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Stan James have opened a book on this race and I was somewhat surprised to see Hurricane Fly a narrow favourite at Evens from Jezki at 5/4.
The guard seemed to change at Cheltenham this year and surely fans of the younger horse will believe he can continue on the up as the Fly has another season on his long CV?
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Give that Hurricane Fly has looked in need of the run on his seasonal debut on more than one occasion then 5/4 Jezki looks good if indeed The Hurricane is his main opposition. However, there are other Mullins horses in the entries at the moment and while you’d imagine it’s Hurricane that will run, you never know.
The race is actually on the 16th but blame Oddschecker for that error!
Shaping up like a match with 10/1 bar the two leaders.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
I’m not a fan of
Jezki
and think he was a very fortunate winner of a Champion Hurdle where he could have been third of fourth if you ran the race over again. He’s so paceless for a Champion Hurdler, but well-run championship races and fast ground are good optimum conditions to have if you’re a little short of the best.
He also doesn’t have a robust pedigree: lots of his relatives saw their form inexplicably tail-off, had phyiscal issues and even suffered fatal injuries. It seems brave to bank on him to reproduce the level of last season and downright foolish to put any ante-post bets on him.
With that in mind, I’ve got to root for
Hurricane Fly
for a last or second-last hurrah. Willie Mullins must have got the message that he’s not going to win another Champion Hurdle with the old boy, so you’d expect him to get ‘The Fly’ rock hard fit for the early part of the season.
I’m not a fan of
Jezki
and think he was a very fortunate winner of a Champion Hurdle where he could have been third of fourth if you ran the race over again. He’s so paceless for a Champion Hurdler, but well-run championship races and fast ground are good optimum conditions to have if you’re a little short of the best.
He also doesn’t have a robust pedigree: lots of his relatives saw their form inexplicably tail-off, had phyiscal issues and even suffered fatal injuries. It seems brave to bank on him to reproduce the level of last season and downright foolish to put any ante-post bets on him.
With that in mind, I’ve got to root for
Hurricane Fly
for a last or second-last hurrah. Willie Mullins must have got the message that he’s not going to win another Champion Hurdle with the old boy, so you’d expect him to get ‘The Fly’ rock hard fit for the early part of the season.
I must admit I didn’t think Jezki would win the Champion Hurdle and I’d be against him for that race again this season.
I just feel The Fly may have age against him and may take a bit of getting fit first time up and when you consider one horse is 5/1 for Cheltenham’s Champion Hurdle and the other is 40/1 it seems odd they are level pegging for the race in question.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Just the six entered, no Faugheen or Annie Power.
1-142 1 Hurricane Fly(165) (WPMullins) – . ….. 11,10
2-411 2 Jezki(169) (MrsJHarrington) – …………. 11,10
2-334 3 King Of The Picts(141)
(JPShanahan) – . ……… 11,10
3p-16 4 Lethal Weapon (CRoche) – . ………….. 11,10
11111 5 Little King Robin(145) (CBowe) – . …. 11,03
51493 6 Princess Leya(115) (MsMMullins) – . .. 11,03Jezki has always came on for his seasonal debut but in recent years Hurricane Fly has looked vulnerable first time up. 11/10 Jezki looks big.
Punters have finally woken up and realised there is money to be made. After briefly touching 5/4 during the week, Jezki is odds-on across the board now.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
I rate Jezki highly. NOthing flukey about his champion hurdle win and twiston davies horse aside (who lacked pace of his own at a crucial part that day) he is clearly the best of the two mile hurdles.
That said, soft ground, small field, has hurricane fly written all over it.
SHL
I hope Jezki gets exposed as the very modest Champion Hurdler he is today.
If Willie Mullins doesn’t have Hurricane Fly ready to run for his life, he’s missing a big opportunity to extend the horse’s record of Grade 1 wins. These are the old boy’s ideal conditions.
Win, lose or dead-heat, the thread was put up in the belief that Jezki was going to be value at the opening odds.
It’s generally 4/6 Jezki and 13/8 Hurricane Fly at the moment, so the opinion seems pretty sound.
I’m not one for hoping horses lose but I can see the desire for a great horse like Hurricane Fly to add to his haul of top races.
Age catches up with horses though and I would have sided with the younger horse early on.
Jezki’s short enough now and anyone backing him today missed the boat and has only themselves to blame for not getting on before the sheep woke up.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
A great win for the Fly and no excuses for Jezki, who simply looked pretty ordinary today.
I would seriously doubt Jezki will defend his crown and I noticed that Hurricane Fly made his own comment regarding the runner up shortly after crossing the winning line
Well done to those who kept the faith in the old boy and opposed the "Champ"
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Early Champion Hurdle betting reaction sees Hurricane Fly slashed from 40/1 to a general 14/1-16/1. Racebets go 9/1, which looks a total overreaction to me.
Jezki is out to 7/1 but I wouldn’t touch him at 10/1.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
I wouldn’t be too discouraged if you’re a Jezki fan. Ruby defined ‘balls of steel’ on the old horse and seemed to know that Hurricane Fly would not fail for fitness, even after whacking the second-last.
It’s brilliant to see Hurricane Fly still doing it though. He’s still got those amazing gears on soft ground and might be able to pick up another Grade 1 yet! Champion Hurdle talk is nonsense unless it comes up very soft though.
As for Jezki, he didn’t do a whole lot wrong conceding fitness in non-ideal conditions. He needs good ground and a championship pace to show his best. Even though Faugheen and The New One tower above him in terms of ability, the reigning champ is the more straightforward ride. So long as he runs respectably before Cheltenham, he’d be a good each-way bet if touching double figures imo.
I’m thrilled that the Fly won, when he came there cruising at the last it was we had gone back three or four years, what a horse he is.
I wouldn’t be too discouraged if you’re a Jezki fan. Ruby defined ‘balls of steel’ on the old horse and seemed to know that Hurricane Fly would not fail for fitness, even after whacking the second-last.
It’s brilliant to see Hurricane Fly still doing it though. He’s still got those amazing gears on soft ground and might be able to pick up another Grade 1 yet! Champion Hurdle talk is nonsense unless it comes up very soft though.
As for Jezki, he didn’t do a whole lot wrong conceding fitness in non-ideal conditions. He needs good ground and a championship pace to show his best. Even though Faugheen and The New One tower above him in terms of ability, the reigning champ is the more straightforward ride. So long as he runs respectably before Cheltenham, he’d be a good each-way bet if touching double figures imo.
I thought you said Jezki was a very modest Champion Hurdler. Now he’s a good each way bet?
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
He’s modest for a Champion Hurdler but he’s at least straightforward when most of the others aren’t.
The New One needs to be delivered at the right moment, Faugheen can take his chances with the hurdles and My Tent Or Yours is on the sidelines. Hardy Eustace won two more Champion Hurdles than plenty of horses with more talent than him by virtue of being game, jumping well and being very simple to ride – and Jezki is a similar animal.
I’d be very disappointed if he wins another Champion Hurdle, but think he’ll box on for second or third in a division lacking depth if that creaky body holds together.
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