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i guess there is a difference between a champion and a horses ability
Hawk wing clearly had a fantastic talent, see his 2 year old days, guineas, lockinge and even derby run but he didnt have the heart it appeared for the game
For me i think the derby run broke his feabile heart
its a shame these days that we dont get to see some guineas winners or milers tackling the derby distance but they did with Hawk wing and it backfired
The rain that fell that day was completely against him and High Chapparel, one of the best derby winners in the past 10years, loved the challenge an stayed every yard. Dont forget he had a world cup winner in Moon Ballad back in third.
For me hawk wing was never the same, despite winning a weak eclipse on his next start
The only means i can justify his amazing lockinge run, other then say they all ran below par, is to suggest that this was his first run of the new season and he had forgotten the pain that a race can bring….he had enough after that and never raised a gallop at Ascot. A similar horse was King of kings, although very nervous, AOB cunningly had his first start of the season in the 2000 guineas where he won and was never the same again as he really didnt love the game.
Horses like that on their first run out in a season are taken un awares and can run close to their ability because they are fresh and been humoured for the previous 4 months…then they remember what its about and dont want to know about it
hmm..i though Craigstown as well but his form doesn’t look great. Open timprovement I guess and the fact that he is still with Godolphin shows that maybe he has a bit of class
Headin along to this
Anyone with any thoughts or views? Doesn’t look like a geat card but your input would be appreciated
Cheers
He is running on the Mildmay course which is a normal Chase course – the same one he ran on when losing to Monets Garden last October/November time
I hoep he gets round ok too. It looks like being a real good race
Vintage Crop – Melbourne Cup and irish Ledger winner, probably would have own the champion if his attention had been solely focused on national hunt
…the most recent potential recruit could have been ‘Ask’ but now they are lookign to focus on the flat as he is close to group 1 company
Istabraq……sun alliance and 3 ch hurdles
I presume Fist means at none novice ready though
Willie Mullins consistently produces some top horse so no reason why Ruby would not want to keep a foot in the door
Anyway the fact that Ruby is married to a ‘Mullins’ is another valid reason why he would feel loyal or maintain a relationship with Willie
I don’t think he needs to worry about his job at Ditcheat at all – he is an excellent jockey and any trainer would beg to have him ride their horses. Anyway i don’t think the relationship is impacting Nicholls big race plans too much as Ruby normally rides for him anyway and Thomas is an able deputy in his absence
Its a tricky one – atleast the majority of us racing fans would not have to worry about work for the day and get to enjoy the race
I’m not sure if moving a race to a Saturday actually adds to the attention it receives – do you think the derby has benefited greatly from being moved?
The main problem I see is that that Saturday always clashes with the six nations and this takes up many column inches especially when its a title decider. The great aspect of a midweek festival is that it doesnt have a sporting rival – particularly in Ireland
I would almost suggesting moving it from Thursday to Sunday if they were going to move it to a weekend as I believe the Gold Cup would be the main attraction on a Sunday – it would also mean a packed house on the world hurdle day (like it or not perhaps)
Not sure what the sense would be in moving the Champion Chase to the first day? Do you know why this might be?
It has been suspended in the antepost market and moved to the normal market area
Cheltenham is nearly upon us guys……
Fist, its probably not a great guide to compare the bula/boylesports (its a shame they didnt keep the original name) and the champion hurdle because the courses are so different. The new course has a very long run in.
Having said that Sublimity stopped very quickly on the run to the last at in December. The argument that he doesnt come up the hill too strong is queit valid but it appears to me that in both the Supreme novices and champion hurdle that he virtually stays on one paced rather then fade rapidly like he did in the boylesports.
I agree fist tho that there are so many unknowns in this race, particularly with this being very much a new bunch of 2 milers and the fact that we rarely see Sublimity
I think it is a very valid arguement to claim that Sizing Europes hurdling so far is not as slick as one would hope for. The likes of sublimity and harchibald can take lengths out of other horses at each hurdle but Sizing Europe for me does spend a little too long in the race.
Despite this I think he deserves to be clear favourite and stil gonna take all the beating. Looks a very genuine sort and appears to have the natural class of a champion hurdlers.
I would love to see him win on Tuesday and then go chasing next year as he looks an ideal horse for a chasing career. Would be interesting to see a champion hudler switch codes again.
If you take Sizing Europe out of it, for whatever reason, then it looks a poor champion and every reason to suggest that Sublimity and Harchibald could well ‘battle’ it out after the last. They are the 2 class horses of the race as Katchit is surely going to find something too good for him on the day. To be honest I find it hard to assess Osana’s ability, his form could well mean he is a likely winner following the boylesports win but he wont have it his own way in the CH. I thought Katchit Kingwell run was about same level of form he has run to all season as Blythe Knight was returning from a lay-off
I’m surprised that no-one is mentioning blythe night as great each way value. He was on a lot of peoples short list at the beginning of the season. Ok a poor run at the back end of last year but that was easily excused by hard a season. He ran well i though against katchit on his return. Was travelling very nicely turning for home and entitled to be out battled as he surely needed the run.
You may well be right Katchit but I think if Sizing Europe is there at the last travellign any way decent then I reckon he should win. The one worry I have with him is that his jumping might caue him to get further back then desired or possibly miss a flight a flight and expand too much energy
Agree that Katchit will be very hard to keep out of the first 4
Harchibald will have to come with one run with Carberry lying about a lenght down jumping the last and allow his jumping to carry him towards the lead and then try and keep the momentum going up the hill
I reckon Sublimity’s cruising speed will have him right in contention at the final flight though be struggle after that. The thing is the boylesports was on the old course with the accentuated long run to the last which was never going to suit him.
Not sure what to make of Osana.
There could be a hell of a lot of horses wscrummagin for room coming down the hill when you look at others in the field blythe night, silent oscar, jazz messenger, ebaziyan, farmer jack, punjabi, de valira, straw bear …as well as those mentioned in the previouse posts
Actually any thoughts on Farmer Jack for a place? Will love quick ground and was an improving horse at the backend of autumn though may not quite be this class yet
If you look at the Ryanair field I don’t think I can find a horse who could win the gold cup in an average year…old vic and the listener wont stay and mossbank unless he keeps improving doesnt look good enough at the moment.
The Ryanair has given us some cracking races so i think it has been a succes thus far.
What I don’t like about the new look festival is the Fred Winter juvenile and the Jewson. Cheltenham was always about class and/or specialists and for me neither of these offer this. Triumph and Sun alliance, bar a few runners, is full of future hadicappers
Particularly a problem is the positioning of the Jewson. Cheltenham always has champion races 1-3 on each of the days and this allows for explosive action. However everytime the Jewson has been run there has been a muted sound around Cheltenham with the winner barely getting applauded on the walk back. It really is a bad start todays racing and doesn’t give the cheltenham feel at all.
I would alomost suggest moving the new mares race to the first race on the Thursday and the jewwon to Friday evening. Though this would create its own problem of having 4 chase races on the friday evening – which bad ground would not be able to withstand
What are peoples opinion of htis Afistfullofdolars?..shoud he be supplemented
A prominising novice no doubt but I find it hard to judge th eform of his last race. Snowy Morning was a little dissappointing and its hard to imagine that hedgehunter is as good as what he was.
Fist did win it well tho..
I’m not sure we should take it for granted that he will become a household name fist. I would have thought that Best Mate, though not as good as the chasers you mentioned, should have become a household name since he won 3 Gold Cups. It had been close to 40 years since such an achievement was made. Perhaps his lack of racing meant the pres never really got the chance to use his name all that much
What I was referring to in my original post was what can WE as racing enthusiasts do not what the BHA can/will do.
That is why I reffered to mass emailing certain publications asking – when are they gonne cover this great clash? Do they know how big this is etc etc. Perhaps this is a method that should not be supported but if this was the U.S. then this clash would be all over the papers as they love a showdown
Granted the race is on a Friday at 3:15 but I think this is more so about creating awareness of how great our sport can be. If people really want to watch it then they can find a way but otherewise at least they should be aware of the magnitude of the event
I think we should commend PN for informing the public. He probably would have started drifting on Befair anyway and then would have been slated for not geing honest. The last thing we want is a situation like Teofilio
Looks like there was over 300,000 bet on the Gold Cup on betfair since 5pm yesterday which is pretty phenomenal
