My point is that the heart thing is a non story, they entered him up quickly afterwards for another run. He to me has problems, but it’s not the problem they stated post race. Many horses are now reported with that issue and it resolves itself. Why didn’t we see him in the Christmas Hurdle (he was entered) or the Haydock Champion Hurdle trial (entered again)? So would you back him without a prep run?
The six-day entry stage sees 14 still in what is now looking a pretty decent renewal of the Champion Hurdle. The two mares are vying for favouritism but with the ground unlikely to be testing I think Epatante suddenly looks an outstanding bet at 7/2 with Billy Hills.
I would love to see Honeysuckle win but I am very worried about Goshen, who was my long range selection before going amiss
Epatante wins this. Going to be a nice silly big price on the day too with everyone getting giddy about Honeysuckle and Goshen.
The final entries are in and 10 runners will face the starter this year. This looks a very decent renewal on paper with just about all the form lines you want to see represented - you've got last year's first and second, last year's mares Hurdle winner who is now unbeaten in 10 with 5 Grade 1s on the bounce (including the last 2 Irish Champion Hurdles), the second and all-but-winner of last year's Triumph (with the re-emergence of Goshen a real story), last year's Supreme 2nd plus the rejuvenated Silver Streak and a complete dark horse in James Du Berlais. We are back to good-soft all over on Sunday and we are highly likely to see plenty of good in the going by Tuesday. That has to be right up Epatante's street yet she is out to 7/2 today with Abacadabras and Sharjah the one for money today.
Im all over Epatante for this. They decided BVD need not bother as they have the winner. Heart led saver on Goshen after last year.
ground does seem to be going against Honeysuckle. Simon Claisse said yesterday it will be good to soft with good in places.
Possibly so. I just think Epatante is a better horse aswell. Its the race I'm looking most forward to all week
I’m laying Goshen for a place and dutching the two mares to win. I’ve not seen anything this year that suggests Goshen is a 3/1 shot against two very decent mares who will be in receipt of 7lbs. Everything he’s done this year is naff apart from last time out but even that doesn’t suggest Champion Hurdle winner. He won as he liked on heavy ground against a small field (one horse rated 105!). It’s so far removed from what the Champion Hurdle will be like it’s unreal. It’s true he smashed last years Triumph field and won bar falling but since when has a Triumph been anything to get excited about? Even if he’s a top notcher, this year is abnormal. I say that because normally the boys would have one good mare to beat and you could argue that she may underperform and nullify the 7lbs but this year there’s two of them. If one underperforms there’s another one you’ve still got to beat. If both of them run within a pound of their rating then anything that beats them will have to run to 167/168/169. Where is a 169 run coming from amongst this lot? It’s not going to happen in my eyes. I’m assuming the top two mares are too good with the weight. It leaves Goshen needing to beat the rest of the field. Within that field you have the Supreme Second and the Champion Hurdle second and I think both of them have better hurdle form and better Cheltenham Festival form. The other Mullins horse could be anything. Silver Streak has ran reasonably at Cheltenham before. Essentially, there’s a lot of horses competing for that final place behind the mares so i’m saying the shortest price should be taken on.
Seems like sound logic. Pity, as Goshen is one of my fancies. On the other hand, I'm a big fan of Honeysuckle (what a lovely name for a mare). That leaves the door open for the Epatante backers
I think Silver Streak is fair value at 16s, Epatante was deemed to have under-performed in the Christmas Hurdle but she beat Ballyandy by the same 8L as the previous year so maybe Silver Streak has improved a bit, he is only 8, and you can forgive him getting beat in the international on ground softer than ideal, the expected decent ground should suit him and I think he looks likely to at least place again in this. Hard to argue that any of the top 3 are great value at current odds, Id be against Honeysuckle as I dont believe that Irish Champion win for a second, and Goshen has been more miss than hit for a long time now, and despite my comments on the Christmas Hurdle, I do think Epatante is the class horse here, she was a better price in a weaker race last year granted, but Henderson and JP own this race and if they have her spot on shes probably going to get a nice set up to close into.
Now there appears to have been more rain at Cheltenham - forecasting this year has been all over the place! That has reassured me about Honeysuckle - she will be very hard to beat
Yep barmy - it was supposed to be dry overnight but the course got 10mm of rain and its now soft pretty much everywhere. Unbelievable Jeff
