Flemenstar is a Jailcase for the Champion Chase, Sprinter Sacre has beat nothing and made hard work of it.
Tom George also talking of entering Mail De Bievre in the Champion Chase - suddenly opponents coming thick and fast for the black aeroplane
But seriously, I think any chance Flemenstar had of winning at Cheltenham is gone, I said before the race I thought it was a mistake running him, he blatantly didnt stay in the Lexus and I think those two runs at 3 miles will have taken a bit of speed and explosiveness out of him. I said at the start of the season, he was probably the only horse who could give Sprinter Sacre anything resembling a race. Im sure he will run well in either the Champion or the Ryanair because he is a class horse, but id be surprised where he to win either now.
I have a feeling he loses whichever race he enters at Cheltenham. I think he might prove to be a bit of a hype horse and some of the pundits talking as if the Ryanair is a penalty kick must be crazy. Can he win the QM, not if SS turns up healthy. Can he win a Gold Cup, no. Can he win the Ryanair? He possibly can but Cue Card, sizing Europe, Finians Rainbow tell me it's unlikely.
Yep saw that on Sportinglife.com. And that horse looks a bit of a black beast himself!! Flemenstar I think should go for the And Andrew Lynch should employ different tactics of aggressive in to the fences not holding the horse back. I reckon that Mail De Bievre could give Sprinter Sacre a run for it s money too if it takes its chance ... Finians Rainbow should also be going in the Queen Mother - ridiculous all this talk of going for 3 miles or maybe 2 miles 4f. He won the race last year and should be there to defend his crown. If he wasnt with Hendo he'd be there and I'd like to see him in the race! Captain Conan too ..Henderson has too riches and they are nearly all in one pot !
Amen 100% in agreement Casey & Curran are clueless and they're pathetic statements that keep on contradicting each other is childish. Casey claiming the Ryanair as a non-entity?(says the multiple champion chase & gold cup winning trainer)
Interesting interview with Finians owner yesterday. His point was he'd rather enter a race and have a chance than defend a title in a race he can't win. You get the impression NH has told him he can't possibly beat SS and he's accepted this. I can see both sides of this one.
Flemenstar won't be winning any race at Cheltenham, if he even goes there. Tempted lay him for every race he's entered in, but I don't think I've got big enough cojones.
I think one day, not necessarily this year, people are going to have to eat a lot of humble pie when it comes to Flemenstar. He is one of the best jumpers of a fence I have ever seen and to give Sir Des Champs first run as well as handing back all the lengths he takes out of him at his fences was nothing short of suicidal. One day the penny will drop with this fellow and he will be a machine at whatever trip he sticks to. He ought to be a major player in a King George
The Ryanair is not a championship race of any stature compared to the CC and CGC and didn't exist before 2005. It's the old Cathcart revamped,rehashed and gifted G1 status to fit in with the new four day festival and framed to fit those who are too slow for the CC and not good enough for the CGC...(IC the exception). Casey is spot on.
Dex - how's your petition entitled "Surely a 2m4f Grade 1 Hurdle should be added to the Cheltenham Festival" coming along? I bet Mr henderson and Mr Dai Walters would sign up
..hopefully very slowly!...it's the last thing the festival needs! I'm for slashing most of the current heats,not adding more! The two guys you mention are no doubt very keen as is SBC. Connections of Solwhit and such horses are also keen I would imagine.
He won't be if they take a pull after every fence. The horse is obviously talented. The tone of this thread is more a questioning of the way he's being campaigned and ridden.
Does anybody think this might be a daring plot to get his price out for the Gold Cup? Pull him up after every fence so he looks like a non-stayer then let him loose in the big one? No? Thought not.
I would love nothing more. Can you imagine the scenes? Peter Casey would have such a hard-on as he laughed his way to the bank. He'd be boshing it in his Mrs, effing and blinding, Channel 4 complaints through the roof. Pandamonium.
Barney Curley would be proud of that if he pulled it off. I keep watching the Hennessy again, what Lynch does after the 2nd last is just laughable. Before the fence he comes tanking up between horses, he then stands miles off and soars past SDC in the air and lands a length clear of him - a majestic jump. Davy Russell thinks "oh ****" and immediately starts pushing SDC along but Lynch almost pulls Flemenstar up and lets SDC go on by 2 lengths. That was never going to be the way to defeat SDC, you need to go on and put his jumping under pressure.
Couldn't agree more, in fariness i think the owners seem to have other ideas than that of the jockey and trainer. He had to go from the front to beat SDC, once i saw the tactics i knew SDC was going to win 10 seconds into the race. They tried to experiment in a big race and got it badly wrong imo.
