The point is that with such a concemtration of talent with nh we do lose out. look at captain conan . ... oscar whisky and because they are all with the same trainer we miss out on some mouth watering clashes !!
I think that yesterday had everything you could wish for in a days racing. I would defy anyone to watch the Argento and not admit that the sport is interesting. The finishes in that race, the Cleeve, the Novice hurdle and the first race were all hair raising stuff and what's more, were all between well backed and well fancied horses. It obviously helps if you hit a huge priced (28/1) winner in the 2nd race but after that, as a fan of racing, it was magical stuff. Dare I say that Sprinter Sacre is unbelievable but at the same time almost...boring? Certainly I already hope that in time he'll be sent at a good ground King George and perhaps even the Gold Cup. He's too exuberant at the minute but the way he jumps would give him a chance in a race of any trip. Real Champions, like Kauto Star, can win at 2miles and at 3miles and I'm already looking at Sprinter Sacre to step up. I hope we see him give a battering to Sizing Europe et al in March first though. The Argento was gripping. I was gutted for Imperial Commander. The finish was amazing, before the last the backers of Cape Tribulation were bouncing as he travelled all over IC only for Imperial Commander to skip clear and for a brief, brief second there was stunned silence from the CT backers as it dawned on them they were beat. Suddenly a new roar came from IC backers (and everyone else probably). The very same silence was back again as CT began to get up under a simply magnificent ride from Denis O'Regan. But.... how good is the form of the race actually going to be? I, for one, am unconvinced. IC is something of an unknown in that we don't know what level he's returned to and how fit he was. I suspect he's nothing near the horse of old and was fit and ready so I don't think the form will work out that well. Once again GC was disappointing but why is Pipe the only one who doesn't seem to know the horse doesn't handle the ground? Whether there's more to it than just the ground excuse I don't know but he could be one to run a big race on spring ground, if indeed he ends up at the festival. Katenko is a horse I must admit I know little about. I took him on with Our Mick who I think would have been pretty close. That said Katenko looks to be progressive and I guess what mark he gets will dictate where he goes from here. One more win in a Graded Handicap would be needed from me before I start to think of this guy as a Gold Cup horse though. He was only off 147 and his two main challengers both failed to finish. I would also like to see him on good ground to be sure he's not just a mudlark relishing the current conditions. Went in a little bit heavy on the New One and was unimpressed, particularly as I'd had At Fishers Cross earlier in the season. The New One, for me, wasn't happy out there. Quite possibly the heavy ground is to blame as he hadn't had it that heavy before, or possibly he's not a Cheltenham horse (only other defeat also at this track, admittedly in the bumper). I suspect he didn't like the ground. What I saw was a horse that was never really travelling and seemed to lack a bit of tactical speed 3-4 out before being done up the hill. STD (LOL) was gently pushing him along from some way out. He did also skip clear nicely after the last so I hope to see him in the Neptune on good ground in March. I do also think he was McCoyed out of it. Switch the jockeys and The New One wins imho. The horse who really did travel well into the race was Whisper, coming round the turn I thought Henderson had pulled a rabbit out of the hat but he faded. He was a bit keen and novicey but he's one I'll be watching with interest in the long run. Yesterday was only his 3rd start and a massive step up in class. Another cracking race and finish though, great for the sport. The last race was the 4th really good finish of the day, particularly special because 90% of the punters were on one or the other as Reve De Sivola and Oscar Whisky, the two clear market leaders, battled out another exhilarating finish. Thankfully I'd called this one right. For me, Reve De Sivola will be there or thereabouts in March but he's not nailed on. If Oscar Whisky cannot beat him on soft ground then what chance will he have on good? And OW got a peach of a ride for that matter. Williams said he thought RDS would improve for good ground and Dickie J said he didn't feel the horse was totally happy out there so I think if OW couldn't win yesterday he has little hope in March. If OW was mine I'd have another crack at the Champion Hurdle. In fact I'll be gutted if they don't go for the Champion Hurdle and feel really quite strongly about it. If they bypass the festival then fair enough but I really feel he has a much better chance in the Champion Hurdle (a race he's placed in before) and even if he doesn't work as well as Grandouet I think he's earned the right to take his chance. Didn't see the last race but I would have backed Mr Watson having seen it on here . Loads were on so I hope you all got your books in order on the lucky last if you hadn't already!
