Best horse never to win a Champion Hurdle

Frankel

Frankel

Senior Jockey
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Following on from DG's thread on best horse never to win a Gold Cup. Thought I would start this one off aswell.

Sizing Europe surely would have dotted up but for injury.
 
Do we consider those that ran in the race only or those that missed out like Golden Cygnet ?
Birds Nest one of my all time favourites and would top my list as a CH runner 1976-1980.
Kybo going very well in 79.
Captain Christy a candidate also given he had a very unorthodox race programme in that he ran nearly every second week as per Monksfield.
Harchibald unlucky to be the meat in the sandwich between two absolute terriers in 2005.

Golden Cygnet top of any list for his performances.

Captain Cee Bee.
But for Binocular he might never have seen a steeple chase fence.
If he can run HF, OC to a couple of lengths at 13 what might he have done in his prime ?
Problem was F Berry never rated the horse like he did Binocular imo.
In his prime the CH was not the most difficult race to win.
Moscow Flyer another hurdler that put Istabraq to the sword more than once only for one or other to fall.

I wonder how will Slim price this one up ?
 
Ok. To my eye, Browne's Gazette's Supreme was every bit as impressive as Golden Cygnet - only saw it recently. While GC is the go-to answer in all of these answers, think he is the best horse that ran in a champion hurdle and not win in my living memory.
 
11/10 Golden Cygnet
11/4 Flyingbolt
9/2 Baracouda
9/2 Rhinestone Cowboy
5/1 Valiramix
5/1 Sizing Europe
10/1 Captain Christy
10/1 Harchibald
12/1 Inglis Drever
12/1 Brown Gazette
14/1 Birds Nest
20/1 Moscow Flyer
25/1 Arkle
25/1 Barton
33/1 Birds Nest
66/1 Solwhit
66/1 Captain Cee Bee
 
Last edited:
SlimChance said:
11/10 Golden Cygnet
11/4 Flyingbolt
9/2 Baracouda
9/2 Rhinestone Cowboy
5/1 Valiramix
5/1 Sizing Europe
10/1 Captain Christy
10/1 Harchibald
12/1 Inglis Drever
12/1 Brown Gazette
14/1 Birds Nest
20/1 Moscow Flyer
25/1 Arkle
25/1 Barton
33/1 Birds Nest
66/1 Solwhit
66/1 Captain Cee Bee
Click to expand...
Whaaaat ?
A quick calc makes that for me an over-round of roughly 190%. :blink:
Bet with Slim Chance Bookmakers Ltd., folks, and you'll get skinned.


Anyway, outside the incomparable Golden Cygnet, I nominate Macs Joy.
He did win the Irish equivalent and the Punchestown Ch Hrd. His highest Official Rating puts him ahead of other Chelt Ch Hrdl winners Sublimity and Punjabi.
 
How far did Browne's Gazette beat See You Then in the Christmas Hurdle?

And Solwhit, Barton are in the same field. And Rhinestone Cowboy is 9/2?
 
HawkWing said:
How far did Browne's Gazette beat See You Then in the Christmas Hurdle?

And Solwhit, Barton are in the same field. And Rhinestone Cowboy is 9/2?
Click to expand...

Barton had injury issues but still won a Fighting Fifth and went off 9/2 in a hot Arkle. He could have been 165 over 2m easy.

Solwhit wins nothing, I'm including him because he's mentioned on the thread.

Rhinestone Cowboy was a 170 horse and had he been campaigned differently could have been a monster.
 
SlimChance said:
Barton had injury issues but still won a Fighting Fifth and went off 9/2 in a hot Arkle. He could have been 165 over 2m easy.

Solwhit wins nothing, I'm including him because he's mentioned on the thread.

Rhinestone Cowboy was a 170 horse and had he been campaigned differently could have been a monster.
Click to expand...

Not convinced Im afraid. Barton always a stayer. French Holly level. Rhinestone Cowboy also a stayer and would have been a Gold Cup horse rather than a Champion Chaser if going that way. Was never going to win a Champion IMO. Cant believe that he is third favourite. From your list there its a 6 runner race

Flyingbolt, Arkle (Sheer talent)
Golden Cygnet (undeniable promise),
Valiramix (promise, to a lesser extent)
Captain Christy (capable of brilliance)
BG (unlucky and controversial loser of one, had form clear of an eventual triple winner).

The rest are only providing colour. (Dont know enough about Birds Nest)
 
I think Sprinter Sacre would have been very hard to beat in one had they stuck over hurdles and would beat the vast majority mentioned here. Wouldnt be laying any fancy prices against him if he turned up in the race.
 
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