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Road to the 2022 Champion Hurdle

So many chases seem to have such small fields nowadays - I think I’d want a bit more fun than that for my money so would go for a hurdler
 
Grasshopper said:
For £100K, I doubt I'm getting a 170+ anything, so will assume I'm buying a handicapper.

That being the case, I'd want a chaser. Veterans races would extend my horse's active career, and hurdling doesn't afford the same opportunities.
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Didn't they introduce veterans' hurdles last season?

Other than that I agree with the principle but I'm always looking for maximum bang for my buck.



(I shudder to think what kind of quandary I'd be in if I visited a brothel...)
 
Maruco said:
I think Honeysuckle will before the season is out. She's close now and she's doing it easily.
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Accepted and agreed.

But the 7lbs allowance can't be ignored. It just makes it all the harder for males to beat her. And the males are pretty ordinary with no real prospects coming through.

All in all it's a pretty bleak picture for hurdlers.
 
Beef or Salmon said:
Which ever of Fernys hollow or Appreciate It is decided to be superfluous to the chasing recruits will be a serious challenger
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This is my hope too BoS. I want to see Ferny stay over hurdles.

Willie has enough talent to split up in the novice chases, and he can easily hold one back for the Champion Hurdle. Ferny is a year younger than Appreciate It so he would be the more likely you'd think. Appreciate It would be left in no mans land if he failed in a Champion Hurdle bid at his age.

The problem is I can't help thinking they might set their sights on Bob Olinger with Ferny. And you could understand why if they did.
 
I suppose it's an indication of how poor this season's Champion Hurdle is - Honeysuckle apart - that we can go from 12 October without adding to the thread.

So...

This is from the Handicapper's Blog, referring to the hurdle races over the festive period (I presume he's limiting his observations to the UK):

The Christmas Hurdle didn’t even produce the best performance in the 2m division domestically over the festive period. That honour went to Musselburgh’s Betway Hogmaneigh Handicap in which TOMMY'S OSCAR defied top weight and a mark of 150 pretty readily to score by six lengths from southern raider Christopher Wood, earning himself a rise to 156. Small-field graded events will present him with a different test (and opposition), with connections indicating Haydock’s Champion Hurdle Trial will be next, but he’s been very progressive so far this season and has more than earned his place.
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The link to the blog:

Handicappers' blog | At The Races


(The phrase "Don't say you weren't told" is buzzing around my head for some reason... :lol:)
 
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Its that bad this year Buveur D’air has an entry and Im debating whether he’s worth a poke e/w

Edit. Ive had a few beverages and it says ‘possible entries’. Still.
 
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Look at it this way if Honeysuckle did not exist and as if I suspect Appreciate It doesn't run in the Champion Hurdle you would have 2 horses with 14 Group 1 wins including 3 Champion Hurdles beteen them competing for the title.

There would be loads of debate and no one would be saying it was a poor Champion Hurdle.


Add to that Ferny Hollow and Bob Olinger may well have stayed hurdling but they haven't because Honeysuckle is so good she has scared them all away.

Keep a hold of your money DJ the reason Buvi is only being quoted by Unibet and no one else is because they know damn well he isn't running.

Honeysuckle to my mind is the best since Istabraq and I see no reason why she can't win 3 and possible be the first to win 4 Champion Hurdles.

It will be an added bonus to her if Constitution Hill and Jobon fill the first 2 places in the Supreme as Nicky has made no secret about both their futures being over fences.

It's going to take something really special or God forbid injury to dethrone her.
 
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Double J said:
Its that bad this year Buveur D’air has an entry and Im debating whether he’s worth a poke e/w

Edit. Ive had a few beverages and it says ‘possible entries’. Still.
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Or...

He's currently on 157. How about a run in midfield in the Haydock Trial or whatever to get his mark down to 153 ahead of a pop at the County. Petit Mouchoir ran very well in it last season off 155 and he wouldn't get a sniff of BDA's erse. (Not that he would want a sniff of BDA's erse, I imagine.)
 
Desert Orchid said:
Or...

He's currently on 157. How about a run in midfield in the Haydock Trial or whatever to get his mark down to 153 ahead of a pop at the County. Petit Mouchoir ran very well in it last season off 155 and he wouldn't get a sniff of BDA's erse. (Not that he would want a sniff of BDA's erse, I imagine.)
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Ive been thinking of one for County, and Ruby mentioned it last night.

Echoes In Rain. Feeling it’ll follow the Aramon route of County and Galway Hurdle. Think Buveur could be primed to run into a place in the Champion. Thought he’d been retired tbh. Worse shouts though, with Saint Roi and Epatante likely running in it already for JP.
 
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The owner doesn't really over face his horses but if you owned Saint Felicien would you be trying to get him a mark or have a go at the Champion Hurdle?
 
I would let him run on his merits and ask Davy Russell if I should enter him in the Champion Hurdle and when he stopped laughing:lol:

Don't see any sense in him not running on his merits there are plenty good races out there if he's good enough.
 
Tanlic said:
I would let him run on his merits and ask Davy Russell if I should enter him in the Champion Hurdle and when he stopped laughing:lol:

Don't see any sense in him not running on his merits there are plenty good races out there if he's good enough.
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I'm not saying stop the horse, I'm saying do you pick up a few soft races and take your time with the horse or roll the big dice.
 
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From the RTV site:

Sun 9 Jan 2022

Ann and Ian Hamilton have to decide whether or not to enter Tommy’s Oscar in the Champion Hurdle before he tests his mettle in the New One Unibet Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock on January 22.

The seven-year-old has won his last three, rising to a rating of 156 which considering former champion hurdler Epatante is only rated 153 having dead-heated in the Fighting Fifth and won the Christmas Hurdle on her last two starts, compares favourably.

The Hamiltons are not exactly used to making entries for early-closing races, with a string of just six horses and two of those currently out injured, but they will have to bite the bullet soon.

“He came out of Musselburgh well and it’s Haydock next,” said Ian Hamilton.

“The press are trying to build him up, but he’d have to win at Haydock to go to Cheltenham – the thing is we’ve got to enter for Cheltenham before he goes to Haydock.

“I personally think he’s still a bit off Champion Hurdle class, he’d have to go really well at Haydock but we’ve got to pay £500 before Haydock!

“He’s a smashing horse, he really is. The horses are healthy and well, but we’ve only four in training as we’ve two off sick.

“We’ve tried him over two and a half miles before, and he did have top-weight in heavy ground but he didn’t get home – that’s why we’re not thinking of Aintree.

“With his rating, he’s got to go in the level-weights races.

“We should have had him in the Fighting Fifth really – although he still wouldn’t have run as we were coming to the Rehearsal Chase with Nuts Well but we couldn’t get out because of the storm.”


I wouldn't have thought 500 quid was a big deal.
 
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Willie wasting 100s of thousands on entries then :lol:

Didnt realise you had to pay to be entered, just thought it was to he supplemented.
 

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