National Hunt Review Of The Year.

Now that the main National Hunt season is over, below is my review of the 2010-2011 season.
Members are invited to comment and/or disagree with my views- and put forward any other horses to look out for.

Two Mile Hurdler Of The Year.
Hurricane Fly finally expelled the gremlins and confirmed his status by winning The Champion Hurdle and subsequently hacking up at Punchestown.
However, the form inconsistencies of many of the top hurdlers suggest this isn’t a golden age for hurdlers, and it will be interesting (but doubtful) to see if anything comes out of the novice ranks to challenge Willie Mullins’ charge.

Staying Hurdler Of The Year.
Big Bucks seems to go from strength to strength.
Grands Crus gave him a great race at Cheltenham, but not only has he got rid of his ‘flat spots’ , his jumping has improved tremendously. He has also shown a high cruising speed and can be held up or make the running.
Personally I would have loved to see him challenge for The Champion Hurdle- but that just won’t happen.

Young Hurdler Of The Year.
Zarkandar was very impressive on his debut at Kempton and cemented that at The Festival.
It seemed hard work for him at Aintree, but Cheltenham may have left its mark. It will be interesting to see if he progresses, but Triumph Hurdle winners do not tend to challenge for top honours thereafter; why I do not know.

Staying Novice Hurdler Of The Year.
Many will disagree but I thought Oscar’s Well was desperately unlucky at Cheltenham. He was cantering all the way and hadn’t been asked a serious question when leading and ‘sprawling on landing’ over the last.
Where he goes from here is dubious. Will he challenge Big Bucks or go the staying chase route? Either way he has a mountain to climb.

Two Mile Chaser Of The Year (and most improved horse).
Take your pick from Big Zeb or Sizing Europe.
My vote would go to the latter, based on his tremendously positive performance at Cheltenham. This crown will be up for grabs next year and other horses may come into the reckoning.

Two Mile Novice Chaser Of The Year.
Captain Chris gets my vote. His consistency and resolution were finally rewarded when he won The Arkle. I feel there may be more improvement to come, and let’s hope he can challenge the best next season.

Staying Novice Chaser Of The Year.
Both Boston’s Angel and Quito De La Roque showed great consistency throughout the year, but my vote goes to Quito De La Roque.
Though narrowly beaten by Boston’s Angel at Leopardstown, Quito De La Roque won all his four subsequent races, including valuable prizes at Aintree and Punchestowns. From Big Buck’s paternal offspring, Saint Des Saints, he’s obviously endowed with endless stamina.
The close proximity of all the contestants in the RSA Chase raises doubts over the quality of the form, but Colm Murphy obviously has an exciting prospect in his yard.

Champion Staying Chaser Of The Year.
In decisively beating Kauto Star at Kempton and Cheltenham, Long Run followed up his promising novice campaign by taking top honours.
Yes, both Kauto and Denman are ‘on the wane’ but it’s hard to criticise Long Run who certainly possesses both speed and stamina.
Time may tell whether he won an ‘in between Gold Cup’ and it will be interesting to see if Weapon’s Amnesty returns from injury to challenge him.

Overall Horse Of The Year.
It seems a toss up between Big Bucks and Hurricane Fly- or maybe Long Run for some.
My vote goes narrowly to Big Bucks- purely for the tremendous quality of his campaign.
Moreover, just how good is he? We may never know, but let’s hope he stays around for a while yet.

Jumps Sire Of The Year.
French sire Cadoudal – who died four years ago- had the distinction of siring both Big Bucks and Long Run in the twilight of his stud career. Furthermore, his son, Saint Des Saints, has sired Quito De La Roque and Quel Esprit. Stamina seems to abound in this family.
However, pride of place must go to the ex John Gosden inmate, Presenting, who is now nineteen years old.
His progeny’s successes are endless...
War of Attrition, Denman, Woolcombe Folly, Weapon’s Amnesty, Ballabriggs, China Rock, Dunguib, Jessie’s Dream, First Lieutenant, etc, etc.
The list is endless and the number of his winning sons is unbelievable.

 

I'd agree with most of that, bar a few, I'd have Big Zeb over Sizing Europe, Sizibg Europe won one race, that's it!

Not sure how you can have Oscar's Wells either, Rock On Ruby was coming to claim him at the last in the Neptune, and First Lieutenant stayed on past ROR, so for me OW would have been 3rd had he not crashed through the last! The Neptune form has also taken a massive knock, with horses such as First Lieutenant, Rock On Ruby, So Young, Megastar and Habby Simpson being stuffed on reapearence, I don't think one winners come from the race. Bobs Worth has to be the pick for staying novice hurdler, he beat Rock On Ruby easier than First Lieutenant over course and distance, despite being badly hampered by a drifting Champion Court which cost him atleast 3 lenghs in the Cheltenham trials race, he then followed up at Cheltenham in the Albert Bartlett!

I'd also disagree on staying novice chaser, I believe Noble Prince was the most talented, he beat Wishful Thinking well at Cheltenham in the Jewson, and WT has since bolted up at Aintree, and won a decent handicap at Punchestown carrying top weight. All you have to do is watch Noble Prince's race with Realt Dubh in the powers Gold Cup when he fell, to see how much class he has, he was cruising all over RD, and would have won by as far as he wanted had he stood up. Realt Dubh then went to Punchestown and nearly beat Captain Chris, so RD is a very good horse. I like Quito De La Roque also, and as my regular followeres will be aware, I advised him at 6/1 and 4/1 on his last 2 starts, when he won, but I still don't think he has the class of Noble Prince

 

Well, well, how the heck are you Tam? Long time no see. Good to have one of the good guys on board.

I don't know too much about the Hunt scene, but for mine the overall horse of the year was Long Run. He took on the best, in the biggest race, and flogged them. It was a wonderful display.

The 2 mile chaser of the year goes to Big Zeb. I think he stood a few doubters on their heads.

 

Morning Tam. Nice to see you here. How are you? Maybe we'll have some riddles now?

 

Certainly would agree with the first 3 and it wouldn't surprise me to see Z challenging for top honours next year.

Also can't disagree with the stallion choice. What a CV he has.

The rest I'll have to leave for you more knowledgeable folk.

Possible future star?

This horse seems to have gone under the radar. His performance at Punchestown on Friday 7th May was, to my mind , outstanding.

There is no doubt that Hurrican Run was awesome in the (Irish) Champion Hurdle. They seemed to go a good gallop and the time was very fast relative to all other times on the day, bar one.

Just 70mins after that impressive display by the Fly, on the same course, same distance and same number of hurdles, there was another very easy winner and his time was 2.4secs faster than the Fly’s.

Times may not be too reliable (especially as was pointed out to me they crawled at the start of the Fly's race) but, by any interpretation, for a 5yo to put up a performance like that, carrying the same weight (11.12) as the Fly and to have won “easily” by 11 lengths must be good enough for anyone’s notebook.

This could be a future star. Kid Cassidy.

 

Tam I'd agree with you but I'd have Big Zeb over Sizing Europe like King, and agree with you on Oscars Wells, my most unlucky loser at Cheltenham.

On a similar note there is another thread where posters can list their favourite NH horses over the 606 era on http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/48786-Top-ten-jumpers-of-the-606-era

 

I agree with most of what you say. But i would certainly have one of the 2 and a half milers ahead of the 3 milers in the Novice chase division. I can't help but think there is no standout. A close finish inevitably means they are all not much good rather than the other way round. I can't see any of them challenging Long Run et al for the top honours. The Gold Cup looks incredibly open. The last market i saw on Paddy Power and they were 16/1 bar last years winner, and i think that says it all.

I like Zarkandar (had him for the Triumph and at Aintree) and think he can improve to at least challenge for the Champion Hurdle crown. Will he beat Hurricane Fly? Most probably not. Can he be the best of the English? Most definitely, because it looks a weak bunch.

The horse i'm really looking forward to is Captain Chris. I thought he was unlucky throughout the first part of the season but really showed his true ability later in the season. His Arkle win was impressive because he is clearly not a 2 miler. I think a race like the King George is tailor made for him provided that the ground is decent. Judged on his GC success, Long Run is a thorough stayer and it might just be that he gets caught out by something with a bit more toe than him. For me the flat track, right handed on decent ground and Captain Chris is that horse. He owes me nothing having won the Arkle at 9/1 and then at Punchestowns, but i think he's got a great chance in the King George of at least making the places. The ground is my one concern and it might be that he only shows his best form on true spring ground, so he could be a decent price at the Festival again next year if he were to suffer some reversals during the winter.

Elsewhere the Novice chasing ranks looks potentially top class, but i won't go into any more details because it would take all day!