Spot on...I'm convinced Ruby Walsh would have won on Artic Fire,On His Own and Briar Hill..the margins were less than his considerable ability could have eeked out. Before anybody starts that BH fell bollox..RW would not have been in the exact hoof print that DC waswhen he tipped up.
Can we please just not mention Briar Hill. Really surprised people cheered when he fell. Not what I expect from an NH crowd.
It didnt prevent victory? Are you kidding, what sort of freak could have won that race after what happened? If that didnt happen TNO would have been right with them all the way, he might have came off the bridle first and he might have lost a couple of a lengths initially, he might not have, what isnt in doubt for me is that if he wasnt taken out the race there is no way they would have held him off. Stick you say Sam was where he wanted to be coming down the hill the hill? He would have been where he wanted to be a lot easier without losing 5 lengths, momentum and rhythm which is surely very important in a race like that. The horse has ran an absurdly good race to finish were he did, cant believe anyone has got anything other than serious respect for the horse after that. Hopefully the 3 all turn up again next year, or at least Jezki and TNO. My Tent should probably be going the Arkle route but dont think Henderson has another Champion Hurdle horse so its not impossible he will turn up again.
I've also watched the CH back and I'm convinced that TNO would have won. He was always on the back foot and couldn't land a blow because of it. He would have travelled closer to the pace and if he would have been outpaced he would have been closer than he was and would have made it up. I'm convinced. You don't lose that much ground, momentum and get so close without being the best horse in the race. As for STD, thought he was very good on TNO and could easily have ruined the horse had he panicked.
MTOY will stay over timber Eddie...JP has several options in the novice chase division..he lacks scope in any case. Not that it matters..Kilmore won the GN when the fences would have kept the Romanians out and he was barely 16 hands high. Ron..you remember that?..I have a Fred Winter biopic taped when I was a kid.
Couldn't agree more Dex - my opinion of the forum's favoruite trainer is well documented but, having had fingers burned once too often as a result of my prejudice, I soon learned to back them regardless! I couldn't agree more re STD though but I do think he should try and change one part of his name as the initialisation isn't flattering
I will never lose one ounce of adoration that I feel for the horse Joe. I just think its not the certainty that a lot of others do that it cost him the race. Ground lost in races like the Champion is a big thing but like it or not he had every chance coming down the hill. It would have been a lot closer had he not been stopped but I don't believe that he was definitely going to be the winner without that. I am already backing him for next year mind ;-) (still owes me NOWT!)
He didn't lose a short head second..he was a mile behind after being in touch and stayed on to finsih third when the race was done. I watched the Christmas Hurdle on several occasions and his last flight blunder cost him little impetus,yet MTOY was extending his margin at the finish. TNO is a cracking hurdler but has been beaten fair and square twice in a ro w by MTOY who is the superior beast on the only evidence we have. Once possibly,twice no...
He wasn't staying on, he was accelerating up the hill. Jetzki was staying on, MTOY less so and TNO was making lengths up on the pair. Getting outpaced after losing half a dozen plus lengths in the fastest CH isn't exactly unexpected is it. He had to travel faster than everything else from the incident onwards, and over all he did just that. I can't see how anyone can crab him for it.
Plenty of pocket talk about this one Personally I think the outcome would have been very hard to be confident of either way. I've changed my mind on it a few times. Let's not forget to credit the winner Jezki, who practically none of us fancied. He's this year's Champion Hurdler. EOS
Oh yes, I remember it well. I backed him. Fred Winter was riding if my memory serves me correctly. He actually fell in his pre GN race but that didn't put me off him. In those days it was much, much easier to pick the winner.
Ron,thaqnks for that..you are right re the pilot..no idea he fell in his prep event...way before my time but the newsreel is so exciting..I remember Fred Winter speaking of Ryan Price who turned up with his then girlfriend on the pillion of his motorbike..her parents then sent her to India to escape his clutches!
Stick lol debate away, it's a circular route anyway! My key point is not once has the winner been mentioned so I just think he's worth a mention, you know?!
Throwing a spanner in the works & Talking of the TNO and horses who won the Neptune- would absolutely love Simonsig to go back over hurdles and challenge in the Champion Hurdle was only last year that he was priced up for it but went chasing and went to the arkle instead!
I actually settled for Jezki for the Champion ages ago when I read an article expressing how well he had developed. Unfortunately his defeats this term dampened my enthusiasm somewhat. So, in a way I was pleased he won and it wouldn't surprise me if he beat them all again. We will never know whether or not TNO would have won. He certainly did very well and was finishing better than anything. At the end of the day we had 3 very good youngsters who improved past The Fly. We will also never know whether The Fly could, at his best, have beaten them all. When 3 very good, improving, athletes are pitched against each other there are a number of factors that could make all the difference and on another day, in different circumstances, the result could well be different. One could argue that it is not possible to have 3 greats in the same year and therefore, if these 3 are so evenly matched, none of them can be great. But, as they are improving, any one or more of them could become so in their own spheres. Let's hope so.
