The worrying thing for the Fly's 'opposition' is he doesn't seem to have many 'off days' when you look through his form! Can't be having this Zarkander at all lads...Scrapping home in a handicap like that of a mark of 151 on his comeback against a demolition job on the bridle against proper Grade One horses?! It's as close to a non-contest as you're likely to see surely?!! I'd even fancy that old rogue Binocular to finish in front of Zarkander in March and that's pretty damning on him!
great to see so many different opinions after all watching the same races!! Just goes to show how we interpret the races
Beef you do make a good point about Hurricane Fly, the only off day I recall in his hurdling career was a loss to Solwhit on seasonal debut over 2 years ago. So I think it's highly unlikely he will have an off day. I know alot of people dislike Binocular for his inconsistency, but I do genuinely believe he is top class when he brings his A game. I'm convinced that Binocular when right is alot better than the likes of Peddlers Cross and Oscar Whisky, who HF beat last year. I'm not saying Bino is a better horse than HF, but I do feel that he is the only horse in the race, with the ability to give HF a problem
Having watched the race live, and with some money riding on him also, i have to be honest i thought it was i brilliant run... Thank you Ruby...!!! But ive watched it since and i can see where everyone is coming from. I come down on the side of first run for ages, hampered for most of it, and yes was off the bridle quicker than any other of the leading runners. Got up strong at the end to take it and looked to be pulling away from them all beit with only 50 yards left to run... You have to be impressed with the facts of how this particular race was run, but we are all looking at it with one eye on what some people are saying as the one horse to challenge HF. Well that for now is going to have to wait. But i can see Zarkandar pushing HF to maybe bring out a bit more from him and we may end up with a classic race that will be talked about for a while. Lets hope as we can actually say that Zarkandar is a horse going places, but will he get to the heights of HF...? Well we shall see... I doubt it for this year but if Zarkandar comes on for that run on friday it will be a closer run race than we think... Lets hope we are talking about hoiw good the race was come the day of the magical festival...!!! I cant wait...
Betting in these ‘without’ markets always seems a bit strange to me and have only ever done it once as far as I can remember (Barbers Shop in the ‘without Kauto’ market for the ‘King GeorgeVI Chase’ when BS finished 3rd). What happens if your pick wins the race though?!? You must be cursing despite collecting as you’ve seen your return be around only half the size of what it would be had you bet in the ‘overall’ market! At the moment Hurricane Fly accounts for 55% of the market whilst Mr Henderson’s pairing of dear old Binocular and Grandouet take out just 21%. I would much rather take combined odds of just under 4/1 about this ‘dynamic duo’ than the 5/6 re Hurricane Fly.
