Lads Lads Lads. I've been proclaiming the value in the 8/1 NRNB for Peddlers Cross and Labrokes have only gone and put up 14/1. That really is a stonking bet.
Agree Zark, as you say surely they wont bother taking on the Fly. Even if they did cant see PC being 14s at the off so you can lay the win bet back off and leave the place bet running. IF HF is withdrawn youve got a very live contender at 14s and price will be max 6-1 on the day.
Shergar, what exactly is that first paragraph based upon? What we know about the fly is he's a 170+ horse. What we know about Spirit Son is that he's a 150+ horse. We don't know anything else. We think we know other things such as Spirit Sons potential and The Fly's potential injury problems but we are only guessing about that. I do not care what Needles says about the horse until we see a decisive win for Spirit Son against top class opposition. To be fair to both horses Spirit Son will have to post the best 2m hurdle performance for 5 ish years if he is to beat a Hurricane Fly that is truly firing. If Spirit Son can do that then fair play to him. Having said that Spirit Son is my each way choice in the Champion Hurdle if Thousand Stars doesn't run. However, that is as much based on the lack of depth in that division as it is on the potential ability of the horse.
Apparently where Zarkandar was this time last year- Nicholls new hopeful for the JCB Dildar is ahead of him! I have just put him in my tracker!!
That he would never get off the Hurricane! He would say that though! A bit like he wouldn't get off Kauto.
Betfairs round up for the Champion Hurdle, he main complicating factor in the Champion Hurdle market is the non appearance so far this season of several of the other leading contenders, as well as Hurricane Fly. Spirit Son, second in the Supreme Novices' last season - that in itself strong form - has been entered for the Irish Champion but is more likely to run in the Contenders Hurdle at Sandown. The Triumph Hurdle winner Zarkandar also has a choice of engagements for his return, including the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury, though the Kingwell at Wincanton is another option. Zarkandar's claims have been boosted in his absence, through the exploits of the Triumph second, third and ninth Unaccompanied, Grandouet and Brampour. Grandouet has made significant strides and was quite an impressive winner of the International Hurdle at Cheltenham in December, even though he was getting weight from Overturn and the rider on the third Brampour was unable to claim his allowance. Unaccompanied won the Istabraq Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown in the absence of Hurricane Fly, showing a good turn of foot to get the better of the 2011 Champion Hurdle fourth Thousand Stars and Oscars Well, the placed horses having been first and second in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown. Thousand Stars' lack of pace was his undoing at Leopardstown and would be so again at Cheltenham. Oscars Well, unlucky in last year's Baring Bingham, may well be better than his form this season suggests, a well-run race on better ground likely to show him to much better advantage than the races he's contested so far this season. In the Baring Bingham, Oscars Well finished just behind Rock On Ruby, who has improved this season, winning the Gerry Feilden impressively and just losing out to Binocular in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. The latter race may be the key. Binocular put some disappointing efforts behind him to run out a gritty winner from Rock On Ruby, the form as good as any shown by the prospective Champion Hurdle runners after Hurricane Fly and Oscar Whisky. Both are likely to run well at Cheltenham, the track sure to suit Rock On Ruby better than Kempton, Binocular with a good record at the meeting, winner after all of the Champion itself in 2010. So far as a bet is concerned, there's clearly a case for saying both Overturn and Brampour are overpriced in relation to Grandouet, though neither is a likely winner of the race. Grandouet makes more appeal than Zarkandar, the Old Course likely to suit him the better of the pair. Spirit Son probably has more ability than most, though his absence and tendency to get worked up before his races are negatives. The Christmas Hurdle is probably the strongest trial so far this winter and there are reasons for siding with both Binocular (who has had a minor wind operation since) and Rock On Ruby. At the prices, Rock On Ruby gets the nod win and place at 17.0 for a win and 4.2 for a place.
Binocular might win the Champion Hurdle but if he does I will . . . Impossible to predict. Anyway, he will not beat The Hurricane if he turns up in good form.
I wont!!! Im not sayin he will win- as you say if the hurricane turns up he will most liklely win (although I will be taking him on again!) But as you say Zen to write binocualr off is impossible!
I get the point though. If every contender underperforms and if everything drops perfectly during the race then yes Binocular can win.
binocular couldn't win if they gave him a head start! Hurricane fly is potentially the best 2m hurdler ever in my opinion. It's just a shame he missed his novice year and the year after at cheltenham. Zarkandar to fill the runners up spot i love this horse backed it at 40's for last years triumph and will be a future champion hurdler, after all time is on his side.
Agree that Zarkander has the potential to be a champion, but with the exception of Quevega I would be getting very concerned if any horse I was looking to back at Cheltenham hadn't seen a racecourse by end Jan....
If Binocular wins the Champion Hurdle I'll get my balls out and stroll around Cheltenham racecourse starkers with 'kick me in my naked nuts' tatooed on my head. He is not even Hendersons number one hope. Surely he cannot come back and repeat the 2010 victory? Surely?
