Road to the Stayers Hurdle

Thats fair enough. He looked like he could have been put anywhere in the race today and won.
 
The way he gets from one side of a hurdle to another compared to Big Buck's will be a massive asset.
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Good point and also can Big Bucks afford to have a flat patch against this up and coming star?
 
If the stayers was tomorrow, I'd be happy with 2s. He looks a machine - the perfect long distance hurdler; does he have any chinks?
 
Every so often on course you know you've seen a star and Grands Crus was it
 
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It was a joy to watch him today and I like him a lot, but Big Bucks is a hard bastard, not sure what will happen when/if he and Grands Crus get in a battle. But looking forward to it for sure! :)
 
Suddenly makes a very good race out of it?

I'm 100% in Grands Crus camp and I think he will easily beat Big Bucks:ninja:
 
I was mightily impressed by him . It may well be that Fair Along is very much on the downgrade and Organisateur ran no sort of race but Restless Harry gives the form a sold look and he won in a canter .

It is important however to remember the magnitude of the task he faces . Two things strike me - as Gal says he looks a real soft ground horse and he was taken out of a race last year on the account of the ground ( albeit I heard Tom Scu on Cheltenham Radio saying that was because the ground was unsatisfactory rather than too fast )- second and much more importantly - Big Buck's to me has looked better than ever this season . Indeed I cannot remember the last time he hit a flat spot . He simply does not come off the bit and albeit Punchestowns has been disappointing - he toyed with Time for Rupert who now looks all class .

I suspect that Grand Crus will give him a race but that Big Buck's will win.
 
If I could remortgage the house and lay Grand Crus for the lot at 3/1 I would love to do it.Not saying he can't win but there is a chance he won't start and also the possibility that he will be a drifter.
 
Ground reservations apart Grand Crus is one helleva beast. Great to watch and what an efficient style. Pipe has apparently tamed a beast and the meeting with BB has the possibility of being one of the races of all time or at least the hyped race that never really happened between Kauto and Denman.
 
Grand Crus did it impressively yesterday but the form is well behing Big Bucks at the moment and on level to what Mourad did at Gowran on Friday.
 
But he won the race on the bridle. He travels so well that whatever happens at the end of the race in March he will go a lot shorter in running. He's a massive back to partial lay candidate.
 
With Knockara Beau, Restless Harry & Mobaasher all running to a lb of their official rating - imo Grand Crus has run to 160+ on the bridle and you would have to believe there's another stone improvement in him to trouble Big Bucks.
 
Big Bucks has not been off the bit - I suspect if pushed he has more than a bit up his sleeve too . Diamond Harry was as impressive as Grand Crus in the fixed brush race and was thrashed in the Long Walk.
 
That was a humdrum handicap though. Burton Port was placed in that race but would have been way out with the washing yesterday.

For me there are two pointers to a given horse being a justified odds-on poke in a race. Having a lot in hand from a form point of view and there not being any reason to suppose said horse won't show his form given the conditions present on the day of the race.


Master Minded isn't odds-on for the Champion Chase this year because there is a doubt about him performing right up to his best. It's the same doubt that should have meant Kauto started odds against in the King George. No such doubt surrounds Big Bucks, but it's no longer clear that he has a ton in hand from a form point of view.
 
It's dangerous to under-estimate what Grand Crus achieved yesterday. Impossible to keep him out of the frame on that evidence, and 3/1 probably isn't all that bad a price.
 
Grasshopper said:
It's dangerous to under-estimate what Grand Crus achieved yesterday. Impossible to keep him out of the frame on that evidence, and 3/1 probably isn't all that bad a price.
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Agreed. I still think BB has a bit in hand but he's not the certainty he seemed to be and I've taken some 3/1
 
Grasshopper said:
It's dangerous to under-estimate what Grand Crus achieved yesterday. Impossible to keep him out of the frame on that evidence, and 3/1 probably isn't all that bad a price.
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I agree it was visually very very impressive but as someone mentioned he hits the ground hard and looks a soft ground horse to me - I think g/soft ground or softer would be required for him to reproduce and better that performance and thats not guaranteed at the festival. The times suggest the ground was a lot softer than the official description on his last two runs.

I'm not trying to knock his performance as it took my breath away and he could be anything.
 
It's also worth pointing out not a lot of people actually know whether or not Big Buck's hit a flat spot or not at Newbury.
 
Grand Crus was mighty impressive,but not so impressive as BB the last few years. Seems an odd race to try it but a tricast with Mourad ,BB and GC looks very interesting
 
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