Fighting Fifth

i just think bigger field, faster pace, better ground for katchit, i just think that the race at cheltenham will be better suited to him
 
I think a big field will make it tougher for Katchit...he was dwarfed by the Irish pair yesterday. The ground is usually well watered for the Tuesday of Cheltenham....I would imagine it will ride roughly the same given the usual conditions.
 
i think my good man we r goin to be divided on this and could argue all nite nout it lol! i'm sayin katchit and r u goin for harchibald?
 
Because its Harchibald and Carberry, so it must!

I thought it was a funny sort of race yesterday. They didnt seem to be going much of a pace in the middle of the race. Katchit seemed to go to the front a long way out without really going for home seriously. I think he got done for toe ( by Al Eile!) over the last and was staying on again at the end.

I would have thought the pattern of the race will be different in The Champion, but we ought not assume it will be so. There seems to be a mysterious assumption that Katchit, despite being only four, can find no further improvement. I would rather back Katchit for The Champion than Harchibald, but I have to say if you gave me a free bet now I wouldnt know what put it on.
 
thank u, there is defo improvement in katchit to come thats why i'm thinkin very positively bout him. really can't think of wot else really each way although we are forgettin bout sublimity who i was very impressed with last season.
 
I'd back Harchibald to beat Katchit every single time on decent ground on any track. Katchit is useful but nothing else and will be exposed at the top level more often than not. Doesnt have the ability of a Harchibald.

In saying that I am not sure who will win the Champion Hurdle yet.
 
Originally posted by AliGupter@Dec 2 2007, 02:16 AM
Was the Supreme Novices not very quick then last season?
Click to expand...
2nd slowest I hold a record for (12 years in total).

Prior to that Ebaziyan had run a moderate figure which gave no indication that he was capable of doing a true 2 miles tape to post type of race, which is usually required to win, and most definately required to survive at the apex in open company. To a large extent he got a bit lucky at Cheltenham in that he was required to a race in a fashion that he had previously demonstrated himself capable of at Thurles. He never came onto my radar as I'd anticipated a fast lickety spit race, which is the usual way of the Supreme. This time it didn't occur. I think he might also have been lucky in that Osana went to the County Hurdle too. I expected the wheels to come crashing off Ebaziyan this season the moment he was asked to mix it up and sustain a true racing pace at Grade 1. So far I'd suggest I've been vindicated? I've only been so on 50% of my assertion to date though, as my alternative nominees haven't exactly been ripping up trees, to really setle the issue.

Both he and Clopf will still be dangerous in a small field off a slow pace though.
 
The idea that Harchibald cannot be trusted is lazy and wrong. He might not stay a stiff 2m, but that is something else.

Katchit, nice horse, but not good enough. I personally dont think he will win any grade 1 this year.
 
I think he just looks very deceptive when travelling in that he looks like hes goin well but actually there isn't a lot left in the tank.
 
i would put him down as a good horse not to win a champion hurdle but i just think that his chance was a couple of years ago now
 
Cheltenham will play more to Katchit's strengths than Newcastle - he eats that hill. He has proven he loves the place and runs well there. Harchibald on the other hand is a bridle horse who finds little, if anything, off the bridle. For that reason he cannot be trusted as you cannot take on trust what is left in the tank. Cheltenham does not suit him.
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Dec 2 2007, 06:52 PM
They ground looked a little tiring to me as well and I am sure he is a better horse on a sounder surface.
Click to expand...
While this may be true Shads, it's clutching at straws really IMO.. giving better ground and a faster pace, Harchibald would have beaten Katchit by further than he did yesterday..

The negative connotations surrounding the whole "bridle horse" term and the general lumping together with "unreliable dog" have always got to me, just as many generalisations do, I suppose..
 
I think it can be trusted that he is not going to find a lot off the bridle, but cruising by Hardy Eustace and Brave Inca (before getting nabbed) takes some doing. If the fighting fifth was run at Cheltenham yesterday, he would have won in pretty much the same manner.
 
Originally posted by Galileo@Dec 2 2007, 08:46 PM
He has proven he loves the place and runs well there
Click to expand...

Are you talking about Harchibald...yeah?

Katchit beat a bunch of 4 year olds there...wow wee.
Click to expand...
Erm, no. I'm talking about Katchit - his deplorable Cheltenham record reads 4 from 4. Harchibald has won there.......once?
 
Originally posted by Shadow Leader@Dec 2 2007, 07:45 PM
Cheltenham does not suit him.
Click to expand...
Whaaaat ?

Beaten a 1/4 length by Hardy and beating a future Champion Brave Inca in a CH

Won a Bula where he encountered trouble in running going to the last and when forced to switch he cruised to the front and only had to be shaken up on the run to the line.

You'll be saying Katchit will win a CH next :P norty


:xmassign:
 
Have you considered that Harchibald may have achieved a higher level of form getting to within a head of Hardy Eustace at his best than Katchit did when drubbing Liberate by 10 lengths?

You really should consider it. :)
 
Hang on, that'll be conveniently ignoring the tiny, tiny fact that Harchibald has arrived there hard on the snaff at Cheltenham twice now (out of his 3 runs there - and one of those pair being a County Hurdle, not a Champion!) yet spectacularly failed to deliver as he's found precisely zero?!
 
Akin to the Ollie Magern better than old plodder Beef or Salmon remarks SL.

Harchibald doesnt find much off the bridle. Wouldnt need to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. However, he would beat the type of Katchit on all courses under all conditions hard on the snaff. Just too much ability.

No disgrace on the game Katchit in that.
 
Back
Top