You telling me winning one of the worst Hennesseys I can recall and beating a regressive 12 yo Raz de Maree in a handicap less than 2l doesn't warrant him to be shorter in the market than horses like Cue Card, Djakadam and even Outlander i.e. those with actual Grade One (not handicap) form... Surely not
Plenty of competition for worst price - I'll chuck in Yorkhill at 5/4 for the JLT (although 7/4 is available, that is almost as bad )
Id have to agree with Yorkhill being the worst price at the minute, even with Buveur Dair out, either him or Min who has zero chance with Altior. As far as form goes in the Supreme this year, Moon Racer doesnt look that bad. His bumper win was a fair performance iirc beating some decent horses in Yanworth, Supasundae, Modus and Belshill, and he also looks to be a good ground horse so wouldnt read too much into two runs on soft in September and November. Not sure what else can be second favourite, the 3rd fav has won a kempton juvenile and the fav a leopardstown maiden. If you really want to argue form surely the case is for Moon Racer being a clear fav. Form in jump racing is irrelevant at the best of times, especially in the novice hurdles, they are all trained for one week and the events might as well be a different sport compared to the rest of the season. The only form that really matters is previous festivals, after that you only really have your eyes and trainer/owner trends to guess the potential class that will rise to the test, the Grade 1 novices on heavy ground and the 1/5 public gallops for top novice chasers dont produce anything tangible on paper, you only find out in the championship races in March.
****ing hell, sore one to take losing Min as well. Altior and Douvan will be taking the 2m championship chases in a common hack canter!
The Cheltenham handicappers festival 2017. Dropping like flies and surely more to come in the next 4/5 weeks. The novice races are all that are exciting me.
I was chatting to someone over in Ireland about the spate of injuries in the Mullins yard justvlast week. Apparently they widened their gallops last year and the concern is that the contractors didn't do a great job, either not ensuring they dug the new ground out to the same level or that the new surface hasn't been mixed/laid properly.
Sounds like the same firm who fixed Basil Fawlty's hotel Mr O'Reilly wasn't it? Seriously bad news if that is the cause. Me Ricci's lawyers will no doubt have something to say. What a terrible few months Willie Mullins has had - first the split with Gigginstown, then the tragic death of Vautour and now a run of injuries which seems almost unprecedented. Hope things start looking up for him.
Some ante post bettors are getting a good hiding even before the festival begins. Harsh rules for them.
Very interesting to hear that PN, I knew they'd done a lot of work down there, and that explanation would explain a lot. Tough times for Mullins, it's like 5 seasons worth of bad luck rolled into one year with Vautour, Avant Tout, Annie, Faugheen etc etc etc
I say calm down, old boy. Nothing wrong with Newton Abbot. Not for nothing is it monikered ‘God’s own racecourse’. Wasn’t saying I agreed with the mark just merely an observation re how high it currently is in relation to previous winners of the ‘Albert Bartlett’. But what would you prefer an animal who has won a few, largely uncompetitive, novice events or one who has competed at the very ‘top table’ and run Uknowhatimeanharry to 3.25 lengths (when in receipt of just 6 lbs)??? You pays your money and you takes your choice.
It's strange mark when compared with that of Wholstone's perch of 145, whom has beaten him on all three of their meetings. Probably makes him fifteenish pounds higher than he should be or should Wholestone rating be 158? It's just the way the handicap system works in Britain. If West Approach toiled his trade on the other side of the Irish Sea I suspect he would be rated circa the 140 mark and we would have anarchy should he be entered in a handicap in Britain. Begs the question as to which system is wrong? Answers on a postcard Mr Smith.
