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The 2026 William Hill Handicap Hurdle

Ian_Davies

Ian_Davies

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May 7, 2023
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Slim said:
Khrisma is a horrible price.
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It's a "the new" Joyeuse thing, I guess.

Whenever the Racing Post writes "the new...." or "race for the ages," a hitherto cute puppy strays off the straight and narrow and stages an armed bank robbery.
 
The five-day confirmations are tomorrow, excitement is mandatory and, to reflect the modern era, a scale of fines for this thread has been brought in, effective from this posting being made.

Referring to the race as the Betfair Hurdle: £50

Referring to the race as the Tote Gold Trophy: £500

Referring to the race as "the Schweppes:" £5,000.

Referring to a horse without typing its name in full: €1,000 (fines for this payable to an capall).
 
Ian_Davies said:
The race formerly known as the Betfair Hurdle, the Tote Gold Trophy or the Schweppes.

Ryan Price's Hill House being booed - as Peter O'Sullevan readily acknowledged in commentary - all the way up the run in as he improved somewhat on recent previous form to storm clear, remains my idea of the most amusing renewal.

38 entries.

Ante-Post Betting: https://www.oddschecker.com/horse-racing/ante-post-racing/national-hunt/william-hill-hurdle/winner
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A short interview with Ryan Price about Hill House. It's a shame there isn't more of it really. It sounds more like Julian Wilson on commentary for the relevant Schweppes. I shall be looking out for trainers at Cheltenham next month explaining a sudden improvement in form with variations of " he is just a spring horse ".

Dance and Glance (16/1, Anthony Honeyball ) looks to be overpriced if he runs in Saturday's race. Form ties in closely with the top two in the market, Let It Rain and All In You, and he receives weight from both of those. Trainer is in good form ( 4/10 in the last fourteen days ). Heavy ground would be an unknown.
 
Wouldn't entirely surprise me if that was a dubbed commentary, but more likely I'd forgotten O'Sullevan was on winter holiday and it was Wilson on the day.

I love that clip - 1967 and the winner is getting roundly booed all the way up the run in.

Were racegoers edgier then than they are today?
 
Nah, we’ve been beaten into submission now!

Loved Ryan Price, can you imagine a trainer being so belligerently angry nowadays in a TV interview.
 
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Ian_Davies said:
... and the winner is getting roundly booed all the way up the run in.

Were racegoers edgier then than they are today?
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Very unlikely to happen these days, I reckon.

Racegoers back then knew the score and knew when they'd been done over and there were fewer bigger doer-overs than Price.

Not far behind him was Sutcliffe but I can at least console myself that I was on his Cala Mesquida (at 33/1, if memory serves). It won me the household Saturday TV racing pool money, plus I had 10p ew, a heavy enough bet for a 15yo school pupil whose income was derived from cashing in lemonade bottles at the local newsagent's, so there was a fair chance i'd have over-indulged that evening in a bar of Bourneville and a pint of milk.
 
Ian_Davies said:
Wouldn't entirely surprise me if that was a dubbed commentary, but more likely I'd forgotten O'Sullevan was on winter holiday and it was Wilson on the day.

I love that clip - 1967 and the winner is getting roundly booed all the way up the run in.

Were racegoers edgier then than they are today?
Click to expand...
This is all new to me and fascinating.
I didn't know until reading into this that Ryan Price got suspended for doing a Langer Dan with Rosyth - coming back to win the Schweppes for a second time after a string of defeats in between.
Maybe standards were different.
 
Slim said:
All In You is still now jocked up for the Betfair Hurdle.
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The Bowens are the trainer's go-to jockeys. Neither is jocked up for the race. Are they keeping their options open for as long as possible?

I see young Freddie is now jocked up for Poet Laureate.

The Schweppes is in sight
I only hope this horse runs
I'm hoping he wins

(A wee bit of Haiku for the occasion.)
 
I have took a chance on:
Bubble Dubi at 33/1 trained by Stuart Edmunds with Charlie Hammond jocked up.
It won on its latest start at Aintree in November last year on its first start for 660 plus days.
It beat the runner up Haarar by 11 lengths giving it a stone.
Haarar went on to win at Haydock in December and was impressive when following up today at Carlisle.
 
Desert Orchid said:
The Bowens are the trainer's go-to jockeys. Neither is jocked up for the race. Are they keeping their options open for as long as possible?

I see young Freddie is now jocked up for Poet Laureate.

The Schweppes is in sight
I only hope this horse runs
I'm hoping he wins

(A wee bit of Haiku for the occasion.)
Click to expand...

I really fancy All In You for this. He's got a really disguised profile for a horse with so much experience. You can't beat the Schwepps to throw up some unexposed graded horses.
 

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