Time to move on and stop the pocket talk 8 months later. Who was it said "You've done your dough,just let it go"
Would Jezki have won if it was him who got hampered like that? 100% no, no ifs, no buts, not a chance. Nothing to do with pocket talk, The New One had no chance to win last year, EOS, any justice he will get his Champion Hurdle this time.
Our Conor was doing far too much, he would have got found out up the hill in my opinion, and surely Hurricane Fly was the best horse in the race
It looks like Willie Mullins is planning to send Faugheen to Kempton for the Christmas Hurdle - at least according to this Sporting Life article.
Too busy mopping up Grade 2s Toppy Unless one of Henderson's runs he'll be 1/10 for the International Hurdle this Saturday - mind you, 75 grand to the winner so why not?
Top scheduling as always by racing. What a farce. I kinda get Twister giving him more Cheltenham experience and not wanting to bottom him or anything prior to March, but even so, just to get a feel of what Faugheen is gonna be like would surely be useful experience? Instead Faugheen will mop up at odds of around 2/7, hard held. Vaniteux might face TNO on Sat but who knows for sure...
Why would Twisters want to run TNO against his probable strongest challenger and possibly bottom him?
Faugheen isnt definite yet I dont think, seen an interview with Ricci on ATR and sounds like they will be having a look at who is running before deciding. And running The New One in it was a late decision after the International last season, whos to say they wont do it again this season. Would be the race of the Christmas period and the one we all want to see but its probably unlikely to materialize. Champagne Fever has no chance in the King George and if I was Walsh, id tell them to go elsewhere with Faugheen so I could ride Vautour in Ireland and let Townend make the pace for Conti.
To be fair to NTD, its not as if he is wrapping TNO up in cotton wool. We get to see him plenty and we have seen before that Cheltenham suits better than Kempton.
20 years ago, the same conversations regarding The New One and Faugheen were taking place about the chances of Large Action and Danoli - also in the race was the front running Triumph hurdle winner Mysilv and dual festival winner Montelado and the Novice Alderbrook who had only had his first run over hurdles 4 weeks before the festival!! What price a novice to win it this year? [video=youtube;2wdCF8LyPe0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wdCF8LyPe0[/video]
I just think we will only truly know the answer on the day. We might end up with a small field on the day. Hurricane Fly is said to be going up in trip, so Jezki, TNO, Faugheen....who else? Vaniteux fell short of the standard so I don't know if we will see him, and Annie Power will never be seen in another competitive race thanks to her owner and trainer. If Irving wins it, I'll personally enter the Champion Hurdle myself the following year. Could be a real tactical affair and that could be where Ruby Walsh and Faugheen win it? A truly run race and a good field are what I hope for so we get a decisive winner with no questions.
Wow TC!! Thanks for posting the vid - a novice winning the Champion Hurdle in just it's second race over timber is something unlikely to ever be repeated again.
I'm still interested in Sign Of A Victory for this - he is entered in the Ladbroke next Saturday (participation will be ground dependent) and I think he is the only real unknown left in the race. Everyone else has pretty much played their cards and it does look a 3 horse race at the moment - Faugheen, TNO and Jezki (who may well get beaten again over Christmas but will be spot on for Cheltenham).
Agreed, I think it would be foolish for anyone to write off Jezki defending his crown and Sign Of a Victory does look just about the only unknown. Just out of interest, what would you do with Vaniteux now? Would you switch attention to chasing?
Not sure on Vaniteux Toppy - do you think he has the scope to make a chaser? Never looked overly imposing to me, not sure whether chasing would be his game? Unfortunately, Mr Mullins has discovered there are plenty of nice hurdle pots to be had relatively easily in the UK and has started sending over the likes of Annie Power and Faugheen to farm them. If that were not the case, I would be tempted to pick and choose my Grade 2s and the odd Grade 1 for Vaniteux to make it pay, much as they did with Oscar Whiskey. If you look at the 4 races late November / early December over 2-2.5 miles they were relatively winnable if you took out Faugheen and The New One. The Fighting Fifth and Hatton's Grace were both poor with a capital P and I suppose horses like Vaniteux could mop up that type of race with some clever placement.
There’s very little point in switching Vaniteux to fences this term. By the time he’s next ready to run there will only be 3 and a bit months of the season left and he will be playing catch up on those who have already run over the big ‘uns this term. Give him the whole of 2015/16 as a novice. The UK hurdlers around at the moment aren’t, as a whole, up to much so he should be able to accumulate, here and there, quite a bit of loot in that sphere over the course of 2014/15. I’m not sure why some of you types are bigging up the ‘Christmas Hurdle’ so much. Cheltenham’s ‘International’ is worth almost £20k more to the winner than the St Stephen’s Day race! One possible Champion Hurdle horse who hasn’t shown his hand yet this term is Harry Fry’s ACTIVAL. Set to debut for the campaign in Saturday’s ‘Ladbroke’. Has a feather weight on Saturday which he should be able to exploit before a possible move up in grade. Really, really liked this horse last season.
Had a small slice of 25/1 e/w on Sign Of A Victory for the Champion Hurdle tonight. Just re-watched his last victory at Ascot and, although he was only off 139 that day, he won so easily that he could well do the same off 150 in the Ladbroke this coming Saturday. If he does, his odds for Cheltenham will tumble, possibly down to single figures (given that it looks a 3-runner race at the moment).
