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Sprinter Sacre is awe-inspiring but at those weights I’d probably side with Moscow Flyer in this race.
That 2004/2005 season was so fantastic for the 2m division with Moscow Flyer vs Azertyuiop vs Well Chief. Obviously the following season age had caught up with Moscow Flyer but we could still have had more exciting battles between Azertyuiop & Well Chief. It’s such a shame that Azertyuiop retired through injury and Well Chief barely made it to the racetrack for the following 4 seasons.
I remember at the time there were people saying Well Chief was over-rated for fininshing so close to MF & Azerty in the Tingle Creek. Then to my delight a couple of months later he proved them wrong by winning the Victor Chandler off Top weight. His rating that day was 176, 2lbs higher than the rating Denman had when he won his second Hennessy. To win off that mark to greatness and WC was just 6 years old.
He never won a Champion Chase but his performance when he finished second to MF in the 2005 renewal would have won him most of the Champion Chase’s run over the last 30 years or so.
Just thought he deserved a bit more of a mention than he was getting in this thread.
Do you know what would have been interesting, and if I owned the horse I would have seriously considered it, Taghrooda running today. That would have thrown the cat among the pigeons and she would have had a great chance. Balanchine won the Oaks and then Irish Derby in 1994, I don’t know who if anyone had attempted it since.
Salsabil also won the Oaks and then the Irish Derby in 1990.
I agree I would have loved to have seen Taghrooda line up but unfortunately it was never likely to happen.The Champion Hurdle is by far the most prestigious hurdle race of the year and if you own a horse good enough to be a contender for it then surely you go for it.
I know there’s people saying she should run in the World Hurdle because she hasn’t got the speed to win the CH…but she’s never run over 3m so how can anyone be certain she’d be more effective over that trip?
It looks like a great renewal of the CH this year and if Annie Power was added to the line up it would add even more intrigue and excitement to the race.
Valiramix was cantering all over the Champion Hurdle field in 2002 before he sadly got injured and had to be put down. Tony McCoy said in his autobiography that he could have gone on to be an outstanding hurdler.
I’ve always thought Montelado would have won a Champion Hurdle had he avoided injury. He was a spectacular winner of the 1993 Supreme Novice Hurdle.
More recently Spirit Son had a lot of potential looking back at his novice form.
Very sad news. Great memories of a lot of his horses especially his best one Well Chief.
Istabraq is the best hurdler I’ve seen and obviously the best National Hunt horse that O’Brien has trained.
As for the flat I’d go for this as my top ten of his horses:
1. Hawk Wing
2. Galileo
3. Rock Of Gibraltar
4. Giant’s Causeway
5. High Chaparral
6. Dylan Thomas
7. Excelebration
8. George Washington
9. Henrythenavigator
10. So You ThinkI’d also give a special mention to Johannesburg as he’s the most talented 2yo O’Brien has trained in my opinion. He had an electrifying turn of foot and he ended his superb 2yo campaign with a brilliant win on the dirt in the 2001 Breeders Cup Juvenile. Shame he didn’t retain his ability as a 3yo.
Henderson has been very positive about Binocular in his interviews. I know a lot of people don’t give him much chance but I think he’ll run a really big race on the day.
Outstanding Derby winner, won the best Irish Derby I’ve seen against the brilliant Suave Dancer and then put in an outstanding winning performance in the King George.
There are very few 1m 4f horses that could have beaten Generous during the summer of 1991.
RIP
I think the race I got the most emotionally involved with this year was the Ryanair Chase. I’ve grown very fond of Alberta’s Run over the last few years and I was screaming at the t.v screen as he battled up the straight with Riverside Theatre.
I was gutted that he got touched off on the line to deny him a third win in the race but it was such a fabulous and pulsating contest to watch. I thought both Barry Geraghty & Tony McCoy gave the first two superb rides as well.
Obviously Frankel was magnificent. I very much doubt I’ll see another horse as good as him again.
