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The 2025 Ladbrokes Handicap Hurdle

Neatly getting back on topic, I see the ground at Ascot (like Danny's sex drive nowadays apparently) is now officially Soft.

My spies on Ascot High Street tell me they've had an inch of rain in the last 24 hours.

The Ascot Jumps course takes rain well, they don't water it during the Flat season, in hot summers the grass turns as yellow as Devon & Exeter did in August back in the day, and they trample all over the home straight in one of the cheap seats enclosures on the inside at the Royal meeting.

But I think there will still be more give than usual - Friday's race times will give a clue.

It's going to be a nice day, weather wise, there tomorrow.
 
Ian_Davies said:
Neatly getting back on topic, I see the ground at Ascot (like Danny's sex drive apparently) is now officially Soft.

My spies on Ascot High Street tell me they've had an inch of rain in the last 24 hours.

The Ascot Jumps course takes rain well, they don't water it during the Flat season, in hot summers the grass turns as yellow as Devon & Exeter did in August back in the day, and they trample all over the home straight in one of the cheap seats enclosures on the inside at the Royal meeting.

But I think there will still be more give than usual - Friday's race times will give a clue.

It's going to be a nice day, weather wise, there tomorrow.
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Ill be giving Ascot a watch tomorrow as I have to take care of My Nan's dog whilst the Father goes and takes Nan to get Helium Balloons (Before you ask, not to suck on and gain funny voices), presumably for Christmas I don't know
 
Ian_Davies said:
Neatly getting back on topic, I see the ground at Ascot (like Danny's sex drive nowadays apparently) is now officially Soft.

My spies on Ascot High Street tell me they've had an inch of rain in the last 24 hours.

The Ascot Jumps course takes rain well, they don't water it during the Flat season, in hot summers the grass turns as yellow as Devon & Exeter did in August back in the day, and they trample all over the home straight in one of the cheap seats enclosures on the inside at the Royal meeting.

But I think there will still be more give than usual - Friday's race times will give a clue.

It's going to be a nice day, weather wise, there tomorrow.
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You're the one who started the talk about sex you blithering idiot LMAO
 
WandererSkyLight said:
(In that context that would be Viagra)
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Reminds me of the one about the husband and wife (Scottish only because I think it's funnier in the dialect) the morning after a night of Viagra-fuelled activity:

Her: Can Ah fix you somethin for breakfast?

Him: Naw, Ah reckon yon Viagra's killed ma appetite.

Come 1pm...

Her: Want me to make you a sandwich or a tin o' soup for lunch?

Him: Naww, I've still no' got any appetite. Definitely must be yon Viagra Ah took last night.

Later...

Her: That's efter six o'cloak. There's mince in the fridge. Will Ah heat it up fur ye wi' some mashed potatoes?

Him: Naw, hen, I'm still no' hungry. MUST be yon Viagra fae last night.

Her: Well Ah'm starvin'. Gonnae get the fvck affa me!
 
Desert Orchid said:
Reminds me of the one about the husband and wife (Scottish only because I think it's funnier in the dialect) the morning after a night of Viagra-fuelled activity:

Her: Can Ah fix you somethin for breakfast?

Him: Naw, Ah reckon yon Viagra's killed ma appetite.

Come 1pm...

Her: Want me to make you a sandwich or a tin o' soup for lunch?

Him: Naww, I've still no' got any appetite. Definitely must be yon Viagra Ah took last night.

Later...

Her: That's efter six o'cloak. There's mince in the fridge. Will Ah heat it up fur ye wi' some mashed potatoes?

Him: Naw, hen, I'm still no' hungry. MUST be yon Viagra fae last night.

Her: Well Ah'm starvin'. Gonnae get the fvck affa me!
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wait they were still f$%^ing?!

That man must see a doctor because thats way past 4 hours even for viagra
 
I see Ians attempt to get the thread back on track worked well.

I have to say when i woke up this morning i never expected to have someone offer to restart my star. That's made me smile.

For those who struggle in the dating world just remember as strange as it may seem describing yourself as a drunken piece of dog turd whilst you may think it might perturb someones advances it only seems to stoke their fire all the more.

I'm never quite sure how i get myself into these situations.
 
Danny said:
I see Ians attempt to get the thread back on track worked well.

I have to say when i woke up this morning i never expected to have someone offer to restart my star. That's made me smile.

For those who struggle in the dating world just remember as strange as it may seem describing yourself as a drunken piece of dog turd whilst you may think it might perturb someones advances it only seems to stoke their fire all the more.

I'm never quite sure how i get myself into these situations.
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Yeah I never thought that too to be honest, let alone in a Horse forum. but hey life finds a way
 
I would say Conti (very likely) definitely runs...

"Harry [Skelton] rides Live Conti, who brings forward grade one juvenile form from last year. He was second in the juvenile hurdle at Aintree, and we've waited for the right time to run him since. He did go to Newbury three weeks ago, but we didn't run him on the day in the end. We've done loads of work with him, but this is going to be hard under a pretty big weight... he's not got top weight, but he has plenty of weight nonetheless. It's very hard for four-year-olds in big handicaps, as well, so I'm aware of how difficult this is going to be. But this is a good horse; he's had a good preparation, and I'd like to think he'll still go well despite that weight and age".
 
Desert Orchid said:
I just hope now that it runs as I opted to go in antepost at the 14s thinking along similar lines, suspecting this is maybe a 160 horse waiting to show its hand (or at least a couple of aces within it).
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Matt Brocklebank at Sporting Life has put this up. Currently 16/1 with Lads/Coral
 
As others have said on the chase race thread, I tend not to pay much attention to pundits. There are one or two whose opinions I respect but would only 'follow' if their selection coincided with mine.

Curiosity does make me want to know what the likes of Timeform put up mainly because I think the industry sets a lot of store by them and it helps me anticipate potential market moves.

When I was doing a lot of races for myself I always included RPRs because in the general scheme of things I liked comparing how my figures stacked up against them. Being entirely honest about it, if my ratings coincide with RPRs and Timeform it does tend to make me feel more confident but it should always be borne in mind what I referred to last week, namely that ratings are a measure of what horses have achieved, not of what they can achieve going forward.
 
I fear my faith in Live Conti is not going to be rewarded today with the exchange showing him at 20.

Being the stubborn old duffer that I am, I've topped up at that price just in case. Sometimes the odd Skelton drifter defies the move.
 
Don't forget L'Eau Du Sud went off mid 30s on the exchange in the 24 Betfair, when that fecker Iberico Lord did him from the last.

Sadly, in this case, whereas you could interpret Dan's pre-race appraisal as being guardedly semi-confident of a good run. I'd say Harry's is somewhat less so.

But they're both masters of obfuscation and will have discussed beforehand what they're going to say, both pre- and post-race.

Personally, I'm disappointed at how 'good' the ground looks. Think Conti would want it much softer than it looks from yesterday, which might have offset the distance question marks a little. I say 'looks' - I mean just by eyesight. That's not good enough, but I'm crap at reading race times. Some(one) here will already know the true state (and they most likely won't be sharing it, rightly so).
 
chaumi said:
Don't forget L'Eau Du Sud went off mid 30s on the exchange in the 24 Betfair, when that fecker Iberico Lord did him from the last.

Sadly, in this case, whereas you could interpret Dan's pre-race appraisal as being guardedly semi-confident of a good run. I'd say Harry's is somewhat less so.

But they're both masters of obfuscation and will have discussed beforehand what they're going to say, both pre- and post-race.

Personally, I'm disappointed at how 'good' the ground looks. Think Conti would want it much softer than it looks from yesterday, which might have offset the distance question marks a little. I say 'looks' - I mean just by eyesight. That's not good enough, but I'm crap at reading race times. Some(one) here will already know the true state (and they most likely won't be sharing it, rightly so).
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Times yesterday suggest the hurdles course was riding slower than the chase course.
 
Desert Orchid said:
Easy to understand why [Wilful] could be fancied. These things shouldn't be taken literally but it is arithmetically 19lbs better off for 1½ lengths with Alexei from the Chepstow race and the winner, Celtic Dino, was the only one to give the good thing Wodhooh a race at Ascot. Obviously Alexei has improved a lot but what's to say Wilful hasn't improved a bit too?
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Again, I allowed two things to put me off:

1. The jockey
2. The price

That Chepstow form is looking really good.
 

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