Road to the Champion Hurdle 2023

Grasshopper said:
Henderson has left Constitution Hill in the Fighting Fifth, where the ground is currently Soft, G-S in places, with about 10mm in forecast before Saturday.

If the horse is dependent on Soft ground, then this is the obvious point to get him going, as you can't guarantee soft(er) at Cheltenham for the Bula/International, and you almost-certainly can't at Kempton for the Christmas Hurdle.

There's nothing else for the horse after that, until Haydock in January, or possibly Sandown in February.

He surely has to run against Epatante.......if he is as dependent as Henderson has implied?
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The contenders hurdle at Sandown has been scrapped
 
Truncheon said:
The contenders hurdle at Sandown has been scrapped
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Not for the First time -it was the Otley Hurdle in the 80's and disappeared for a few years.
How many Champion Hurdle trials have disappeared over the years -New Years Day Hurdle,City Trial Hurdle and Berkshire Hurdle are another three that I can think of.
 
I obviously did too much drinking in the 90's -the race was lost one year -not for the decade I was thinking of.
 
Tanlic said:
Question: What price Constitution Hill for the Champion if Nicky runs both on Saturday and he beats the mare by 0ver 10 lengths?
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Same price more or less, I reckon.......beating the mare 10L is probably the minimum needed for the price to hold.
 
Any excuse will do..Look at Jonbon. He beats Monmiral who had been beaten over 40 lengths in his last 3 races and must be viewed as downright moderate these day. 4/1 to 7/4 with Hills
 
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Tanlic said:
Any excuse will do..Look at Jonbon. He beats Monmiral who had been beaten over 40 lengths in his last 3 races and must be viewed as downright moderate these day. 4/1 to 7/4 with Hills
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I don’t think it had much to do with with Monmiral, more likely because he showed he could jump pretty well.
 
Very true but then again he was well beaten in the Supreme and then was all out to beat El Fabiolo who may not be the best of WPM's

I could get 5/4 Sprinter Sacre 10 days before his Arkle and he was 10 times the horse Jonbon is. Plus both Al Ferof and Cue Card had lost twice over fences at the time.
 
Tanlic said:
Very true but then again he was well beaten in the Supreme and then was all out to beat El Fabiolo who may not be the best of WPM's

I could get 5/4 Sprinter Sacre 10 days before his Arkle and he was 10 times the horse Jonbon is. Plus both Al Ferof and Cue Card had lost twice over fences at the time.
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And my 10/1 sprinter sacre before he jumped a fence was one of my better moments of madness.
 
Constitution Hill and Epatante intended runners on Saturday at Gosforth Park according to their trainer.
 
Marb said:
Constitution Hill and Epatante intended runners on Saturday at Gosforth Park according to their trainer.
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Any chance that if CH wins by a long, long way without coming off the bit, it will frighten connections of Honeysuckle into going for the Mares' race instead? (10/1 in places but few bookies offering odds so probably not likely to happen.)
 
Honeysuckle is going for a 3rd Champion Hurdle. Will take more than CH hacking-up for them to come to that decision, I would have thought. She'd probably need to get beaten in at least two of her preps, for connections to consider a switch, imo.
 
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More Chance of all three of us being called up to play for England in the World Cup than Honeysuckle switching:)
 
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Grasshopper said:
Honeysuckle is going for a 3rd Champion Hurdle. Will take more than CH hacking-up for them to come to that decision, I would have thought. She'd probably need to get beaten in at least two of her preps, for connections to consider a switch, imo.
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they'd sooner retire her if she doesn't seem the same. it'll be champion hurdle or out to grass.
 
It would be an act of madness or extreme cowardliness to swerve the race if she remains in unbeaten until then just because of the threat of another horse.

And Henry is neither mad nor a coward.
 
Totally agree.as much as I think she is up against it she has never lost yet and you can bet they think she can beat Constitution Hill
like the owners of War Admiral thought he was going to beat Sea Buscuit.
 
Re saturdays race I wonder how forward Epatante is in comparison to where she was at this stage last season and dead heated with Not So Sleepy?

If she is in the same sort of fettle and doesn't finish well ahead of Not So Sleepy this could end up being a slaughter and no guide to how he will fair against Honeysuckle.
 
Ardross said:
No chance DO - if she goes down Honeysuckle will go down on her shield.
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To be honest I wasn't being totally serious at the idea of Honeysuckle going for the Mares' race.

I just thought, as Robert Webber's character in 12 Angry Men would say, "Let's run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it."
 
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