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I’ve just been looking through the betting for the Arkle, and as well as thinking what a race its going to be if all the market principles make it to Cheltenham, I also noticed Harchibald’s in the betting does anyone no if the plan for him is to go chasing or is it just an error on the website ?
Mikhael looks nailed on for me. Realise he will eventually win at further but it looks like his year for me.
He is supposed to be having a go at Chasing!I can see it will seem like too much of an effort for dear old Harchi!
Mikhael looks nailed on for me. Realise he will eventually win at further but it looks like his year for me.
Not another one who thinks this horse is a 2m Chaser!Either my Crown is slipping,No,no there"s No chance of that!I can see that a lot of money is going on this horse for both the Arkle and the RSA,one group is going to have burnt fingers!
Harchi is in the Grade 3 Buck House Novice Chase at Punchestown next Thursday. Sizing Europe also among the entries.
Noel Meade will have a strong enough squad of novice chasers this year with Harchi, Jered and Pandorama. Hopefully Mullins won’t have things all his own way.
Mikhael looks nailed on for me. Realise he will eventually win at further but it looks like his year for me.
Not another one who thinks this horse is a 2m Chaser!Either my Crown is slipping,No,no there"s No chance of that!I can see that a lot of money is going on this horse for both the Arkle and the RSA,one group is going to have burnt fingers!
He showed plenty of boot over 2 miles at Punchestown last year. So much so that he was considered for the Supreme if the ground had come up bottomless. 2 miles over fences won’t be a problem to him and he’ll leave his stablemate Fiveforthree do the business in the Sun Alliance.
Cheers guys, should be interesting to see how Harchi gets on next Thursday if he runs! Wouldn’t surprise me if the old dog took to chasing like a duck to water.
With regards to the Arkle, I’ve had a small bet on Osana hopefully he’s as good over the bigger obstacles as he was over hurdles and produces a brilliant front running display come Arkle day to win
early days yet though I suppose. Roll on March !!He showed plenty of boot over 2 miles at Punchestown last year. So much so that he was considered for the Supreme if the ground had come up bottomless. 2 miles over fences won’t be a problem to him and he’ll leave his stablemate Fiveforthree do the business in the Sun Alliance.
Imperial, Mikael is a Gold Cup prospect long term,that there is no doubt.Do you honestly think on what is 1/2 to be good ground that Mikael will be seen to his best rushing round the Arkle course,when he could be sauntering round the RSA course!
He certainly wouldn"t win a Champion hurdle!The likes of Crack away jack and Osana will have him at it all the way round,over 2 miles!He showed plenty of boot over 2 miles at Punchestown last year. So much so that he was considered for the Supreme if the ground had come up bottomless. 2 miles over fences won’t be a problem to him and he’ll leave his stablemate Fiveforthree do the business in the Sun Alliance.
Imperial, Mikael is a Gold Cup prospect long term,that there is no doubt.Do you honestly think on what is 1/2 to be good ground that Mikael will be seen to his best rushing round the Arkle course,when he could be sauntering round the RSA course!
He certainly wouldn"t win a Champion hurdle!The likes of Crack away jack and Osana will have him at it all the way round,over 2 miles!He probably wouldn’t win a Champion Hurdle I’ll grant you. But were Forpadydeplasterer, Tidal Bay, My Way De Solzen or Kicking King top 2 mile hurdlers either? You only need to look at Straw Bear & Afsoun last year – not far off the top over hurdles but simply didn’t jump well enough to live with the best novice chasers. Just because a horse was/is a crack hurdler doesn’t mean anything over fences. If Mikael D’Haguenet can jump fences well – has the physique and athleticism to do so, then the Arkle should hold no fears.
There has to be question marks now over whether Osana still possesses the ability he had a few years ago. It will be a good test of O’Grady’s training skills to get him back to his best.
As far as Crack Away Jack is concerned, am I the only one who doesn’t understand the hype about this horse. Sure he was 4th in the Champion Hurdle but he wasn’t put into the race until after the second last and he only ran on past a few beaten horses who had been up with a crazy pace for the best part of a mile and a half. He won the Fred Winter under a big weight when receiving a typically brilliant waiting ride from Carberry, but that’s hardly the most competitive handicap of the festival. The race hasn’t produced anything of note in the four or five years they’ve been running it and surely if Crack Away Jack was truly top class then he’d have ran in the Triumph.
Not sure I agree with you on Crack Away Jack, IC. For one thing, the horse has got top-class track form any way I look at it, which has to be respected in and of itself, as far as the Arkle is concerned.
OK, so he won a juvenile handicap rather than the Triumph the season before last. But Ashkazar didn’t hurt the form too badly last season, and to be fair, he’s only about 3L behind the Triumph winner in this years Champion Hurdle, so that Fred Winter form looks strong enough to me.
As for this season’s Champion Hurdle, CAJ is always produced late in his races, so suggesting he simply ran through beaten horses is somewhat misleading, if you ask me.
As for Osana, I think you’re doing him a bit of a dis-service. The (crazy in hindsight) experiment with blinkers first-time in the Champion Hurdle, was likely wholly responsible for his poor showing at Cheltenham. In his only race prior to that, he came out more or less the same horse at the weights as Celestial Halo in the old Agfa. Far too early to be writing him off, and it won’t take any kind of miracle for o’Grady to conjure a win out of him.
Methinks you doth protest too much, TAPK.
There are times Grass when TAPK gets a feeling about something,
i had it with Age of Aquarius for the St leger and in hindsight
i think the form book shows he would have won had he run!I have the same feeling about Mikael winning the RSA!Ah…the old "rumbling belly" approach. Perfectly valid it is too.
My Bellys rumbling about
Somersby
as an Arkle horse,TAPK has £30 on at the moment at 25,17,16!
Don’t get me wrong Grass, I think CAJ is a promising young animal but I don’t buy into all the talk about him being the best recruit to chasing in donkeys years. I’d also accept your point that he is a hold up horse but I felt he was ridden to place rather than to win in the Champion Hurdle.
Accordion Etoile was fourth in a better Champion Hurdle than CAJ’s (I think you’d agree but some won’t
) before going novice chasing and I don’t remember half as much talk about him before he’d even jumped a fence in public.I think Mikael D’Haguenet should definitely go the Arkle route, the horse has bags of speed.
It could potentially be a brilliant race, if even half of the horses listed in the ante-post market turn up. Captain Cee Bee, Medermit, Osana, Ashkazar, Crack Away Jack, Jered, Sizing Europe, the list goes on …….
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Don’t get me wrong Grass, I think CAJ is a promising young animal but I don’t buy into all the talk about him being the best recruit to chasing in donkeys years. I’d also accept your point that he is a hold up horse but I felt he was ridden to place rather than to win in the Champion Hurdle.
Accordion Etoile was fourth in a better Champion Hurdle than CAJ’s (I think you’d agree but some won’t
) before going novice chasing and I don’t remember half as much talk about him before he’d even jumped a fence in public.Guilty your honour:lol: Hardly a word has beeen said about Crack Away Jack in the press apart from Emma saying his target is the Arkle so there’s not a lot of hype. Maybe Heather the traveling head lass has mentioned to a few hundred thousand people in a passing that he’ll win the Arkle but she’s a tiny bit biased
I’ve got a couple of pics via a friend of CAJ and he reallly is a true chasing type and to achieve what he has over hurdles he has done remarkably well. Ruby earmarked him as a chaser after riding him at Ascot and
just looking at him you would have to agree.Accordion Etoile was potentially a very good chaser horse but he was hardly in this fellows class. CAJ would have to have given him a stone or more in the Fred Winter. Granted he achieved next to nothing over fences having fallen in the Arkle and his career being cut short by injury, but I must be frank and point out that’s got nothing to do with what CAJ may or may not do.
As far as I’m concerned Accordion Etoile was a hurdler who went chasing but Jack is a chaser who filled in a gap while waiting to go chasing. Ever since he walked into the yard that’s been his target and he’s had a tall reputation. If you look back my posts you’ll find I actually backed him to beat Binocular as even back then he was showing great potential at home… and I backed him a 5/1 when the Fred Winter betting first came out pre weights as I was told that was his target
Also backed him EW at huge odd for the champion and now for the Arkle about 10 times. So I’m the one doing all the shouting and causing all the hype.I’ve gone out of my way to find out everything I can as I am heavily committed and whether you or anyone on here thinks Mikael D’Haguenet will go for the Arkle or not I don’t really care as your just guessing. I am assured as things sit will go for the RSA and Cousin Vinny will most likely go chasing and head for the Arkle. Of course nothing is cast in stone as none of them have jumped a fence yet but if you want a bet on Mikael D’Haguenet try Cashmans….they are not quoting him but I’m told they’ll lay you around 12 or 14/1 and bite the hand off you. Paddy Power has a shop in Co Carlow and a wee birdy tells me it has taken more money for Cousin Vinny than it has for Mikael D’Haguenet for the Arkle and had more than a few best on him for RSA.
Now I’m telling you too much and this is a public forum so do as you like but I’m taking all the 10’s I can get on CAJ have already backed MD for the RSA and you wouldn’t get 5 Thai Baht out of me to back him for the Arkle
Now don’t take life too seriously and don’t be worrying if you’ve backed MD for the Arkle I did say as things stand and WM wouldn’t be making his mind up for sure until he sees the time of day.mind you if I had backed him for the ARkle i’d be very very worried 
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