- This topic has 499 replies, 76 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Not a bad assessment IMO Ian- though what about the possibility that Crack Away Jack was flattered given where he raced in what looks an overly strongly-run race?
Perhaps but its still two miles ran in those conditions. I think you are right though in that I wouldn’t expect the horse to be consistant at that mark in the future and in order for him to run near to it again he’s going to need the same set of circumstances. Its possible that he will never run to such a mark again as he’ll probably never get the same set of circumstances again.
Well I’m partying with both Binocular and Crack Away Jack running great races. Halo really surprised me and ran a great race, Muirhead fullfilled the promise he’s been showing all year and Katchit has run a cracker. Punjabi just keeps doing it as I said wjhen I started this thread is anything but a surprising winner despite the huge odds.
The hill found out Binocular but not the way some people said it would. He was dead level with Punjabi at the top of the hill. AP made up his mind he was going to wait until the last minute and it backfired on him a tad.
He gave Punjabi a 2 length lead coming down the hill and that proved his undoing. As it turned out he couldn’t quicken of what was a blistering pace but did what a lot of people thought he wouldn’t: stayed up the hill like a tiger. Another 50 yds or so no doubt he would have got his head in front. Never mind only made the difference of a few million baht
Alan King has had obvious problems with Katchit and had he had more time with the horse who knows.
Poor old Sublimity so close to Punjabi in the past but miles behind here. Maybe now Tuffers will give into the fact he simply does not stay in a fast run race round here.
I think we have witnessed one of the best CH in years and it’s only a warm up to what might be next year.
Binocular may be no Istabraq yet but I’m off to see what price I can get about Binocular the 6yo.
With a new champion the prospect the katchit will have an easier time of it next season and Hurricane Fly waiting in the wings we could be fast approaching a truly great era in hurdling.
Roll on part 2
Imo Sublimity was a beaten horse before the hill ever came into contention to test whether he truly stays or not.
Well I’m partying with both Binocular and Crack Away Jack running great races. Halo really surprised me and ran a great race, Muirhead fullfilled the promise he’s been showing all year and Katchit has run a cracker. Punjabi just keeps doing it as I said wjhen I started this thread is anything but a surprising winner despite the huge odds.
The hill found out Binocular but not the way some people said it would. He was dead level with Punjabi at the top of the hill. AP made up his mind he was going to wait until the last minute and it backfired on him a tad.
He gave Punjabi a 2 length lead coming down the hill and that proved his undoing. As it turned out he couldn’t quicken of what was a blistering pace but did what a lot of people thought he wouldn’t: stayed up the hill like a tiger. Another 50 yds or so no doubt he would have got his head in front. Never mind only made the difference of a few million baht
Alan King has had obvious problems with Katchit and had he had more time with the horse who knows.
Poor old Sublimity so close to Punjabi in the past but miles behind here. Maybe now Tuffers will give into the fact he simply does not stay in a fast run race round here.
I think we have witnessed one of the best CH in years and it’s only a warm up to what might be next year.
Binocular may be no Istabraq yet but I’m off to see what price I can get about Binocular the 6yo.
With a new champion the prospect the katchit will have an easier time of it next season and Hurricane Fly waiting in the wings we could be fast approaching a truly great era in hurdling.
Roll on part 2
I think Sublimity was gone too far out for that judgement.
Interesting that the TV guys highlighted that he didnt look great going down to post. Its inevitable that some horses just wont run their races.Todays racing tells me that Hurricane fly will beat anything there. Meades horse wasnt able for him previously and neither is Quevega. Doesnt always work out but its a shame we didnt see him today in the opener.
SHL
I was at cheltenham today and want to point out that there was a considerable rain shower around the time of the William hill, in between the champ hurdle and the supremes. Could be as much as 2mm of rain I would guess. That may be a factor in how the two times compared.
I still dont really buy into the fast pace theory.
The result reads like the slowest possible pace result.
Punjabi, (being a miler on the flat and a speedster over hurdles on all form to date) is the fastest finisher of the lot and although he did look tired at the death the fact that he wasnt tailing off 2 furlongs out says that the race was no test.
Celestial Halo ran a cracker despite being a stayer but on 10f flat ratings he had every right to be involved in the finish, and his prominence on the way round would have counted for a lot.
Binocular has questions regarding his sweating, aswell as the fact he has a 100% record of weakening up that hill.
Crackaway Jack won last years fred winter in a stand out slow time and is also clearly a speedster.
IMO a competetive 2mile hurdle can be run like anything from a 1m2f flat race to a 1m6f flat race, and the result of todays Champion Hurdle reads like a 9-9.5 furlong flat race result on good ground, so I wouldnt be writing in "Resolute stayer/Loves a fast pace" next to Punjabi, Binocular .or crackaway jack, because todays race reads like a speed race and on all other form they are not those sort of horses.
I said during the build-up to the race that my only worry with Binocular was the fact that he had won so impressively just about everywhere else and yet lost at Cheltenham last season.
Yes, he was very impressive at Ascot, but Ascot form rarely translates to Cheltenham. I thought his class would pull him through, but in the end he was a shade disappointing.
I don’t think it will be too long before we see Celestial Halo over the bigger obstacles, along with Osana and Crack Away Jack – who ran a blinder.
A special mention to Katchit, who ran his heart out and defended his title with credit.
Bulwark,
In this instance might I suggest that you stop reading the race results and drawing conclusions therefrom. The fact of the matter is that Osana reached the hurdle at around halfway a good 4 seconds earlier than Golan Way, yet Punjabi crossed the line just before Go Native. Either they went too fast in the Champion or the Supreme is a much superior race, there really is no other way of reading things.
Friggo,
Sometimes common sense must be employed when reading these races, if with a few furlongs to go, only speed horses are involved and everything else is plugging on one paced in behind, you know it hasnt been a test.
That is just basic common sense, if you start to try reading times etc into it you are just going to confuse yourself as to what your eyes just saw.
Fair enough Bully, but my eyes saw three horses barely going forward at the line in the Champion so I’m more than happy to accept the overly-strong pace notion. Watch the RUK comparison between the Champion and Supreme and tell me what "common sense" dictates then. I’m not normally a times man, but there is absolutely no quibbling on this occasion IMO.
Not a bad assessment IMO Ian- though what about the possibility that Crack Away Jack was flattered given where he raced in what looks an overly strongly-run race?
I’m amazed nobody has picked this up but watch the start again and watch where Crack Away Jack is from the beginning. He gave Celestial Halo about 10 lengths. I don’t like slating jockeys and I didn’t back him but he gave them a little bit too much of start for me. The fast pace helped him get back into it as he obviously stays every inch of a stiff 2 miles and if he’d been a bit closer at the start and been midfield he could well have won.
The front three can have no complaints and the best horse on the day won. I would take the second and third to beat Punjabi next year with another year on their back.
Was just about to say the same thing Aragorn,
They are not starting from stalls here!! the horses out the back gifted the leaders 10-15 lengths start in a grade one race.
They did NOT jump off upsides and drift back as the leaders went too fast as in a flat race.
Crack Away Jack and Celestial Halo come out with most credit for me.
Totally irrelevent to the race but I was really impressed with the girl who looks after Punjabi; it struck me when we were watching the horses in the pre parade ring that, out of all the horses we’d seen that day there was something about the way she handled the horse and spoke to him that stuck in my mind..good staff make good trainers make good horses.
A special mention to Katchit, who ran his heart out and defended his title with credit.
Thanks Bos… he was briliiant today given the season he’s had…
cracking race.. .delighted for all concerned.. (and a bit please the 5 year old stat stands… gives Katchit’s run last year a bit more weight)I think that’ll be the last time Katchit runs over 2 miles… we’ll go Aintree from here and take on Al Eile and then come back for the World hurdle next year… hsa there been a horse to do the Triumph, Champion and World?
We’re delighted with the boy, but Alan thinks time to go longer! He certainly tried though didn’t he!I came away with a sense of real disappointment.
‘Punjabi – Champion Hurdler’………it just beggars belief.
A really poor renewal, imho.
I’d have to agree Monkstown to a degree, as once again there was only ever 4 horses in it this year again, and most of the rest were given very little chance through poor jockeying. However, as with katchit last year, the best horse on the conditions on the day won, and that was punjabi.
I had expected this to be a real slog, with the speed horses just run out of it well before the last fence, and a few changes in the order up the run in with horses tiring up front and others coming from off the pace.
What it actually was, was two of the speediest horses and a classy staying type coming off the turn, with first run on the field and those three along with almost the entire field still full of running. Then probably the third quickest horse in the field coming from off the pace with too much to do, and taking fourth. I find it hard to come away from a race like that and feel like I’ve seen something remotely decent, and after a long wait for that one race, it’s the anticlimax of the season for me.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.