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Little bit disappointed with the declarations once again for this race. But it will still be a spectacle.
There are few, however, that need to be winning or going close in this race to be absolutely certain of getting in the National and not have the pressure of trying to win a race before the weights come out in Feb.
I would include in such a list the likes of Irish Raptor, Companero, Valley Ride and indeed old Silver Birch.
There are an awful lot of 140+ horses, more than I can ever recall, being specifically aimed at the 2010 National, which personally I think is fantastic. We say each year this could be the classiest National for decades and at last I think the 2010 renewal could be just that.
Licking my lips and hoping One Cool Cookie justifies my faith in him this weekend.
Yes, I’ve been thinking that there is a possibility that a horse will have to be rated 143 to get into the National!
Having said that, I’d have thought all hell would break out if
Irish Raptor
wasn’t given a rating to get into the race, based on his Topham form. Surely this would be similar to the situation when Butler’s Cabin was given a c147 rating for the 2009 GN, even though he had fallen the previous year, and his Official Rating for regulation fences was c135.
One Cool Cookie is running in the Clonmel Oil Chase tomorrow KC. Very much doubt he’ll run again at Liverpool.
If Irish Raptor wins this sunday; you will never see me on this site again. He clearly cannot make 3 miles. He’s tried twice and has finished a distance behind each time. Nevermind the National. Don’t get me wrong; he is a good horse and is developing into an Aintree specialist; but i don’t think we will ever see him win anything over those fences that isn’t 2 miles 5.
I’m really looking forward to Silver Birch’s run. He’ll do really well, i hope.
Companaro looks like he’ll be my pick of the bunch, but there are some very interesting entries this year. Idle Talk deserves a good run.
I am very, very disappointed at the lack of Black Apalachi.
I was just checking out Idle Talks price for an ew bet..[20/1 Corals]. However, needs good ground, though, so I was wondering what the forecast was. Agree, he’s a very unlucky horse who always tries..would love to see him run a big race.
Okay, looks like this is the
de facto
Becher Chase thread!
Just let someone try to move it to the Big Races section. There is a market for the Becher Chase already on Betfair as well, but I’d warn people that several horses are entered for the
Grand Sefton
as well.
One of those is
Idle Talk
, so it might be prudent to wait until the final entries are out on Friday lunchtime before betting on those horses.
Regarding
Black Apalachi
, they will be giving him a couple of runs over hurdles to protect his h’cap mark. and then running him in the Bobbyjo, once the Grand National weights have been set. However, I think Dessie Hughes might be disappointed with the rating he gets. He ran off 153 last time, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was given 158 next time, based upon how well he was going when falling (
a la
Butler’s Cabin, mentioned in earlier post).
I’m not sure what’s happening with
State Of Play
. They said he came back as big as a bull from grass, and might not be ready in time for the Hennessy, and then have entered him in this and in the Brush Hurdles race at Haydock. State of Play came fourth off 150, yet his current OR is 145. I’m sure that come the GN weights, his rating will be about 150, so they might as well try to win a race off 145, and hope he ain’t put up too much for it.
Would love to see Idle Talk win or get placed in this race as he deserves a big prize.
I was on course in 2005 when he won the Fred Rimel Beginners Chase at Worcester, on that day Best Mate sadly past away in the Haldon and also Mon Mome ran in the 2m4f Chase that day.
State of Play was an entry that intrigued me. Looking at the history of the Becher; not many horses go from being in the first 6 in the National and then go onto the Becher, but the likes of Earth Summit and Feels Like Gold seem to show they tend to have good chances. I just think State of Play made a few too many mistakes in the National for my liking.
With A New Story; he will make the trip and will most likely jump round (his fall last year was definitely out of character) however i just feel that the trip may actually be too short for him and he won’t be able to keep up with the pace. Same goes for Hello Bud…
Haven’t checked the weather forecast for Liverpool, but isn’t the going Gd to Sft already? There is rain elsewhere, so I’d have thought Liverpool would catch some as well. (Apologies, lost all my bookmarks a couple of weeks ago.)
There is expected rain for every day up till saturday, so i think we’re gonna get a soft (soft-yielding at least) Becher again this year… last years was actually the first ever Becher ran on heavy going, so we may be in for another…..
I’m really looking forward to Silver Birch’s run. He’ll do really well, i hope.
He’ll certainly be spot on for it. His sixth in the cross-country chase last week became the prep for the season that the Irish point he missed prior to that was supposed to have been.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Was a joy to watch in this years National and so unlucky to come down; will raise the roof if he wins on Sunday, and deservedly so.
If Irish Raptor wins this sunday; you will never see me on this site again. He clearly cannot make 3 miles. He’s tried twice and has finished a distance behind each time. Nevermind the National. Don’t get me wrong; he is a good horse and is developing into an Aintree specialist; but i don’t think we will ever see him win anything over those fences that isn’t 2 miles 5.
I would agree with that Peter,and yet i will back Irish Raptor purely on the fact that i love to see him jump those beastly fences! I will get a run for my money for 2m 5f like you say!
The two that stood out to me were State of Play on goodish ground as he goes so well fresh (remember his last 2 Charlie Hall runs) and Dessie Hughes’ Vic Venturi on softer ground. The latter seems to jump better nowadays. Was disappointed the prices seemed to agree though.
I really like State Of Play – it looks like he’ll run over hurdles this weekend.
Watched his National run again the other day – jumped brilliantly until two before Bechers second time round when he hit that hard. Hit the next too before having to swerve to avoid Silver Birch who fell in front of him at Bechers.
He lost his position after that – 3 out had about 4 behind him but was leading at the second last!! Weird run.
I reckon they’ve learned a lot.
Keep him over hurdles till Aintree
I’m on at 33s!PS: Watching again – how was My Will 3rd? Ruby performed miracles to stay on!
This Irish Raptor who can’t stay 3 miles – is this the same Irish Raptor who has won over 3m 2.5f at Cheltenham, finished less than 7 lengths behind the second in the Midlands National, and has run a total of 19 times at distances of MORE than 3 miles, or is it a different one?
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