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I fully support the traditional approach Nicky Henderson is taking with Altior, but with Min on the sidelines we’re left with another wonky Arkle market.
Looking at each-way or Without Altior, it’s still fairly interesting. Even with Kim Bailey farting winners and Charbel solid second best on form, he does feel like a bit of a muggy option. He has had niggles in the build-up and will be the one who suffers most at the hands of Altior as a natural front-runner.
Though Royal Caviar was set to win last time and also hits a fair standard on form, I’d struggle to steam into him after such a nasty fall and so little chasing experience.
I don’t particularly rate the Kingmaker form with the well-exposed Gino Trail just failing to exploit the track’s front-runner bias against fellow prominent racer Flying Angel.
That leaves old rivals Forest Bihan and Cloudy Dream, with slight preference for the former. Though their last meeting leaves them closely matched with Forest Bihan winning by 1 3/4 lengths getting 3lbs, I think Brian Ellison’s horse comes out slightly ahead as he recovered from a bad mistake as they were quickening three-out.
In a real chisel job, I took Forest Bihan 7/1 e/w (without Altior), so I’m effectively playing for 4 places with a live chance of landing the win part.
I agree LS, in the betting without market:
There is a possibility that – as a prominent runner – Charbel will pay up the hill for trying to keep in front of Altior and relinquish second. But I just feel he’s better than the rest and jockey knows should know the score by now. However, am also backing Forest Bihan, if it does favour the hold up horses he should be staying on.11/4 Charbel and 6/1 Forest Bihan are my bets.
Value Is EverythingThe Couch has tipped that result!!
Is he still around, Raymo?
Met him at Goodwood once, looking at a Group 3 race in the paddock. He said my bet had seconditus and temperamental.
That horse was Singspiel… won easily that day and look what he went on to do. Won 6 of his 8 races after that, all Group 1. A most genuine racehorse.Suppose we all make mistakes.
Value Is EverythingThe Couch mussed my hair this morning – can confirm he is alive and well!
On the face of it, Altior was a little below his best. Still, I think a few things conspired against him producing a visually-impressive performance. For one, Charbel was given a highly intelligent ride by David Bass. He made the running but set fairly pedestrian fractions and de Boinville was briefly caught napping when the leader went for home. Charbel did look vulnerable (especially given his dodgy build-up) when coming to grief. Given the way Altior charged up the hill, I think Kim Bailey’s horse was booked for second or third. You can’t think any more or any less of Altior after that win.
Charbel might have been slightly flattered given the circumstances. History might record him as an unlucky loser, so it’s worth being wary of that when considering him in future. He has always been an admirable horse and will continue to be a good yardstick on the fringes of the top level.
Cloudy Dream ran an enormous race in second as the only hold-up horse to bridge the gap to the places. He has a touch of class and deserves to be one of the Ryanair market leaders for next year with the extra distances sure to suit.
Ordinary World was somewhat flatted by racing prominently.
I was bitterly disappointed by Forest Bihan, who couldn’t even get into the top four despite a faller and an early PU. He never really looked happy, carried his head awkwardly and made a terrible mistake three-out. He might just be one who prefers dominating inferior horses – he’s sure to win his share of small field affairs in the north.
I went in on Tuesday for the first time – wow what a day – will definitely be going back next year.
However, I did feel like crying when Charbel came down. Looked like a cert for a place. My biggest loss of the day.
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