Ante Post Big Races (no Cheltenham Festival)

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Sir Barney Chuckles said:
From next year there will be a Group 1 over 9 furlongs, for 2YOs, run during Irish Champions Weekend - the Golden Fleece Stakes. Could, potentially, shake things up a bit in the 2YO ranks and will certainly be a target for the top, staying juveniles from now on. Will that have an effect on the Zetland???

I've said this before and I'll say it again re the 2YO races I'd look to Group 1 the Coventry Stakes. I know that usually results in the racing purists (remember them?!?) going totally apoplectic but why not?!? Seems madness having all the 2YO Group 1's run in such a relative short space of time towards the end of the campaign. To me it makes sense to have an early headline grabbing race, one that can be used as a top level stepping stone to other top prizes - a 2,000 Guineas for 2YOs if you like before attention is switched to them targeting other headline races. Start the season with a bang rather than a whimper in the 2YO ranks, say I. And don't forget - it's never too early for a 10 from Shirley!!!
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Competitive racing is being ruined by there being too many Group 1 races. Getting a Group 1 victory used to mean something as your horse was running against the best. Now they are just trial races for these ridiculous Championship races run in October.
While the Coventry being raised to a Group 1 would not dramatically affect the equilibrium of 2yo racing I just don't see the justification for it. The horses in it are just the most precocious of a mainly immature bunch of horses. What would it signify by making it Group 1 over what we already know?
There should be one Group 1 race over 6f for 2yos and we have that in the Middle Park. Sure, the French have their Prix Morny in late August. Two 6f Group 1 races over 6f in Europe is quite enough. What would be gained by another one?

The Pattern in Europe has been messed up by too many Group races giving easy stepping stones to some future race. They deny the racegoer worthwhile competition. True Group 1 horses used to have to run in Group 2s or not run at all. In those races true champions proved their worth by giving weight away.
 
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Aintree Saturday 6th December
Becher
White Rhino 20/1 e/w WH, Lads and Coral four places
 
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Bustino74 said:
Competitive racing is being ruined by there being too many Group 1 races. Getting a Group 1 victory used to mean something as your horse was running against the best. Now they are just trial races for these ridiculous Championship races run in October.
While the Coventry being raised to a Group 1 would not dramatically affect the equilibrium of 2yo racing I just don't see the justification for it. The horses in it are just the most precocious of a mainly immature bunch of horses. What would it signify by making it Group 1 over what we already know?
There should be one Group 1 race over 6f for 2yos and we have that in the Middle Park. Sure, the French have their Prix Morny in late August. Two 6f Group 1 races over 6f in Europe is quite enough. What would be gained by another one?

The Pattern in Europe has been messed up by too many Group races giving easy stepping stones to some future race. They deny the racegoer worthwhile competition. True Group 1 horses used to have to run in Group 2s or not run at all. In those races true champions proved their worth by giving weight away.
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Bustino, you’re right what you say about “these ridiculous Championship races run in October.”
Likewise, Cheltenham in March has meant an even worse effect on National Hunt Racing. Progressively it has torn asunder the winter game by becoming the “ be all and end all” instead of the “cream on the cake.”
Trainers don’t run their top horses in handicaps and, even after only one run, talk of “putting them away for Cheltenham.”
They run an average of three to five times a season. I ask you.
Is that racing?
Don’t they remember horses like Stalbridge Colonist who ran fifteen times one season, winning eleven, or Dextra Dove which won seventeen handicaps in his career?
Furthermore, trainers seem obsessed with the “going.”
Perhaps they should remember that the greatest steeplechaser in our lifetime, Arkle, carried 12st 10lbs in handicaps on all types of ground. That says it all.
What we have today was epitomised by that pathetic meeting at Ascot last Friday and Saturday.
It wasn’t even worth switching on the TV!
 
Tamerlo said:
Bustino, you’re right what you say about “these ridiculous Championship races run in October.”
Likewise, Cheltenham in March has meant an even worse effect on National Hunt Racing. Progressively it has torn asunder the winter game by becoming the “ be all and end all” instead of the “cream on the cake.”
Trainers don’t run their top horses in handicaps and, even after only one run, talk of “putting them away for Cheltenham.”
They run an average of three to five times a season. I ask you.
Is that racing?
Don’t they remember horses like Stalbridge Colonist who ran fifteen times one season, winning eleven, or Dextra Dove which won seventeen handicaps in his career?
Furthermore, trainers seem obsessed with the “going.”
Perhaps they should remember that the greatest steeplechaser in our lifetime, Arkle, carried 12st 10lbs in handicaps on all types of ground. That says it all.
What we have today was epitomised by that pathetic meeting at Ascot last Friday and Saturday.
It wasn’t even worth switching on the TV!
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This coming Saturday demonstrates the point perfectly Tam. The race formerly know as the Henessey currently has 27 entries and yet the highest rated is Monty's Star on 159. Its not so long ago that we had Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Native River, Bobs Worth and Denman (twice :)) taking Hennessy glory but the race just doesn't seem to attract the really high class horses any more. There are simply too many graded races for them to aim for. Grey Dawning should have running at Newbury instead of trotting round Haydock on the snaff.
 
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Ascot Saturday 20th December
Ladbrokes Hurdle
Fiercely Proud 16/1 e/w bet365 four places, 14/1 Lads and Coral four places
 
Chepstow Saturday 27th December
Welsh Grand National
O'Connell 10/1 e/w bet365, Lads and Coral four places, 8/1 others
 
Aintree Saturday 11th April 2026

Grand National
Panic Attack 33/1 e/w Betfred five places, 33/1 bet365, Lads and Coral four places
High Class Hero 50/1 Unibet four places, 40/1 Betfred five places, 40/1 PP, sky, Lads and Coral four places
 
Aintree Saturday 11th April 2026

Grand National
Favori De Champdou 40/1 e/w PP and sky five places, 40/1 bet365 and Unibet four places
 
Aintree Friday 10th April 2026

Topham Handicap Chase
Prairie Wolf 33/1 e/w Lads and Coral four places, 25/1 bet365
 
Grendel said:
Puerto Rico is 9/1 for the French 2000 Guineas and if the race were tomorrow, on ground with some cut in it, I would be jumping and lumping on.

Just had a look today and Puerto Rico is 5/2 for the French 2000 Guineas now. That is pretty skinny, particularly after Gstaad and Albert Einstein being left out of the Newmarket version by accident. The trainer may need to reach further down the pecking order for ammunition now.
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Looking way ahead at The Arc and I thought Pierre Bonnard might be value at 33/1.
He is way skinny for Epsom at 4/1 but with stamina looking assured you would think if he were a Derby winner they might be looking more towards the Arc to close the season and I would rather go for something at 8 times the odds for an interest.

2026 ARC DE TRIOMPHE PIERRE BONNARD 33/1
 
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