Champion Hurdle 2015

Thought it was a taking enough performance from Faugheen today, though he will want to brush-up his jumping soon enough. He has a great engine, but the other top-hurdlers are all more fluent, and he won't be abke to gallop classier animals into sumbission. I also wonder if he'd have the toe to quicken at the end of a fast-run two miles.

I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

Didn't learn anything from TNO that we didn't know already.
 
I wish Lingo was still around.

As a punter I've no interest in the race, and don't pretend there's a great edge or angle either.

Purple Bay winning the Fighting Fifth next week at Newcastle would give me something to think about.....

Maybe i will be prived wrong in March when i see how they shape up in the paddock.
 
Last edited:
Frankel said:
Nice enough today from TNO and Faugheen.
Not sure it told us anything though.
Click to expand...

Don't know so much. Told me The New One would be as well staying at home in March and that Faugheen has the makings of being the next Istabraq.

I agree with Grassy his jumping could have been better but horses tend to get a bit close to their hurdles when they are travelling in a low gear so it's not a worry.

If you consider Jezki was most like a winner by default and TNO was a well beaten 3rd behind him, Faugheen might just be a fantastic bet at current odds for the Champion Hurdle
 
Tanlic, no horse is a "fantastic bet" at 5/2, four months before the Champion Hurdle, with one (albeit impressive) open-Grade run against moderate opposition behind him.
 
Hopefully they bring Faugheen over for the International.
Have to say that I wouldn't want to be taking on Jezki just yet.
 
gonna be interesting what they do with faugheen. it seems as though all the big grade 1's in ireland are reserved for hurricane fly once again this season going off what willie said last week. so maybe they'll bring faugheen over for some of the uk one's. i don't think he'll come for the bula but maybe the xmas hurdle at kempton?

the alternative is they prep him using the same kind of races un de sceaux was in last season. seeing off fodder without ever being tested. it would be a risky way of preparing him for a race like the champion hurdle though.
 
thought Faugheen's jumping was ok and improved through the race. He absolutely pinged the last. Most likely winner for me but 5/2 is criminal
 
JamesRB said:
gonna be interesting what they do with faugheen. it seems as though all the big grade 1's in ireland are reserved for hurricane fly once again this season going off what willie said last week. so maybe they'll bring faugheen over for some of the uk one's. i don't think he'll come for the bula but maybe the xmas hurdle at kempton?

the alternative is they prep him using the same kind of races un de sceaux was in last season. seeing off fodder without ever being tested. it would be a risky way of preparing him for a race like the champion hurdle though.
Click to expand...

Just reading Ricci's comments, he mentions maybe Faugheen or Annie as a possibility for Kempton.
 
Slightly different tactics, but I thought the runs of Faugheen and The New One were very similar, and in both cases all it really showed was they're both in good heart, they can brush away inferior opposition without really being tested, and they both could do with sharpening up they're jumping.

I'm not saying one of them won't win the Champion Hurdle, but to nail your colours to the mast on either of those performances doesn't make sense, and Tanlic and Darren were definitely seeing something in the Faugheen performance that I didn't. Particularly as Ascot bears no resemblance to Cheltenham, neither did the pace of the race, nor the likely underfoot conditions.
 
Last edited:
Perpetual said:
thought Faugheen's jumping was ok and improved through the race. He absolutely pinged the last. Most likely winner for me but 5/2 is criminal
Click to expand...
Agree with this. He also pinged the last in the Neptune which tends to the conclusion that his jumping is fine when the pace is proper and it usually is in the Champion. The most likely winner but that's a price for February rather than November.
 
Slight danger in getting carried away with yesterday's performance from Faugheen. In bare form terms, he probably hasn't achieved much more than he did in the Neptune. Lac Fontana is as honest a handicapper as you'll find, but he has no real pretensions to the upper echelons, and he's beaten under 10L.

Faugheen is, of course, hugely promising, but ante-post odds of 5/2 flatter him greatly at this stage of his career. Jezki and TNO might not be Istabraq or Hurricane Fly in their pomp, but they are seriousky good 2m hurdlers, have top-class track form, and are as game and reliable as you would want to see in a hurdler.

Currentl prices under-estimate both their chances, imo.
 
Back
Top