Road to the Champion Hurdle 2023

not sure it's a head to head between CH and Honeysuckle. willie has a couple of interesting ones for a start.

if the mare can do it for a 3rd time i'd be pretty surprised tbh. purely as she must be due some regression at this stage of her career.

i bet CH back in March as i suspect he'll have a couple of facile wins against poor UK oppo and go off shorter. but i do think people should be wary of that supreme win. obviously impressive but the race fell apart for him imo.
 
Not sure I agree with your assessment of the Supreme, JamesRB.

All the right horses were 'involved' at the finish, and whilst the winning distance might be an outlier, it's hard to knock the form.
 
the winning distance is more what i was sceptical about. but yes i think it speaks pretty well for Jonbon that he went hammer & tongues at it with Dysart Dynamo and still saw off Kilcruit at the end, who is a fair horse himself, for 2nd spot.

i think if the runner up runs a more sensible race its closer and CH isn't quite as short as he is now in the betting. the hype around him is based on how far he won by as much as the form itself imo.
 
Honeysuckle. Brilliant mare but it was made perfectly clear on Chapion Hurdle day she does not have the speed to get near Constitution Hill.

Constitution Hill. I firmly believe by the end of this season he will top the Timeform list as the best hurdler in living memory.

State Man He beat Constitution Hill's stable companion First Street by 1 1/4 length in the County Hurdle.
First Street then took on Jonbon at Aintree and was left 23 lengths in his wake. He would need a jet engine attached to his arse to get near Constitution Hill on that form.

Epatante....Sh'll go the same route until Cheltneham then head for the mares

Vauban I think is Willie Mullins best chance in the race. How many of his he will run in the Morgiana will be interesting but this horse potentially looks the bet of the bunch.
There's a big enough gap between the worlds of Constitution Hill and Vauban to make it interesting but I can't see him or anything filling the void.

Constitution Hill is a no brainer
 
JamesRB said:
the winning distance is more what i was sceptical about. but yes i think it speaks pretty well for Jonbon that he went hammer & tongues at it with Dysart Dynamo and still saw off Kilcruit at the end, who is a fair horse himself, for 2nd spot.

i think if the runner up runs a more sensible race its closer and CH isn't quite as short as he is now in the betting. the hype around him is based on how far he won by as much as the form itself imo.
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The Supreme was run in 3m 44.35s The Champion Hurdle 3m 50.13s so its fair to say that Constitution Hill should have been slower in the latter stages than she was,. That is usually the case when a race is run in a very fast time.
However it was the exact opposite. She was flat to the boards from 2 out right up until she crossed the line. Nico pushed Constitution Hill out hands and heels and even eased him 40 yds from the line.

He got there 4 lengths faster than her.........if Nick had really got stuck in like Rahael did you could add a couple of lengths to that.
 
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All irrelevant, I reckon.

1. Current open company won't be any tougher than what he beat in the Supreme.
2. ditto
3. you could say that about any horse in training, including all the Mullinses/Elliotts etc.

What he did in the Supreme was mindblowing. He might even be better than Golden Cygnet promised to be, almost certainly likely to prove the best hurdler for at least a couple of generations.
 
15 replies in 8 hours - most of them utter dribble I must add. The same number as the debate over the best flat horse in the world received.

Just saying :whistle:
 
an capall said:
State Man will win the Champion Hurdle.
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We should find out the pecking order for the 2 mile hurdlers in the Mullins stable on Sunday.

I have a feeling Vauban might be the one to progress the most but it's only a feeling. :)
 
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No Vauban on Sunday

(2:05) 350E Unibet Morgiana H'dle(@AnaglogsDaughtr) (Grade 1) €70,800.00 ( 2m100y - 4yo+ ) [MAX 20]
1 Jesse Evans (147) (NMeade) -BJCooper ............... 11,12
2 Saldier (FR) (161) (WPMullins) -DEMullins(B) .......... 11,12
3 Sharjah (FR) (162) (WPMullins) -MrPWMullins(T) ...... 11,12
4 State Man (FR) (159) (WPMullins) -PTownend .............. 11,12
5 Teahupoo (FR) (158) (GElliott) -JWKennedy ............ 11,12
 
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