Aintree- Sat the supporting card

There is no evidence at all to suggest that KK was short at Cheltenham - he travelled very well and picked up smartly - the problem was that Binocular was better than him .
 
there is no evidence he was 100% though..just saying he was doesn't make it so..I have tried to put an argument forward...i could just keep saying he wasn't 100% in a similar manner:D

as said..todays run with the 3rd suggests he was below par there if anything

we will find out for sure when KK meets Binocular again..i know where my money will be going :cool:
 
Are Won In The Dark and Quwetwo not holding down the form a tad today? I think KK won with plenty in hand but didn't have to reproduce his CH form to win.
 
Down the swanee by the sounds of it .

It is not a question of saying he was 100%. All the evidence points that way .

The stable were thrilled with him before the CH.

He travelled beautifully and was on the bridle off the turn

He picked up really well - but Binocular had more speed

He was not stopping on the run -in as might be expected with a horse a bit short - in fact he pulled further clear of the rest .

Brennan when interviewed today said that Binocular must be some horse to beat KK like that - he did not suggest that the horse had improved at all ./

The only factor that might count in KK's favour would be softer ground - anything else is I am afraid wishful thinking on your part EC1.
 
The other factor that would count in KK's favour is that he simply looks far more consistent than Binocular.
 
Gareth Flynn said:
The other factor that would count in KK's favour is that he simply looks far more consistent than Binocular.
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I think that is unfair before his muscle problems Binocular was very consistent. Henderson admitted he might well have been a bit undercooked last year for the CH . If he is right he will be much too good for all of them - the only threat I can foresee would be a rejuvenated Hurricane Fly.
 
Ardross said:
I think that is unfair before his muscle problems Binocular was very consistent.
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Maybe, but there's no guarantee that it was a one-off problem that just took a huge effort from a lot of people to fix. I can't seem them running him more than three times next season (including the CH), and he'll be very opposable in the first two of those at the likely odds.
 
We shall see - if he hacks up in the first, say the Bula I imagine he will be a darn sight less opposable in the rest .
 
EC1 said:
we don't..maybe that was just a bit of what he can do..great game this..great guessing game:)
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That's my point - you kind of have to, well not assume, but think with a fair degree of certainty that Kyber Kim was fit and ready to run his race at Cheltenham based on the fact the trainer knows how to have one hard and fit first time out, the horse has gone well fresh (though now does not need to be) in the past and that the trainer had any number of options to run him prior to Cheltenham but chose not too. After that effort connections made no suggestion of fitness being and issue nor did they mention it today.

So yes while there is a chance (as there is in most things in life) that he was not 100% at Cheltenham - everything suggests otherwise and today's effort was probably on par at best with his Cheltenham effort.

I suspect you will come back with your theory again but I doubt connections would hear of it.
 
i'm open to being wrong..i just go by what i think..my view looking at his form was that the CH put him right for today..maybe it wasn't like that..but it could make sense..and connections don't always get it right

there are points on both sides here..as with most things we talk about on here..its all good stuff:cool:
 
EC1 said:
Using Zaynar..who needs further than 2 miles in most people's opinion..who must have run better today over further than he did in the champion hurdle..but has been beaten further by KK even though todays conditions should have seen him get considerably closer to KK..in fact according to themarket..beat him...so KK must have run better today than he did in Champion..he beat Z 6 at Chelt..but beats him 8 today..over todays trip ...so its fair to say that KK has improved by 2 lengths + the fact that Z was better suited to this than Cheltenham
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Cheltenham and Aintree are totally different tests though surely. Zaynar was off the bridle relatively early in both the Champion and today's run and, despite being a lazy horse, I just got the feeling that he didn't have the toe to travel through either.

Whilst it's certainly worth trying him over 3m (ridden with more restraint ideally), I get the feeling he may fall between two stools in the sense that he may be seen to best effect over a stiff 2m4f.
 
Didn't see the race yesterday but was listening to John Hunt on Radio 5 and he gave the impression that Celestial Halo was travelling like the winner just before he fell and by inference that Khyber Kim may have been a fortunate winner. Was he right?
 
I was just about to post something similar to Colin's reply.

For those who believe that KK maybe put up an even better performance yesterday than at Cheltenham, would you read it the same if Celestial Halo had held him at bay? What would that have said about Celestial Halo?

I'm so glad some kind passing soul threw me a grappling iron.
 
I'd of thought CH would have been very hard to pass, when he looks to be struggling some how he pulls out a nice run in the big races, shame he took a tumble, didn't deserve it at all.
 
I admit I was thinking KK was looking like the winner from some way out but I was really pleasantly surprised by the way Celestial Halo picked up - he didn't do that in any race since Wincanton.

As I said, stop the race going to two out and KK is the easy winner but stop Friday's race going to two out and you'd say Forpady had Albertas Run cooked. Albertas Run found plenty and Celestial Halo was just picking up again. I think it would have been very interesting, especially since Muirhead wasn't beaten far in the end.
 
CH was certainly running a good race..agree..but someone on other thread said..CH would probably have stayed on wheras KK found a turn of foot..could have seen that being the case

we will never know really
 
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