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“CAS, are you and Ian on that same bet? You know, CH too win just one Champion Hurdle at 7/2 or so?”
It is 12/1, ERL.
Unfortunately I didn’t have that much on!
Sorry but there’s every chance poor CH ends up dead if they carry this on. Hes not even getting far into his races now
Glad – Pretty certain there was good odds that CH would have done that regardless of whether a horse was upsides in front or behind him, I would be very surprised if you ever see TNL ridden like that again.
Howling,
Not that Nico did anything wrong, he didn’t but they probably need to give bowen a spin and see if the horse reacts differently
Cork, I think he was just idling and was going to win comfortably.
Regards the hurdles. It’s the new padded style vs the old which I hate and think they’re dangerous to the faster hurdlers.
Constitution Hill was fine for the most part over the traditional hurdles even when they changed the markers to white.However, this padded style has an enormous amount of white on them and look far more daunting from head on. They’ve ruined both the Champion Hurdle and The Fighting Fifth imo.
CH’s record over the new padded hurdles
1 (Almost fell at the last though)
F
F
FKempton last Christmas was over the traditional hurdles but with white markers. He was fine over them.
State Man never looked like falling in his life until those padded hurdles at Cheltenham and the New Lion today guessed at a couple before coming down.
Here’s a photo comparison. I think the padded style look far more imposing.
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/1200/cpsprodpb/70d0/live/d9644090-fda2-11ef-8989-9d6f464f1b15.jpgIt is 12/1, ERL.
Nice price, CAS.
Well, now you’re in a position to cash out at least part of it. I think CH should be at least 12/1 or 14/1 for next spring.
“State Man never looked like falling in his life until those padded hurdles at Cheltenham.”
Except for when he fell at Leopardstown on his Irish debut. 😜
There must be something going through a horse’s mind that “asks” them to step at the hurdles. Plenty of high quality hurdler making the same mistakes.
Ruby,
At Constitution Hill’s best, he was able to put up absolutely outstanding ratings. Not just Champion Hurdle winning form but ratings rarely seen of Champion Hurdle winners (and one of those performances as a novice). Quite a bit better than State Man ever produced.However, one of the major reasons he was capable of achieving such exceptional ratings was his exceptional jumping. I say “Exceptional” because it was so spot on every time; not leaving much margin for error. Even at his very best there was a feeling that at some point he’ll get one wrong…
And he has got one wrong… And that has led to a losing of confidence… Which in turn has led to both a worse style of jumping (no longer exceptional)… AND – because previously exceptional jumping has meant he’s not used to altering (shortening etc) – more errors.
Truth is Constitution Hill is no longer capable of his best and is now in danger every time he goes onto a racecourse.
I hope Constitution Hill is retired and we can remember him as a brilliant hurdler.
Value Is EverythingI hope Constitution Hill is retired and we can remember him as a brilliant hurdler.
In his prime, he was a brilliant hurdler. But something goes through his mind every time he faces a hurdle. Maybe he had one bad schooling fall at home which no one told us about, I’m just guessing.
But at the age of nine he won’t be able to change his current bad technique into the one from younger days.Fyi, State Man fell on his first run for Mullins at Leopardstown.
I don’t think the new hurdles are the issue for CH either as I think the horse is now second guessing himself when he comes up off a long stride (something he never did in his novice and Champion Hurdle year – even though he only just cleared hurdles at times he was always fully committed to the jump with his hooves stretched right out in fron of him). Watching the replays of the falls and you can now clearly see him start to come up long and then change his mind as if he realises he can’t make it.
I think that it is much more likely to be down to the horse’s mentality now not fully believing that he can actually make those kind of jumps anymore and that could be as a result of his medical issues taking somewhat of a toll on his physical abilities as he is getting older to.
I don’t believe that it is something that they will ever be able to sort out either……sadly.
Ginger, he’s essentially the horse racing equivalent to Roy Jones Jr.
Imperious and the closest thing to unbeatable we’ve ever seen in his prime, however, once the reflexes dropped even a fraction, chaos ensued.
I’d still give Cobden a go on him though. He has the perfect style for this horse.
His winning ride on Wade Out was praised to the heavens but I think that was actually another really poor ride. He hit every fence over the course of 2 circuits in that race.
Overall, he sit’s way out the back all to often just like a Carberry or Jamie Spencer and the less said about those 2, the better.
At least it puts an end the nonsense of putting him up there as one of the all time great hurdlers , as I argued months ago Istrabaq won 3 Champions , that’s greatness , others have won 2 another huge achievement , here’s a question would the hill beat a prime Hurricane Fly …
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
GM23 – Great analogy – Roy also didn’t have a great chin which only became really apparent when his reflexes erroded just enough to where he wasn’t able to avoid a punch and instead got caught flush on the chin……and then it was say goodnight time.
You can’t put another jockey on , you finish Nico doing that
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
“I thought Golden Ace had a perfect hurdling technique.”
Ruby, there’s a lovely photo of her in the Racing Post report on the race. Elbows down, knees up, front feet neatly tucked, stifles high enough to clear the hurdle easily, body straight, ears relaxed and paying attention to her rider, jockey sitting in perfect blance.
(Anzadam, by contrast looks ungainly behind her).
If I was the owner I would definitely have that one on the wall level with the champion hurdle one.
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