I have been following John Ferguson this year and it has paid dividends so far. Not going to claim I have backed everything and are miles in profit but it has paid nicely. I would love to see him get a festival winner and feel New Years Eve and Cotton Mill are chances with New Years Eve the most likely.
I'd be amazed if PC did not run in the Arkle. SS will take a lot of beating but it would be madness to run scared of him with a horse as good as PC, who clearly loves the course and is sure to run a big race. SS is the best horse in the race but there is no such thing as a certainty in the novice chases at the Festival.
Drifting like a barge on the old Betfair. Donald McCain is on the panel at Bangor's Preview Evening so that will tell us more. Paul Jones did tweet this morning: "I am on a panel tonight with D McCain at Bangor & shall be making a point of prefixing the word Jewson with Grade 2 at every opportunity". Hopefully it has the desired effect.
That's right Zenyatta. PC's performances last season mean it would be just daft not to run him in a Grade 1 at Cheltenham.
PC cannot win this Arkle unless an act of god were to happen.Better to win a Grade 2 then to win nothing at all.But i hope PC does run in the Arkle as he is priced up at an incredible 3-1,giving great value for SS backers.
Love that. Thank God for Paul Jones. I'll be unbelievably pissed off if PC runs in anything other than the Arkle.
Come off it Dancing Brave! If every trainer adopted that stance there would never be any Grade 1's worth watching. Although he has a lot to do to beat SS the Arkle is still the obvious race to go for - he is patently a Grade 1 horse.
A lot of the drift could be people laying off they're bets and also bookies taking advantage and backing at 5/1 on betfair and laying at 4/1. Hopefully peddlers cross will still go for the race. Would be a great shame for racing if he didn't.
Agree Hawk...this was shaping up to be the race of the meeting. No better sight than a fast run 2m chase...still hope he'll line up.
There'll only be one route Peddlers Cross takes if he doesnt run in the Arkle, and thats the Champion Chase. I've breen suspicious about his entry in that whilst Sprinter Sacre was not entered in it. Potentially, Peddlers would have a better chance in the Champion Chase if indeed Sprinter Sacre is the best chaser BG has seen since Moscow Flyer But he'll be in the Arkle, you needn't worry. The Jewson makes no sense whatsoever and the experience of running him in the Arkle will help him loads in the long run.
Arkle is the obvious choice but the qustion must be asked...why are connections openly considering alternatives? Is there an issue?...the only logical conclusion is that there must be,otherwise their intent would be absolute.
I think this Peddlers Cross is smoke and mirrors. I hope so. The Jewson would totally and utterly confuse me if he went there. I've been waiting for a backable price in the Arkle for some time and I've hoovered up some 7.4 on Betfair, and a cheeky bit of 110 on the Champion Chase. He'll probably be declared out of the festival tomorrow
I realy hope Peddlers Cross runs in the Arkle, purely for selfish reasons, the horse IMO has no chance of winning, but there are enough people around that rate him, so his inclusion is only going to make Sprinter Sacre a bigger price. I agree with topclass the Champion Chase is an easier task, Sprinter Sacre has looked like a machine, normal horse's don't pull like a train early on, and then come home hard on the steal like he did at Newbury, so maybe Don McCain like me realises Sprinter Sacre is once in a lifetime horse, and there is no point in taking him on. Even if Peddlers Cross goes for the Jewson, don't be fooled into believing it will be some sort of penalty kick for him, it's easy to say he was a classy hurdler, but what has he actually achieved over fences? For me he has achieved absolutely nothing, he's beat nothing and he was well beaten by Sprinter Sacre. The only horse that was supposed to be holding up his form was Minella Class, and that horse has failed to complete in his 2 runs since. Personally I think those who are prepared to back Peddlers Cross, at the prices he is trading at, have no idea, and are backing the horse purely through blind hero worship because of the admiration they had for him as a hurdler. If he had never had a hurdling career hed be 66/1 for the Arkle because looking at the bare form of his chasing career, he's not even in the top 20 novices, but hey that's just my take on things
KS...I admire your pre race confidence. You are correct in that he holds his current market position courtesy of his CH second..absolutely nothing else. However,to completely dismiss him is a little premature...he was bought to be a chaser and has the scope of a chaser..the current indecision from the yard ebbs confidence..that much is true.
Dexter...Being a top hurdler, does not give any horse a divine right to be a top chaser. I don't believe Peddlers Cross has scope to be a top class chaser. If he was my horse I'd have him back over hurdles, as that's the discipline he was built for. Il even go as far as to say Peddlers Cross will never win win a grade 1 chase
