The Road To The 2012 Champion Hurdle

He is faster than anything else and he stays 2m4f well. Therefore, soft ground, heavy ground, good ground, firm ground, slow pace, fast pace, muddling pace, flat out end to end gallop, and so on, are all no problem at all.

The only possible way I can see something beating him is if Zarkandar is absolutely fantastically and brilliantly exceptional. As in the best hurdler ever. The chances of that happening are really very very small indeed.

As Grassy says, he looks bombproof.
 
Grey said:
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.
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In other words you see his recent performance as an indication he will be at his best for the Champion?

This may be the case. I liked the performance too, but am not sure it will translate to different conditions. The consensus appears to be that he is a worthy favourite. While I wouldn't want to deny that (despite awful current value, at odds-on), I'd be a bit disappointed not to find something to take him on with.
 
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Zenyatta said:
The only possible way I can see something beating him is if Zarkandar is absolutely fantastically and brilliantly exceptional. As in the best hurdler ever. The chances of that happening are really very very small indeed.
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I think it will take something less than the best hurdler ever to beat HF. Even though he may be worthy favourite, how has he suddenly become bombproof by winning in heavy going?
 
Hurricane Fly did it very well last Sunday, especially after all the problems he has had since the summer, but I dont think he is as good thing as people in general is saying
to win back to back champion hurdles is never easy and the form of last race is subject to some doubts for me.

Also add last year Festival win was not his best run and the conditions will be completely different. At evens I am not backing him.
 
I think you are looking a bit too hard Steve. He's the best - by a mile. It was doubted last year and he proved many wrong, he was doubted again this year and he's won a decent prep in a canter. He's a mile clear of anything thats been on a track yet. This is a proper horse and the best Champion Hurdler of my lifetime.
 
In other words you see his recent performance as an indication he will be at his best for the Champion?
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Taken together with his appearance and demeanour beforehand, yes I would. Remember, he doesn't like that sort of ground but he did everything asked of him in a true-run race.
 
OTB said:
I think you are looking a bit too hard Steve. He's the best - by a mile. It was doubted last year and he proved many wrong, he was doubted again this year and he's won a decent prep in a canter. He's a mile clear of anything thats been on a track yet. This is a proper horse and the best Champion Hurdler of my lifetime.
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I know what you mean. Sometimes it's hard to shake off a prejudice about a horse and I'll admit for some reason I'm very hard on this horse.

But as for your last sentence, either you're much younger than I expected or wrong.;)
 
SteveM said:
I think it will take something less than the best hurdler ever to beat HF. Even though he may be worthy favourite, how has he suddenly become bombproof by winning in heavy going?
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You know what I mean Steve.

He hasn't suddenly become bombproof by winning in heavy going. He was already and he has just proven that he still is.
 
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I am interested to hear who the opposers think might beat him?

I didn't think he was a certainty before the weekend given that Mullins wasn't happy with him but now he has blown those doubts out the water I find him very hard to oppose.

Of those to have raced this season I cannot see anything to beat him which leaves Zarkandar. He might be good enough but the chances of having two hurdlers around at the same time as good as Hurricane Fly are pretty slim, not impossible though.

At the moment if I were looking to oppose him then Zarkandar would be the one, purely for the reason that we as yet don't know what he might be capable of.
 
This is going to sound crazy as I don’t fancy him, but I actually think that Long Run deserves to be nearly as short as Hurricane Fly, as there are no realistic challengers to him (other than a novice and a 12yo) in my opinion.

I think the following are very solid top-end hurdlers:

Oscar Whisky
Binocular
Zarkandar
Grandouet
Oscars Wells (who wasn’t suited by the ground).

And although I don’t like them myself, many think Unaccompanied and Rock on Ruby are potential high-end Grade 1 hurdlers.

So I think it is a deep field, and a good one. Hurricane Fly is obviously top dog, but he won’t have to run too far behind his best form to lose this race. Was Peddler’s Cross really that good? Oscar Whisky may have improved. The two juveniles from last season that I listed above could be anything.
 
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As good as the Triumph form is it's a massive leap to say Zarkander and Grandoet can challenge HF. Oscar Whisky is surely World Hurdle bound and I'm not buying the ground excuses for Oscar's Well. He leathered Zaidpour in the Deloitte on heavy last season.
 
Bar the Bull said:
This is going to sound crazy as I don’t fancy him, but I actually think that Long Run deserves to be nearly as short as Hurricane Fly, as there are no realistic challengers to him (other than a novice and a 12yo) in my opinion.
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I don't think that's at all crazy. I'd be backing Long Run all day on the day at 5/2, but would want around 7/2 against HF.
 
Zenyatta said:
I am interested to hear who the opposers think might beat him?
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I’ve made no secret that I’ve backed the Henderson trio of Binocular, Spirit Son and Grandouet. Although it seems I’ve done my money on Spirit Son. If Oscar Whisky ran here rather than the World Hurdle I’d be very interested (especially at the price), but I would prefer him to run in the World Hurdle. Zarkandar is interesting but is probably a little short and would be of more interest to me next year. Of the outsiders Rock On Ruby, Peddler’s Cross, So Young, Starluck, Zaidpour and Mikael D’H could all make their presence felt if lining up.

Any of these 11 mentioned would have some sort of chance against HF – even if half of them line up HF isn’t an odds-on shot.
 
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