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There is a minority Irish element (by no means all Irish people btw) who have this obsessive English v Irish thing perpetually going on in their heads and, if any English person is critical of anything that happens to be Irish, attributes it to racial prejudice.
It’s tiresome, tbh.
And mistaken, so mistaken.
“You think Frankel had the edge on Sea The Stars because the latter was Irish.”
“But my all-time greatest chaser was Arkle – he was, err, Irish.”
Fortunately, it’s a minority – one of my best friends is Irish, we talk racing all the time, and English v Ireland never enters the equation.
But then he’s an intelligent guy and neither of us is remotely jingoistic.
Maybe there are English people who are anti Irish – but if so I don’t know any of them (and wouldn’t want to).
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"OK, let’s put it another way. Out of the last 15 Champion Hurdle winners, who do people think would have beaten Honeysuckle? Because I’d say Hurricane Fly and Faugheen (both of whom had injury problems, so let’s give HdB and the horse some credit for avoiding those) and that’s about it.
BlueSky @pghenn.bsky.social
So don't run, just like the others always do
She would probably have beaten most of them – but that is a low bar.
Would she have beaten any of the top hurdlers of the Golden Era of the late 1960s to the early 1980s? I would say not.
That era is the benchmark by which all hurdlers have to be judged.
Constitution Hill has put up one performance which entitles him to be considered within at least hailing distance of that era. Honeysuckle, always in receipt of 7lbs from geldings, has not.
CH was very impressive. But if you ask the question “but what did she beat?” about Honeysuckle, you have to ask it about Constitution Hill, surely?
And that ALSO raises the next question – can he keep it going, or is he a one season wonder?
Honeysuckle has been the best hurdler in training for the last three years. She’s beaten former Champions and highly heralded next big things. If Kenny Alexander hadn’t been so fixated on a win at Cheltenham – any win at Cheltenham! – she would be a three-time CH winner.
I repeat, what exactly should she have done that she hasn’t done anyway?
BlueSky @pghenn.bsky.social
So don't run, just like the others always do
“If Kenny Alexander hadn’t been so fixated on a win at Cheltenham – any win at Cheltenham! – she would be a three-time CH winner.”
Absolutely she would. I posted that yesterday on the 5 day Cheltenham thread. It was very disappointing to see a horse who won the Irish Champion Hurdle take up the soft option of the Mares Hurdle. And the Champion was won by another mare which she has beaten decisively in the last two seasons.
CH’s performance was not a one off. He put up a similarly impressive performance on the clock in the Tolworth. It is easy to be wise after the event but he should have been odds on at Cheltenham.
The form of his Supreme has also been franked. Jonbon won a Grade 1 at Aintree. The horse he beat there won well at Punchestown yesterday. Another horse that was well beaten in the Supreme won a Grade 1 at Punchestown on Tuesday.
Plenty can go wrong and maybe CH will be a one season wonder. But he clearly has already shown that he will be the most formidable opponent Honeysuckle has faced if they ever do meet. Her connections know it as well.
“Just a pity that C Hill’s connections chickened out of the match; who knows if they’ll both be around and injury-free next year.”
Should horses run in every available race in fear of future injury? sounds like a recipe for getting an injury
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He put up a similarly impressive performance on the clock in the Tolworth. It is easy to be wise after the event but he should have been odds on at Cheltenham.
I wonder if some people are getting into a moneyball type situation with times, especially with the TV stations really pushing it lately.
When you look at Irish domination recently you see a lot about prize money and “better horses.” No-one really seems to talk about the quality of jockey (it should be noted there’s a lot of Irish jockeys in Britain) or how trainers campaign/train their horses. HdB’s mild fall in form this year is an example of this. If it was just a case of the quality of horse he shouldn’t have had people talking about his drop. Same for Gordon Elliot, but people are still thinking of the recent past, never mind the Mullins domination even more so.
Maybe it’s more a case of Ireland have a better all around situation to get the better out of the horses, while Britain is more focused on sheer quality. Then we only have one situation where it all absolutely comes together (Cheltenham.) Look at the talk about the race course atmosphere for this. In Ireland people are still roundly interested in racing. In Britain it’s getting tanked and shoving stuff up your nose.
If Ireland’s going to drop behind in the future it’s going to be on traditional practices going out the way. And I’m not saying Irish trainers don’t pay attention to speed maps or time, rather they take a more holistic approach. With nitty gritty, and the lesser lads targeting money/wins as the opportunity arises.
There seems to be a lot of, “This horse is simply better.” But that’s not what the game is. It’s not being a better horse, it’s being a better horse, and jockey, and trainer, and race planner, vet, and head lad, and assistant trainer, and mucker-outer, and morning rider. You have to have it all. If England isn’t doing it, not that I’m saying they’re not trying, they don’t have the absolute cauldron that is Ireland.
The one thing I will say that’s way outside this thread is that Jessica Harrington is sorely missed from a bigger focus on National Hunt. She’s had some superb performers this week in Punchestown and you have to wonder what the map would be like if there was two Jessica Harringtons. On purely sexist terms I think Emma Lavelle and a few others could really show they way, if some of the racing breed weren’t the type to keep their dicks in their tweed pockets with their cash that rarely appears for fear someone sees how delicate it all really is.
The odds of them both turning up next year I think aren’t very good. Who knows if ch will be as good. Will honeysuckle be on the downward spiral by then and of course there may be a horse like vauban who improves up to thelevel required. The champion hurdle is over 10 months away and things could look very different by the start of the 2023 festival. The hype/ controversy about ch chickening out is tedious in the extreme. Let’s just enjoy some super performances and let’s just wait and next what next season brings. You only have to look at native trail getting beaten to see thing can change very quickly.
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