Champion Hurdle 2013

Of course, this is going to sound like I'm dancing on the horses grave.

I dont think that he was an obvious champion in waiting, and I don't think it was wholly certain (albeit very very likely) that he would have won at Doncaster.

He had a huge amount of potential, especially as a chaser in time, but even was McCoy was slow to get on the Darlan bandwagon when interviewed after the Kempton win. The horse had a chance of winning a champion hurdle and its sad that he won't be there to show what he was capable of. But it was only a chance.

Those who want to shape the story and any future myth about the horse can talk about how he was cantering all over the reigning champion hurdler when falling at the last in a manner that echoed Golden Cygnet. Horses like Cinders and Ashes, Trifolium, Montbazon, Raya Star and even Rock on Ruby will be left out of the story.
 
I think if he was still with us lived up to his potential it would have been more as a Sizing Europe than an Istabraq.
 
I'd be concerned about the ground but I wonder if JF is. If he is reliant on good ground seem like aiming him at this race is a bit silly and silly he is not..
 
HawkWing said:
Thinking that Darlan should be in Golden Cygnet bracket in lost potential is hugely overstating the sad horse's ability.

Second in a Supreme behind Cinders and Ashes ahead of Trifolium and Montbazon. His best days may have been ahead of him but winning a slowly run Christmas Hurdle was his best.

Has a champion hurdler ever fallen twice prior to winning?
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Massively overstated you couldn't possible compare the two.

Golden Cygnet may well have been the best hurdler ever seen on a racecourse.

When he won the Supreme by a street Bootlaces who won the Schweppes in a canter was left toiling in his wake. In the Scottish Champion hurdle when he was killed he had 3 top class hurdlers, including the highest rated hurdler in Timeform's history, namely Night Nurse along with Sea Pigoen and Beacon Light all well and truly beaten.

Racing also lost Browne's Gazzette, Ekbalco, Lanzarote and Dawn Run who all earned a placee in history.

Sure Darlan was a nice horse and we all feel bad about it but let's get real. As you say he won a Christmas Hurdle and yes he'd have probably beaten Rock on Ruby but even if he did he may have found him a lot tougher nut to crack at Cheltenham.

The problem with the media is paper doesn't refuse ink and they are a dab hand at telling people what they want to hear because that sells.
 
Might not have been a Golden Cygnet, but it's daft dissing the horse when no one knows what he could have been capable of.
Can't see what all the fascination is with Cotton Mill, it'd be an highly unusual profile for a horse to have never run below 20f, his last run over 3m, and to win the biggest 2m h/c of the season, surely?
 
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reet hard said:
Might not have been a Golden Cygnet, but it's daft dissing the horse when no one knows what he could have been capable of.
Can't see what all the fascination is with Cotton Mill, it'd be an highly unusual profile for a horse to have never run below 20f, his last run over 3m, and to win the biggest 2m h/c of the season, surely?
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It's probably because I tipped him up Reet:lol:

I'll be very surprised if Cotton Mill doesn't go very close indeed to winning the race.

There must be a distinct possibility he's absolutely thrown in at the weights.


Watching his maiden win on the flat I can see why John Ferguson would be led to believe the Neptune would be the best place too aim him last season. He took his time to get going that day and his jockey was working some way from home to get up inside the final furlong.

He's a half brother to Sir Michael Stoute's Pure Grain who wasn't exactly short of speed winning at 7f,10f and 12f.

They've obviously decided before he jumped a hurdle based on his flat appearances to train him for the longer race and as he did win 3 races over the longer trips so why change the plan?

But what was obvious in those races was the horse had bundles of speed, traveled miles better than he did when a young horse on the flat as well as having stamina. No doubt they've changed the way they train him to cope with the shorter trip. I doubt very much if the drop back with be a problem.

Because of the change in trip he's pretty much unexposed. The fact he hasn't run this season would indicate they are very confident and this John Ferguson has a touch of the Nicky Henderson's about him when it comes to turning out horses fit and will.

Hopefully on Saturday we'll see why he's so fascinating.
 
Aaargh - I wonder sometimes if people ever read postings properly on here before replying. I did not say that Darlan was as good a horse as Golden Cygnet !

It is impossible to compare form over a 35 year gap but what Darlan and Golden Cygnet have in common is that both were new entrants on the Champion Hurdle scene and both died breaking their necks when apparently about to show that they were likely if not certain to beat the old guard.

Thus this year's CH will have the " what if " question hanging over it.
 
Massive difference Adross. The race poor Darlan lost his life in was nothing more than get me fit for Rock On Ruby according to Harry Fry and would have told us very little had Darlan stood up and won. I'm sorry if it seems harsh but I sincerely doubt if many will be asking in 3 years time what if about him let alone 35years.

Golden Cygnet died in the Scottish Champion Hurdle with 2 of the best hurdlers ever seen on racecourse, off for their lives and well and truly beaten.

Anyway, 24 hours is a long time in politics and suddenly Nicky Henderson/JP MCManus has a horse they might just be comparing to the champions of the past over the next 12 months in MTOY, who knows?

Nicky Henderson was quick to say he should be kept in novice company this season.

I loved his comment "People forget JP already has a horse in the Champion Hurdle in Binocular"

What he was reall saying is I have a horse in the Supreme who'll **** up and I'm pretty sure I can win the Champion Hurdle with Grandouet. No doubt if Grandouet wasn't a main player his opinion may be slightly different.

Looks like he's off to sunny Kelso for a hack round which is just what the doctor ordered.

Can't wait until March. According to Nicky he's in fantastic form and everything is going to plan

It is only natural that he is a much stronger horse than he was when beating Overturn hands down in the International and you'd have to think had he made the race last season he would have gone very close to winning.

No doubt in my mind whatsoever that the 2013 Champion Hurdle winner will be Grandouet and add another trophy to Nicky Henderson's ever growing collection

As we used to say in the old days in Bonnie Scotland "Seven Barrows ya bass":thumbsup:
 
I didn't see the race with Darlan last week but I was told (by a pretty good inside source) they thought he had ruptured his aorta going into the hurdle rather than the fall being the cause of it.
 
jinnyj said:
I didn't see the race with Darlan last week but I was told (by a pretty good inside source) they thought he had ruptured his aorta going into the hurdle rather than the fall being the cause of it.
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Thats very interesting , because my first reaction when watching it ,was it reminded me of the fatal fall that Detroit City had at Ascot and if I am not mistaken it was also heart related.
 
The spasms would be a neurological response to shock; either a lack of oxygen/fuel or of unrestrained nerve impulses ( in much the same way Mick Fitzgerald described his uncontrolable body spasms after his Aintree fall on L'Ami when he fractured his neck).
Aorta ruptures and you will bleed out in seconds; I had a few cows that ruptured uterine arteries at calving and they were gone in 30 seconds or less.
Thanks for the post Jennyj.
 
Colin Phillips said:
.............would that result in spasms of the hind legs?
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Quite possibly. My Dad (whos a vet long retired) worked the Festival in the 70s & 80s and hes of the opnion that a great many horses who die from heart related deaths have their heart & its vessels weakened due to worm infestation whilst young. And a few years ago I sent a mare away to stud to be covered looking a picture. She returned 6 weeks later looking like a different horse and some 3 months later nearly succumbed to colic caused by red worm proliferation. We keep sheep and rotate the stock every 3 weeks so one species breaks the worm cycle of the other.
 
jinnyj said:
Quite possibly. My Dad (whos a vet long retired) worked the Festival in the 70s & 80s and hes of the opnion that a great many horses who die from heart related deaths have their heart & its vessels weakened due to worm infestation whilst young. And a few years ago I sent a mare away to stud to be covered looking a picture. She returned 6 weeks later looking like a different horse and some 3 months later nearly succumbed to colic caused by red worm proliferation. We keep sheep and rotate the stock every 3 weeks so one species breaks the worm cycle of the other.
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This is one theory never put forward for Devon Loch's collapse in GN 1956.
The Old Dublin Vet college had on display the main artery to the intestines of a horse with a huge embolus (clot) where the artery branched caused by migrating parasites. It is a wonder any blood passed through.
On Devon Loch , there was an article in an old Irish Field where a stable lad remembered DL collapsing in a training gallop as a young horse.
(DL was bred near Charleville Co Cork at Shandrum Stud where African Song winner of King Stand Stks early 1980s was also bred.)
 
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