The Road To The 2012 Champion Hurdle

Bar the Bull said:
A race like that can take it out of a horse, though. I would have preferred him to have run on quicker ground so close to Cheltenham.
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This isn't any regular type of horse though BTB...;)

I know the ground was bad yesterday but I don't think it was that gluey type of energy sapping ground. It was so wet that they got through it well enough I thought.
 
Still 6 weeks until the Festival so it's hardly like it's just round the corner. And also agree with the comments of others that it was wet and sloppy rather than holding. I think he'll be just fine.

Very good to hear that he has come out of it well.
 
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Desperate ground in the Hattons Grace over 2m4f didn't stop HF winning the December Hurdle a few weeks later.

All WPM needs to do is keep him ticking over, and get him to the tape for the Champion Hurdle, and then we can start warming-up the "Ista-who?" thread.
:ninja:
 
I was impressed visually with HF's performance. He won very easily and should not be expected to have done more than he did. Anyone worried that the extremely slow times haven't told us very much though? They'll be going faster at Cheltenham.
 
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granger said:
PP gone 4/5 on the Hurricane
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Chance they will pay out on him before the race is run.Another possibility is they make him the subject of the same special they have run for the last 2 years -refunding all losing bets on the race if he wins.
 
SteveM said:
I was impressed visually with HF's performance. He won very easily and should not be expected to have done more than he did. Anyone worried that the extremely slow times haven't told us very much though? They'll be going faster at Cheltenham.
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What? It was a decent time, Thousand Stars made it a true run race. If anything he went off a bit fast for the conditions.

I can also add that the horse looked to be in very good nick beforehand.
 
it was 13 seconds faster than the novice hurdle over c/d...and per mile way faster than teh other hurdle races

can't see how anyone could call the race slow tbh
 
EC1 said:
it was 13 seconds faster than the novice hurdle over c/d...and per mile way faster than teh other hurdle races

can't see how anyone could call the race slow tbh
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The clock can! But given the conditions it was perhaps all we might expect, as I said earlier. Nevertheless it won't be like that at the Festival, so the question I'm asking is does the slow run race (albeit a factor of the conditions) tell us very much: 4m 5.10s (slow by 20.10s). I'm questioning whether a fast run race on good ground will necessary yield similar results you see.
 
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SteveM said:
I'm questioning whether a fast run race on good ground will necessary yield similar results you see.
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But why would you? That is a valid question for horses like Flemenstar and Bog Warrior, who have not yet been tried in top company on good ground, but Hurricane Fly certainly has.
 
I wouldn't pay much heed to the times yesterday, given that it poured rain throughout the card. Like Grey, I can't see how anyone can plausibly question Hurricane Fly's ability to perform in a truly-run race on good ground though.

That said, and impressive though Hurricane Fly was, the form of the race looks questionable. Thousand Stars was almost certainly below his best (bad mistake three out certainly wouldn't have helped), and connections of Oscars Well - a horse I can't really make my mind up about - are fairly adamant conditions did not play to his strengths. Doesn't strike me as a race to rate with any confidence.

The only thing to really take from it is the fact that Hurricane Fly is still seemingly more than capable of producing the same sort of hard-on inducing performance that he was last year.
 
Most horses lose some of their speed as they get older. However, HF is relatively young as NH horses go, and the way he travelled on good ground at both Cheltenham and Punchestown last spring suggests he's a few years away from it being any sort of problem.
 
Hurricane Fly has had good-ground form since his maiden hurdle win at Punchestown. He is even better on quick ground than he is on soft (proven by his wins at the Spring Festivals), and those still looking for a hole in him had better go find themselves a neutrino, as it's the only thing that might fit.

The Champion Hurdle will be an annihilation job, regardless of ground conditions.
 
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