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the only way i can describe Sunday is utterly disappointing!
It certainly didn’t go to plan.
Alan was nervous that the race had come a little too soon but i still don’t think we expected to get beaten even allowing for the fact that we were possibly not quite ready.
Katchit is 20kilos heavier than he was last season and we hope that’s filling out not getting fat… he blew for 30 minutes after the race which implies that he wasn’t quite ready
Two days on i have to say that it was ideal in many ways as a run out… no we shouldn’t have been beaten but at least that would’ve blown the cobwebs away in a big way.
he’s stronger than ever, working better than ever and if he comes on for that run we’ll be in good shape for Cheltenham given he’s worth a good 10lbs more there… we’re certainly not writing off anything just yet
Well here’s the update…
Hanging was a concern to us but Choc thinks we should ignore it for now… he loves the horse – thinks he asked him to go a little too early and that there was more there at the finish but it’s early days so we don’t want to thrash a finish out of him right now
The yard is very upbeat… and we’re delighted with him… he’s no Katchit (in terms of battling attributes but then show me another horse like him) but he’ll improve and so far we’ve seen nothing to put us off our dream for the year!
The winner did look good and the two will probably meet again in the coming months.
Pleasing debut… next time we’ll learn more (going left handed)
DB
The short answer is that we’ll find out tomorrow (technically later today)
The objective is still the Triumph but that seems a long way away
Alan is ‘delighted’ with the horse. He’s in great shape, is working well and is a natural over obstacles, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s able to translate it to the race tomorrow.
Choc thinks that he’s further ahead than Katchit was at this stage (then urged us not to get excited)
The fly in the ointment is the bad experiences BJ had at York and Sandown in the summer where fast ground upset him and affected him next time out.
Hopefully the hurdles will keep his mind focussed.
So that’s it – don’t know if he’ll win there are a couple in the race with the advantage of experience but if the horse is what we hope he is, he’ll be there or there abouts.
As expected Black Jacari is entered in ‘that’ juvenile hurdle on Saturday.
Big test this saturday. Looks an interesting race, the Moore horse looks like it could be quite good.
AK is delighted with BJ and we know why the horse didn’t perform in his most recent flat races – let’s hope the hurdles get his mind back on the job at handHe’s available with William Hill at 40s for the Triumph – will be interesting to see what price after saturday (either I’m sitting on a great price or a no-hoper!)… that said Francheok got beaten here last year and still progressed to nearly with the Triumph
I think we’ll have a slightly better idea come mid-december
The fighting fifth and Boylesports look to be attracting all of the key protagonists so we’ll have seen how the 4 year olds are progressing and how Katchit, Punjabi, Osana have summered. Of course this won’t include Sizing Europe who I understand will be staying in Ireland to get talked about until he finds another reason not to go past us in March…
Katchit is looking stronger, and I think the yard are more confident this year so he’ll have a busier campaign and probably go back to running the way he likes to (like wincanton and cheltenham last year)
There are certainly a strong bunch of horses coming out of last season’s juvenile ranks and I just hope the 5 year old stat is there for a reason!
Terrible news. Heartfelt sympathy to Tim Corby’s family. What a tragic loss.
I’m fairly sure Tim was involved in the Katchit syndicate, one of whom post on here.
I echo the sentiments already expressed on this thread. Mr Corby was indeed the agent that purchased Katchit – I believe for around 15,000.
Tragic loss and terrible news. I hope Mick and his son have a speedy recovery and that the mental scars are not too long in the mind.
Mike
Tim was indeed the person who sold us Katchit… he’s not part of the syndicate but was our guest at both the Triumph and Champion wins. He still loves the horse and is convinced that Katchit recognised him as "Dad" after the Triumph.
I’ll remember the guy who cried with pride at both races (like it really was his child winning) and again when we watched both races at a party only last month.
A very sad day and my thoughts are with his family and the Channons.
I read the newspaper article in today’s daily mail newspaper and if it were to be true this will be excellent news. If Aidan O’Brien were to Hebridean in next years Triumph Hurdle it will set up a intriguing clash with Paul Nicholls. Lets hope we see a top quality 3 year old horse go to Ditcheat and challenge Aidan O’Brien. I am already looking forward to seeing O’Brien v Nicholls at Cheltenham.
PS – Any chance we see Honolulu go hurdling as well?
Whilst I can’t argue that Paul Nicholls is the top NH trainer, surely Alan King dominates hurdling… if AO’B is going to have a Triumph hopeful it’ll be Alan he’ll be competing with.
I’m a little surprised Franchoek is only quoted by one bookmaker for the World Hurdle.
Surely if he stays hurdling that is his only option at next years festival.I think you’re right, he lacks speed to do 2m but the staying route will be his next season. Whether he’s good enough for the world hurdle, time will tell. I think he’d still be second best in the yard over that distance behind Blazing Bailey (and maybe even My Way)
I see Katchit has beaten me to it but Black Jackari at this stage does look the one.
would you be able to get a quote from a bookies about this?
After our last run at Goodwood I asked Ladbrokes for a price – 25-1 was the best they’d offer
Id keep an eye on any Alan King 3yo on the flat from 1m2f to 1m6f that has no Jacobs as they will be potential Triumph Hurdle horses, I spotted Franchoek last year at Haydock and jokingly said that he would be a Triumph Hurdler.
We have a horse called Black Jacari (out of Black Sam Bellamy) and he is being firmly targeted at the Triumph and will follow the Katchit, Francheok route.
He hasn’t been schooled yet but Alan has no worries about the fact that he’ll jump, stay, and we’ve already seen him handle soft ground and undulation at Goodwood. He would also appear to have a little more speed that Katchit (and thus loads more than Francheok).
Very early days but progressive flat horse with a few races in him this summer before Chepstow or Market Rasen in Autumn – will keep you posted on progress
I think Denman won best 3m+ chaser along with Horse of the Year
The questions about individual performances though still beg the question what is the award for?
Denman is unbeaten and put up several impressive performances through the season… no question about his award for me
But if the awards are about the overall season and which horses deserve to be crowned the champion in their respective discipline it seems peculiar to award it to horses that have delivered top class performances only once when others have performed at the top level all season (Osana, for example was only beaten by Sizing Europe when giving weight, won the Bula and finished second in the CH… this for me is as great an achievement as SE this season…. but I still think Katchit should’ve won (but then I would)
I heard from connections that Shipmaster is physically OK (or will be) but will not run again
OK now it’s time for my objective view (those that know me through my posts will know that I’m always objective when it comes to Katchit)
There is no doubt that he’s a very good horse – only time will tell if he will become a great, but already he embodies characteristics that make him a very popular horse and loved by us
He’s found this season against older horses hard and managed to get beaten into third at Newcastle off a false pace and then a swift change of plan went undercooked into the Bula and still managed to finish 2nd when Osana stole the race
Note at this point that he’s still never been outside of the first 3… (and only Al Eile has finished in front of him and hasn’t subsequently had the form reversed – but then we haven’t raced him again after Newcastle)
The ground at Cheltenham went against us (despite what the commentators may have felt – he does go on anything but is much better on better ground), and yet he still managed to get up and win by a mile (allow me that little fantasy)
Right now, we and the yard expect him to come back better and stronger next year… of course Binocular is a worry but as Fist points out, has it all to do to prove his credentials in what will be just as tough a year for him…
so think we’ll have a very real chance at defending the title and without this years conditions, much more emphatically than this year.and before the responses.. I know, it’s not remotely objective but who cares
Why is he not going? Would have been a good chance to silent the doubters once and for all.
I think the view was always that we’d stop at Cheltenham this year… Alan’s really trying to protect him for the longer term…
We don’t feel we need to silence the doubters really, there are always going to be people who crab form (I’m sure I do it from time to time) but as it stands we went into the season to have a go at two things – the WBX million and the Champion Hurdle (the former cost us the Bula)… he won 3/5 this season and got the big one… he’ll come back next year and we’ll have a crack at retaining it
and don’t forget he’s still growing (he’ll reach 15 hands any day now)
If Sizing Europe is over his injury he’s at least half a stone better than everything else over two miles. I wouldn’t be backing anything else.
He probably is marginally the best horse in the race, though I can’t see a piece of form that suggests he’s half a stone ahead of the rest. Stop the Champion Hurdle 2 out, Sublimity is going pretty well himself!
No don’t stop it two out… what happened after that was brilliant!!!!
Go on Katchit!!! .. they’re lucky the little tiger’s not going over to Ireland (although please don’t respond to this comment cos it’s kind of tongue in cheek, he isn’t going and so any further comment is simply hypothetical)
I’ve said this before on different threads but I’m convinced that Katchit knew he’d been beaten at Newcastle this year and was very disappointed by it…
According to Choc, he will ‘have a go’ at horses trying to pass (like when Sizing Europe leaned on him at Cheltenham he literally tried to barge him back)…
we think he loves to ‘win’ and we’re sure he doesn’t like being headed once he hits the front
we have another horse Zilcash who had a season of 2nds through 2006/07 before Alan King put him into a couple of easy races to build his confidence and you could see the effect of winning in the horses behaviour (although as far as winning goes he obviously liked it but think he kind of said… OK been there done that don’t need to bother with that again!)
