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“Was thinking the same regards The New Lion. McManus has plenty of horses so should use one of them as a pacemaker for him.
I think he’s going to run a huge race in March.”
Maybe. He looked very good in his novice year, but the horses in second were Belliano, Califet en Vol, Wendigo and The Yellow Clay. You can only beat what’s there, and I had a look at Faugheen’s runners up in his novice year- no champion hurdlers among them. One difference is that Faugheen went to Punchestown over 2 miles though. Not going to Aintree or Punchestown is understandable, there was no need, but it does preserve the mystique if you swerve the opportunity to be beaten.
Trained for Cheltenham and then going onto Aintree and/or Punchestown as an after thought can often see horses perform well below their best, so I can understand them drawing a line under the season once the main objective was won at the Festival.
Quite clearly he ain’t a freak like Faugheen was, who’s prep race prior to winning the 2m5f Neptune at the Festival was a 3m Limerick G3 run on heavy ground (race was slow by a whooping 40.60s!), so he went from 3m on heavy ground to 2m5f on good ground to 2m on good to yielding ground. Very few could do that especially in their novice season.
They didn’t swerve anyone yesterday and while clearly their plans went quite a bit south on them with the result of the race, I do think he has a good chance in March provided they play to his strengths. This season will potentially be the proving ground for him as to whether he has what it takes to drop back to the minimum trip at Championship level.
Lossiemouth at this time is the rightful favourite and whilst I think TNL (generally 4s) is a little on the short side, the interesting price is the general 8s (7s in places) for Sir Gino – especially given that the stable/owner companion Lulamba is 33s, which would indicate that Sir Gino is potentially switching back to hurdles
LD73.
I almost backed Sir Gino at 14s before the race on Saturday but I’ve been stung too badly following Henderson horses this past couple of seasons.
I anticipated the switch last season and ended up with Sir Gino at 8s for the Arkle and I think around 6s on CH for the Champion Hurdle. That went well lol
If they are to send one back over hurdles, I think it’ll definitely be Sir Gino. I don’t think Lulamba would be any kind of a match for Lossiemouth.
It makes sense that he would be the one as he was able to switch the other way last season and he has proven he can win at the trip although his Fighting Fith win wasn’t exactly against a stellar cast of opponents.
As opposed to the stellar opposition the current Champion Hurdle favourite has beaten… 😉
NH racing has a technical element; fast & efficient jumping along with a decent engine……It’s not Flat racing…..the fastest horse doesn’t always win, especially if they can’t jump adequately. How many decent Flat horses have been tried, but failed because they can’t jump efficiently?
It reminds me of off-road cycle racing, where the riders with the Road racing fitness, can’t always beat the off-road specialists, as they don’t have the technical skills……
The current Champion deserves more credit, as she has completed the course in the fastest time, winning two Gd1 races…….it’s not luck – it’s jump racing.
You really need both of those attributes and you really need them in quite decent measures as too much of one and not enough of the other is equally as limiting in how successful you can be.
Good fortune has smiled on Golden Ace for those two wins because at Punchestown when normal service resumed with State Man she was comfortably put in her place (even in receipt of the mares allowance). Her best just isn’t good enough unless the wheels do happen to come off any of her rivals in which case you can depend on her to always be there or thereabouts to pick up any pieces.
She will have to hope that a similar thing happens (and likely to a number of her rivals) in order for her to become a dual Champion Hurdler and that is not a knock on her ability (as she is obviously a very talented hurdler) it is just a statement of fact.
“BTW, Mike Cattermole just mentioned on X that it’s rumoured Constitution Hill fell schooling yesterday.”
There was a similar rumour on The Barstewards Enquiry last night. Lee Keys said the horse had been guessy and had unseated De Boinville earlier in the week.
He says he put that information into the messages to their paid subscribers before the day before Fighting Fifth was run, so it is not after timing.
He didn’t reveal his source, unsurprisingly. But he seemed reasonably sure it was true.
Hendo’s comments in the RP are interesting:
“He has not had a fall [at home] over a fence, a hurdle or anything else. But we have tried him over little fences. That is not the right route, I can assure everybody. That will not solve the problem.
That may lend more credence to the unseating rumour because they clearly seem to have seen something that would result in such a definitive statement and an unseat is not a fall so technically Hendo wasn’t lying but was it only by omission?
Sounds like they will continue on given the further comment of:
“There’s no point giving up. You’ve got an eight-year-old who is in his prime and there are other things we can do. I’m certainly not going to promise you he’ll never jump a hurdle again because that’s not the case, he will. And we’ll be working on it, as we have been for the last six months.”
Thing is that they say they were obviously happy with his schooling since the end of last season and prior to Saturday but it appears to have made zero difference when they take him to the racecourse, so him continuing to school at home in a very controlled enviroment that isn’t replicating actual race conditions (which you clearly would never do) seems a rather futile exercise at this point.
I would say that a flat campaign (or at least one run to test the waters to where they stand level wise) is the most likely avenue left for them to explore – he clearly won’t run at Kempton or go to Ireland so that really kind of only leaves the International Hurdle as a prep option for the Champion Hurdle, which would be the only point of staying with a hurdling campaign.
That being said, with regards to racing on the flat, according to the Jockey Club:
“A horse that has won Jump races is still eligible to run in maiden races on the Flat, as long as they have not won on the Flat.
So he clearly qualifies by that metric so could we maybe see him instead running in a 12F maiden at Kempton or Newcastle in the very near future?
“An unseat is not a fall so technically Hendo wasn’t lying but was it only by omission?”
That was I thought as well. The podcast clearly said De Boinville was unseated. There was no suggestion the horse had fallen.
“Could we maybe see him instead running in a 12F maiden at Kempton or Newcastle in the very near future?”
I hope not. I honestly don’t believe he would win.
It would have to be an afternoon meeting at Newcastle because there are no floodlights on the round track. It is more likely he would be at Lingfield, Southwell or Wolverhampton. Just the place for a horse that once upon a time was going to emulate Dawn Run.
This is actually now getting a little sad , I never though I’d feel sorry for Henderson but I did on Saturday , there’s a changing of the guard in British Nat hunt racing ,Skelton is now the top man and I reckon Henderson knows his time is nearly up
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
And I thought the John Durkan thread was long
The more I know the less I understand.
Yep… We moan about the hype of horses yet post up pages upon pages about a horse that didn’t make it past the second hurdle … 🤔
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
CAS – I hope he doesn’t go that route either (but where would you potentially start him out on the flat and at what trip
) but I also can’t see him waiting until the turf flat season starts in March before running him on the level either.HDLG – I wouldn’t go quite that far as Hendo still has owners that seem to continually supply class horses to him (Mrs Donnelly, JP and Buckley etc) but if say JP decided to exit stage left then I think he would have a much larger problem along with a reduced number of horses to work with at Seven Barrows.
Overall I do think that more UK trainers are competing with Hendo & Nicholls for the better raw material of horse and as such there is a bigger spread of wealth of horses between the trainers now than in years gone by, especially with the newer owners coming into the sport who are probably now looking at the younger brigade (rather than the old guard) to train their horses for them.
LD hes had 2 disastrous festivals , what’s he won this season so far ?
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Henderson still has a few decent horses. Sir Gino is a potential star. Jango Baie looks like he has taken a step forward. And maybe it is too soon to write off Jonbon.
However, I get the impression McManus is having most of his best horses trained in Ireland now (with plot jobs entrusted to Cromwell). Mullins seems to get most of the Donnelly’s best horses. Buckley has had some good horses but he has never had the quantity.
It does feel as if there is a changing of the guard in the British training ranks. Henderson and Nicholls seem in decline. Skelton is the most successful British trainer now, at least in terms of prize money.
The likes of Pauling and Snowden (both Henderson proteges) seem to be getting more good horses as well. Might some of their horses have gone to Henderson in the past?
) but I also can’t see him waiting until the turf flat season starts in March before running him on the level either.- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.