a mile.
JohnJ
Anyone who thinks
Cue Card
will ever win a Champion hurdle is deluding themselves,the horse typifies whats known as a bridle horse and he finds nothing when he comes off it! He may have a similar physical look to Arkle but thats as close as the comparison will ever be! I wouldn"t be so sure he is the good thing some think he is for the Supreme either,again if anything gets to him he will fold! TAPK knows!
Bit quick to be writing him off, first time out of novice company on his third start over hurdles. The time of today’s race was quite slow, which would not play to his strengths. You and your mate Fist are oh so quick to write horses off, not horses that are exposed but novices!
JohnJ
Bit quick to be writing him off, first time out of novice company on his third start over hurdles. The time of today’s race was quite slow, which would not play to his strengths. You and your mate Fist are oh so quick to write horses off, not horses that are exposed but novices!
JohnJ
John, you tell me why you think a faster pace would have played to Cue Cards Strengths as you put it,then i will tell you why he would have been beaten even further off a stronger gallop!
It is obvious he needs to learn to settle better, he expends way too much energy at the early stages of a race, and the jockey is fighting to restrain him. A stronger gallop would allow him to settle better, thus not using up so much energy early on in a race.
Therefore, either two things need to happen, Cue Card needs to settle better, or he needs a little luck to have a stronger gallop in the races he is involved in.
As I said, he is a novice, only four years old, and to write him off so early is a little premature. I didn’t even need to quote your last post, yours was the one prior to mine.
JohnJ
John is absolutely correct about Cue Card. You don’t need a long memory to wonder about the merit of TAPK’s posts.
Of course Cue Card might never win a Champion Hurdle, hardly an earth shattering statement. However, to suggest he did anything but solidify his reputation yesterday is pretty stupid. He was thrown in at the deep end, pulled too hard but still travelled like a dream before failing to match the winners chance of pace in a race that effectively turned into a sprint. Despite references to a high head carriage he kept on willingly to hold off the challenge of the third. I argued against pitching him against this class so early but I don’t think it would harm him to have another go against Champion Hurdle horses before the Festival.
Menorah confuses me. I can’t buy this idling in front business and needing a strong pace if he turns in a performance like he did yesterday. Personally, I doubt very much whether he would shoot five lengths clear in a race run at the pace normally associated with a Champion Hurdle. Another concern would be the ground, I strongly suspect he would be winning nothing if the ground turned up soft next March.
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