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There is no real credible champion hurdle candidate from Britain. Open eagle and Thomas Hobson who are excellent horses but a long way from the top quality Irish material were able to breeze through a grade 2 race today with only each other to compete with. Yorkhill made a laugh of his race in Sandown the other week. Altior seems to be the only stand out British hurdler (excluding 3 mile division). Discuss
There is no real credible champion hurdle candidate from Britain. Open eagle and Thomas Hobson who are excellent horses but a long way from the top quality Irish material were able to breeze through a grade 2 race today with only each other to compete with. Yorkhill made a laugh of his race in Sandown the other week. Altior seems to be the only stand out British hurdler (excluding 3 mile division). Discuss
Next years Champion Hurdler lies with Alan King. Some of us know, you know
If his breathing is ok and can learn to settle, Peace And Co will beat all the Irish.
My Tent Or Yours injured, would give Faugheen a run for his money at his best.Value Is EverythingIf his breathing is ok and can learn to settle, Peace And Co will beat all the Irish.
My Tent Or Yours injured, would give Faugheen a run for his money at his best.The form of Peace And Co’s Triumph Hurdle doesn’t look that strong. Hargam has struggled since and the runner up has run well enough but looks short of Grade one class. Peace and Co wasn’t that far ahead of either of them. I don’t see him beating Faugheen.
We don’t have one. We only had 3 runners in the Champion hurdle last year and this year will be no different
If his breathing is ok and can learn to settle, Peace And Co will beat all the Irish.
My Tent Or Yours injured, would give Faugheen a run for his money at his best.You must be having a laugh with peace and co. Him, hargam and top notch haven’t managed to win a race between them since the triumph. In the processes being beaten by some moderate horses who wouldn’t come within an asses roar of a champion hurdle.
We don’t have one. We only had 3 runners in the Champion hurdle last year and this year will be no different
And two of those three were vaniteux and bertimont
If his breathing is ok and can learn to settle, Peace And Co will beat all the Irish.
My Tent Or Yours injured, would give Faugheen a run for his money at his best.You must be having a laugh with peace and co. Him, hargam and top notch haven’t managed to win a race between them since the triumph. In the processes being beaten by some moderate horses who wouldn’t come within an asses roar of a champion hurdle.
We’ve had a similar discussion in the Champion Hurdle thread TWM.
I’ve been on Peace And Co @ 12/1 each way since last year’s Festival. Disappointing on reappearance, pulling hard in a slowly run race on soft ground and not surprisingly had nothing left for the finish. I gather they may use headgear or tongue tie next time, that may help but has to be a slight doubt about temperament now. However, as long as there’s no bad physical issue should not be written off given a much faster pace. Am hoping Peace And Co takes in the Betfair Hurdle as a prep, much more likely to get a race run to suit than a small field Haydock minor event. If I wasn’t already on would go in again @ 16/1.
My comment about beating “all Irish horses” was a little tongue in cheek. Obviously unlikely to beat Faugheen, but if any horse has the qualities to beat the fav it is Peace And Co. Faugheen is a machine in front, just a chance not so good in behind. With front/prominent runners Identity Thief, stable companion Nichols Canyon and possibly Peace And Co’s stable/owner companion Top Notch aswell, just a chance Faugheen may not get it all his own way up front this time. Fastest way to get from A to B is equal fractions. If Faugheen is either forced in to going too fast up front, or doesn’t jump/like it if Ruby tries to settle in third or fourth – Peace And Co is a hold up horse and could pick up the pieces. Think P&C’s connections will ride Top Notch to unsettle the favourite.
As for Peace And Co’s form:
Just because horses do not go on to win races (Top Notch and Hargam) it does not mean the form (of the Triumph) has necessarily been devalued; a closer look is needed.Top Notch got beat a neck by Peace And Co in the Triumph.
Top Notch got beat a neck by Identity Thief in the Fighting Fifth.
Identity Thief got beat two lengths by Nichols Canyon in the Ryanair. With Identity Thief going better than Nichols Canyon two out before being outstayed on the run-in. It’s not a gimme which of those is the better horse, I believe the two lengths winning margin flatters the winner.But even if believing the Ryanair form… on a line through Top Notch (a horse you don’t think is any good TWM) Peace And Co comes out the same horse as Identity Thief. And (through the latter) Peace And Co coes out just a 2 lengths worse horse than Champion Hurdle second favourite Nichols Canyon.
The other horse you diss the Triumph form with is Hargam:
Hargam got beat 4 1/4 lengths by Peace And Co.
Hargam got beat 1 1/4 lengths by Old Guard in the International.
Hargam got beat 7 3/4 lengths by Faugheen in the Christmas Hurdle.So on this season’s form Peace And Co comes out a 3 lengths better horse than Old Guard. Would you be dissing Peace And Co’s form had he ran and won the International by 3 lengths?
Peace And Co has 3 1/2 lengths to make up on Faugheen. Would you be dissing Peace And Co’s form had he been a 3 1/2 lengths runner up to Faugheen in the Christmas Hurdle? Although imo Faugheen didn’t need to be at his best at Kempton and won with a bit more in hand than the winning margin.
So, take Faugheen out of the Champion Hurdle and (on ability) there is not much between the Best of British and Irish hurdlers. Positive for the British duo is they’re both proven at Cheltenham; Nichols Canyon and Identity Thief aren’t. However, positive for Nichols Canyon and Identity Thief is they don’t have questions about their soundness/temperament – therefore are shorter in the market. If My Tent Or Yours good runs had been three weeks ago he’d probably be Champion Hurdle second favourite. Fragility is obviously a big worry; not seen since April 2014. Before reappearance Peace And Co looked to have more improvement in him; still only 4 runs to his name over hurdles. Had Peace And Co ran to form/well on reappearance he’d now be Champion Hurdle second favourite. So if (and it is quite a big “IF”) the question marks about temperament and wellness can be answered… could yet prove Faugheen’s biggest danger.
Value Is EverythingTwo more Irish horses breeze home in a grade 2. Vroom vroom mag was a given but for Jennies Jewel to destroy the rest of the British mares in the way she did is the most embarrassing reflection on the standard of British hurdlers currently
The original question asked could justifiably be posed about the Irish hurdlers outside Mullins’s yard. Five pitched up for Irish Champion Hurdle today, three Mullins horses plus two no-hopers.
While it is fine to see a horse of Faugheen’s quality, competitiveness is not well served by all the strength being in one yard.
Rob
Rob it’s not just Mullins. Identity Thief (who isn’t champion hurdle class) managed to win the fighting fifth. Tombstone looks a serious animal too. And jennies jewel as I said managed to comfortably beat some well thought of British mares. Jezki is out for the season but would be better than any British challengers.
thewexfordman
Believe me I’m aware of the lack of quality hurdlers. I live in Scotland and we have been desperately short of anything remotely decent over hurdles since the untimely demise of Brindisi Breeze, with the possible exception of Seeyouatmidnight who had a truncated campaign last term.
On the upside though, we have at least mustered a Champion Hurdle entry in the shape of upwardly mobile Aristo Du Plessis!
Rob
Good luck Rob with Aristo Du Plessis, however if he gets within 20 lenghts of Faugheen he will have run his heart out.
thewexfordman
Believe me I’m aware of the lack of quality hurdlers. I live in Scotland and we have been desperately short of anything remotely decent over hurdles since the untimely demise of Brindisi Breeze, with the possible exception of Seeyouatmidnight who had a truncated campaign last term.
On the upside though, we have at least mustered a Champion Hurdle entry in the shape of upwardly mobile Aristo Du Plessis!
Rob
If Aristo does run in the Champion Rob – at least we’ll know there’ll be one horse that won’t allow Ruby all his own way up front.
Value Is Everythingsurely trying to lay up with Faugheen will just break your ‘own’ horses heart/will.
As said many times,i dont follow hedgehopping but have wathched faugheen.one thing i would not ask my horse to do is lay up with him from the start.
But i no nothing about jump racing,so could well be badly wrong
Two more Irish horses breeze home in a grade 2. Vroom vroom mag was a given but for Jennies Jewel to destroy the rest of the British mares in the way she did is the most embarrassing reflection on the standard of British hurdlers currently
Vroom Vroom Mag won easily, but in the end had nothing to beat because the second, third and fourth favourites all ran below their best. Willie Mullins was running down the form after the race because he knows how good (bad) Jennies Jewel is. VVM has bags of potential, but is yet to beat anything remotely considered up to Championship standard.
Value Is Everything
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