Punters obviously following him in on Silver Concorde. Blue across the board on Oddschecker and now a best priced 16’s. I expect that field size reduction will be more hard hitting in the handicaps. Even a reduction of 2 makes trying to squeeze one in at the foot of the imposts much more difficult. I know they are trying to do that with one in the ‘Freddie Winter’ (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more...) and so they may have to run him again in order to ensure a ratings rise rather than risk the old boy missing out on getting a run on the ordained big day.
Open Eagle available at 33s with some firms for the Supreme - ran away with the November Handicap on the flat off a rating of 86 and now with Willie Mullins. Due to have his first run over hurdles towards the end of January.
Chaps is Balthazar king by passing the cross country and heading straight for the grand national?love that horse
Cheers oddy.i was there when he got up on the line last year and we went nuts!are you going yourself this year,think I'll have to give it a miss this time but will defo be back.i guess we shall have to share that pint of guinness another day!I noticed ben linfoot tiped up road to riches for the gold cup at 33s before he won the lexus, nice if u got it!
Still not sure whether I'm going this year ste, I could definitely do with my 2013 tax rebate beforehand as I am skint at the moment - car repairs, kids going on school trips, medical bills etc mean I have a real cash flow problem at the moment. Maybe we'll get a pint at Punchestown instead? One of my suppliers is in Ireland and I have been thinking about trying to engineer a visit at Festival time. Sound like a plan?
Really disappointing to read that SIMONSIG will not be going to Cheltenham and potentially will not run again this season. A horse with an enormous amount of potential. Off for 2 years now almost. His Neptune win was something very special and I think he could have won a Champion Hurdle. Just hasn't had a chance to kick on over fences.
I don't think we'll see Simonsig again unfortunately. Certainly can't imagine him being the same animal who ran away with the Neptune - agree that was special.
An all too familiar tale with Nicky's so called stars isn't it. He tends to get a season or a bit more with them at the top and that's it. If you want a horse to show longevity you send him to Mullins or Nicholls don't you... Discuss...<run>
Beefy, calm down, old boy. Mr Henderson reproduces the same animals season after season after season after season. Your analogy is more appropriate in my view to the Pipe’s who although probably the best yard in the country when it comes to targeting a single race remain incapable of, in the main, training and conditioning horses to return and repeat season after season after season after season. In my view Simonsig was 'lost' when they ran him in the Arkle when not fully 100%. He performed way below his best that day and I would suspect it left some irreparable abnormality as a result.
I will try to sneak in a day atd punchy festivel this year oddy so be sure to let me know if ur thinking of going.hopefully mr henderson will be kind enough to send over one of his 'superstars' again to marvel at!
But Sir Barney with all due respect your main man doesn't seem able to keep his 'top tablers' on the go for that long. Bobs Worth is the latest one who looks to be regressing at a rate of knots following on from the likes of Long Run, Finian's Rainbow, Granduoet, Zaynar, Simonsig, My Tent etc who all had a season or so looking very good but that was it. Plenty more not on that list too! I struggle to think of many like Kauto Star or the mighty Hurricane Fly who just kept winning at the top level, season after season. In particular Mullins handling of the Fly is one of the training feats of this era and he doesn't seem to get the respect he should for doing so. Considering this horse, a flat bred horse on the go since a 2 yo and is also French bred! There not meant to hold their form into their teenage years... Just another script the Fly ripped up I guess One thing I would say is Nicky just doesn't seem to like racing his best horses anymore...'straight to the Festival' indeed seems his catchphrase. He's even chatting about pulling out Sprinter next week already...give me strength. Maybe I'm harsh there, perhaps the horse just doesn't have the resolution or longevity of the true greats but I hope he gets taken out of cotton wool (like most of his big guns should more often) at some point. I wonder would Mr Henderson have got 21 Grade Ones out of the Fly...mmmmmm... Now, Josses Hill for the Arkle anyone?!
Maybe if he trained in Ireland, not in England I wouldnt have thought. Mullins has a couple as well, Cooldine, Mikael Dhagunet, Pont Alexandre off the top of my head, probably a few more, hopefully Vautour isnt bound for the list. Dont think you can use two freaks like Kauto and Hurricane Fly to suggest their trainers are better at keeping horses going than others, not many would have went wrong with those two. Would need more evidence. Nicholls had Kauto, Denman, Neptune and Big Bucks going a long time, overcoming problems with Denman, so I suppose you could argue more for him but might just be down to having the right horses, im sure he has had more than a few one season wonders too.
Went to the Punchestown festival with some muckers in 2011 to celebrate the arrival into the world of my little lad. A brilliant day out, good racing, not as rammed as Cheltenham and some truly marvellous eye candy. Recommended.
Some fair points. Also, not many horses retain their form after a bad injury or long lay off. The odds are against Sprinter Sacre....which leads me on to Sire De Grugy. His injury was less dire and if Sacre doesn't make it to Cheltenham- or has lost his form- the 5/1 available about De Grugy will be stealing money for each way backers. His chances of returning sound from his injury are better anyway, and the 5/1 could look very big come March. Let's face it, he has nothing to fear from the rest of the field. I'd recommend taking a chance and having a punt now.
Any further news on Vautours festival target? 8/1 Arkle might seem big if ever he came out and won the Irish version. Would not go writing off Josses Hill just yet. Will get better with each run over fences.
Interestingly he remains much shorter for the JLT but I think that is solely down to the presence of UDS in the Arkle market. I can't be having Ricci agreeing to send Vautour to the JLT just so that Ruby and Mullins have a chance of more winners at the festival. Vautour is a speed horse and perfect for the Arkle, and anyway I think P'tit Zig will be very difficult to beat in the JLT (but the price has gone). Arkle looks much more open IMHO. Vautour is entered in the Irish Arkle, along with most of the other Irish novices at the head of the Arkle market. One scenario I could see happening is Gilgamboa slamming the field in the Irish Arkle but I think Cheltenham suited Vautour much better in the Supreme last season and he was already getting away from Gilgamboa (that speed again) before Gilgamboa's shuddering mistake at the 2nd last.
Willie trains too many class novice chasers. Un De Sceaux, Vautour, Valseur Lido, Don Poli seem to be the top of his class. Would he really run them against each other? UDS can only run in the Arkle so it's that or miss the festival. He missed last years races but what's the point of having a top NH horse and missing Cheltengam? Surely owners would get very agitated by that. Vautour can run Arkle or JLT but until he shows he's recovered mentally from his bad jump and landing LTO I doubt a yard with so much quality would pin their hopes on him. If he proves that was a blip then he has Cheltenham form and the natural ability to blast this lot away in the Arkle. at the end of the day, UDS has fallen and Vautour near enough fell so both have a question mark against them and I expect it will be a decision very heavily influenced by Ruby and what he wants to ride in which race. Valseur Lido looks tailor made for the JLT but could also run in the RSA and would be a favourite in either race. Don Poli could run in the RSA or the 4 miler. Would that yard run UDS against Vautour in the Arkle or Valseur against Vautour in the JLT or Valseur against Don Poli in the RSA? The only way Ruby rides UDS and Vautour is if they go Arkle and JLT with Cooper taking up the Gigg rides as per usual. Ricci will insist on Ruby riding his horses so that will have an impact on arrangements. At the moment it's a terribly difficult puzzle to solve and I can't see the point of a proper bet in anything but if forced to play their hand today and knowing how difficult they are to read, I'd say thatvRuby insists UDS for the Arkle and Vautour for the JLT. Cooper would probably also insist on Valseur in the JLT and Don Poli in the RSA. We could get a mouth watering clash between Vautour and Valseur.
Barring injury/bad runs I think this prediction is 100% bang on. Willie has just too many top notch novices this year, he can't avoid certain clashes and I think Vautour v Valseur Lido in the JLT will happen. What a race that JLT could be with those 2 and Ptit Zig. Could actually be a better race than the Arkle which for my money simply depends whether UDS can jump round. They'll simply not live with him if he does. One point regarding Vautour stepping up, it isn't simply to avoid UDS because if you know anything about breeding/pedigree he was arguably doing things over 2m which he simply should not have been able to do. People were underwhelmed by his Punchestown win over 2 and a half, but the form looks alright now! I certainly haven't lost faith in him after one bad run however the eagle eyed amongst will have noticed my siggy has been amended accordingly
