Champion Hurdle
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The Mordin verdict taken from his web site
WHAT'S GOING TO STOP KATCHIT WINNING A SECOND CHAMPION?
It takes a very good five year old to win the Champion Hurdle. And clearly KATCHIT (35) is a very good five year old. He won a very strongly run renewal of this year's race and it would take a brave person to say he won't win the race again next year. The last three five year olds to run the Champion Hurdle all went on to repeat their wins the next season.
Clearly Katchit is best when towed along at the strong pace normally generated by a big field. He's now won all seven times he's run in hurdle races with more than eight runners. His only three losses over timber have all been in small fields.
Here OSANA (35) obliged Katchit by setting a very strong early pace. To be fair to his jockey, it's almost impossible to judge what pace you're going when you're initially being assisted by a strong tailwind and then have to run back home into the face of a fierce headwind. And it certainly didn't look like Osana was going quick as he loped along comfortably in a clear early lead. But the clock shows he reached the fifth hurdle a full second sooner than they did in the Supreme Novices. And they only got there that as soon as they did in the Supreme Novices because Norther Bay refused to settle and set much too fast a pace for the first three flights.
Norther Bay had to be pulled up after his pacemaking efforts. But Osana actually rallied in the closing stages to give Katchit a real hard time of things as they approached the line.
When a front runner goes off to quick as Osana did here the pace basically collapses, causing the final time to be slower than it otherwise would have been. This is the reason the Champion Hurdle ended up being run almost two seconds slower than the Supreme Novices. But I guarantee if the two races had been run together Katchit and Osana would have fought out the finish with Captain Cee Bee doing no better than finish several lengths back in third or fourth.
It seems to me that Osana is always going to be vulnerable in the Champion Hurdle as there's invariably something that will force him to go too fast in the lead. So, unless he can be made to show the same level of form when held up, I think he's likely to do best in smaller fields where he can dominate at a slower pace than he had to set here.
WHAT'S GOING TO STOP KATCHIT WINNING A SECOND CHAMPION?
It takes a very good five year old to win the Champion Hurdle. And clearly KATCHIT (35) is a very good five year old. He won a very strongly run renewal of this year's race and it would take a brave person to say he won't win the race again next year. The last three five year olds to run the Champion Hurdle all went on to repeat their wins the next season.
Clearly Katchit is best when towed along at the strong pace normally generated by a big field. He's now won all seven times he's run in hurdle races with more than eight runners. His only three losses over timber have all been in small fields.
Here OSANA (35) obliged Katchit by setting a very strong early pace. To be fair to his jockey, it's almost impossible to judge what pace you're going when you're initially being assisted by a strong tailwind and then have to run back home into the face of a fierce headwind. And it certainly didn't look like Osana was going quick as he loped along comfortably in a clear early lead. But the clock shows he reached the fifth hurdle a full second sooner than they did in the Supreme Novices. And they only got there that as soon as they did in the Supreme Novices because Norther Bay refused to settle and set much too fast a pace for the first three flights.
Norther Bay had to be pulled up after his pacemaking efforts. But Osana actually rallied in the closing stages to give Katchit a real hard time of things as they approached the line.
When a front runner goes off to quick as Osana did here the pace basically collapses, causing the final time to be slower than it otherwise would have been. This is the reason the Champion Hurdle ended up being run almost two seconds slower than the Supreme Novices. But I guarantee if the two races had been run together Katchit and Osana would have fought out the finish with Captain Cee Bee doing no better than finish several lengths back in third or fourth.
It seems to me that Osana is always going to be vulnerable in the Champion Hurdle as there's invariably something that will force him to go too fast in the lead. So, unless he can be made to show the same level of form when held up, I think he's likely to do best in smaller fields where he can dominate at a slower pace than he had to set here.
Euronymous
Senior Jockey
Fast ground for me.
Bar the Bull
At the Start
I backed Osana, and I still think he was not far off the best horse in the race on the day.
However, I don't feel robbed, as I knew he would take it from the front.
I would like to see him run held up in the Bula or Christmas Hurdle.
However, I don't feel robbed, as I knew he would take it from the front.
I would like to see him run held up in the Bula or Christmas Hurdle.