Beaten By Binocluar.......10L further than the time before.
Has Binocular improved 10lbs in the interim? Or does Khyber Kim perhaps need further than 2m on a sharp track like Kempton, and he as run below his Champion Hurdle awarded mark?
Which, in your opinion, is the more likely scenario - given you yourself think that KK might perhaps needs further?
The only other logical position is that you think Binocular has improved 10lbs on his Champion Hurdle run, and whilst it's not entirely impossible, the limited evidence we have seen so far this season (defeat behind Peddlars and Starluck) would tend to suggest it unlikely.
It's this uncertainty which causes one to question whether the level Binocular's achieved in the Champion Hurdle - expressed as poundage - was as high as it first appeared.
Surely it's legitimate to question it, given how moderately the placed horses have fared since?
EC1, if it makes you happy, Timeform awarded a 180 that season, I think, and it is the hardest one to justify. I think there are holes in that particular rating, but largely agree with those awarded the previous two years. In this case, the Official Handicapper is closer to the true mark, than Timeform....in my opinion.
And, no - I can't be arsed having a look at the race and rating it. 
