The Road To The 2012 Champion Hurdle

Bar the Bull said:
I have been having a think about this race.

I am a perverse (and perverted) hoor. But my perversity is what is important in this thread.

I hate hype and I hate when people are so convinced that they are right.

So I want Hurricane Fly to lose, just to p!ss off people like Grasshopper and Bobbyjo.

He's not that bloody good.

It's like the way I want there to be no God, just to p!ss off religious ould ones. And the way I wanted Ireland to lose that Grand Slam decider a while ago to p!ss off all the people who bang on all day about rugby in pubs and workplaces around the country.

So there.
Click to expand...

Honest but not too healthy Bar ! :blink:
 
Grasshopper said:
None of which changes the fact that you, Stevie-boy and others are all destined to get f*cked royally in the ass, when Hurricane Fly wins the Champion Hurdle. :D
Click to expand...

...he'll be a lot better than I reckoned if he manages all of that on the run in!!
 
Steve T said:
Let's not have any of the "we'll never know if he'd won" drama, he wouldn't.
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't he have won, he was second favourite? Although I agree there is no point in conjecture if it's not going to happen, it would be nice to find out. I fancied Binocular to have beaten HF and PC last time, but he didn't line up so his name isn't there.
 
SteveM said:
Why wouldn't he have won, he was second favourite?
Click to expand...

He only beat Zaynar nine lengths the previous year, despite being asked for his effort earlier than HF was in 2011. He'd have needed a big step up in form and his runs since suggest that wouldn't have happened.
 
As far as I know Grandouet's so called surgery is a minor keyhole op to flush out the joint to determine if it's serious or not. If there is nothing serious he'll be fine to run as he's 99% fit anyway.

Be a bummer if he misses the race as it will take away one of the main dangers to Hurricane Fly and detracts from the race big time.
 
granger said:
I cannot wait for Hurricane to silence his few doubters on here
Click to expand...

First thing you'll have to do is find one.

I doubt if anyone doubts he's the most likely winner it's just not going to be as easy as you might think although if Grandouet deosn't turn up obviously it becomes easier.

Don't underestimate Binocular he's a class act on his day and much better than the one paced Peddler's Crosss ever was and he definitely looked like he's back to something like his best.
 
This is the debate to end all debates on horse racing in a way.

We've those who think The Fly is a superior animal, and will comfortably claim a second Chamion hurdle.

Those who think Binocular, Grandeout, Zarkandar etc can really make him work, or can just make the winning distance of HF a bit less than last year.

And then those who do think the Fly is beatable, but only if his odds are too short.:)

It all boils down to the old 'V' word, doesn't it? Value.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:
Euronymous said:
He only beat Zaynar nine lengths the previous year, despite being asked for his effort earlier than HF was in 2011. He'd have needed a big step up in form and his runs since suggest that wouldn't have happened.
Click to expand...

I know this, but if we are to have no talk of the possibility of him winning, let's have no talk that he had a hopeless task either. He may very well have given them something to think about.
 
Euronymous said:
He only beat Zaynar nine lengths the previous year, despite being asked for his effort earlier than HF was in 2011. He'd have needed a big step up in form and his runs since suggest that wouldn't have happened.
Click to expand...

Zaynar was a very good hurdler as his Triumph win and subsequent exploits suggested - he is not anywhere near as good a horse now as he was then hence I suggest this reasoning is flawed .
 
To even suggest that Hurricane Fly won a better champion Hurdle than Binocular is complete and utter garbage. I am not saying Binocular is as good as Hurricane Fly what I am saying is Hurricane Fly's race simply was nothing special but he is capable of much better.

For one Peddler's Cross hasn't got one decent bit of form to his name over 2 miles unles you coun't a stinking old tell you bog all Fighting Fifth where the form can be shot to pieces. Secondly Oscar Whisky who wouldn't blow wind up Binocular's backside was back in 3rd.

There was nothing exceptional about Hurricane Fly's Champion Hurdle nor was there anything exceptional about Binocular's.

What was exceptional was the two very different performances by the two different horses who could have both won any number of CH's on their performances on the day.

To say Binocular wasn't good Champion Hurdler is complete and utter garbage. He's a brilliant horse who has been plagued with ailments that have prevented him being at his best several times in his career who just hammered the backside of one of the toughest hurdlers in the country in Celestial Halo. He looks back to his best and if anyone who has backed the Fly doesn't find that a tiny bit worrying then they are kidding themsleves on.

He is the one horse who could draw the sting out of the Fly's tail at Cheltenham and open the door for others to get involved at the death.
 
Last edited:
The more I think about what Binocular did on Saturday, and I'd prefer just about anything to win the Champion after Henderson's multiple shenanigans in the recent past, the more I think that it wouldn't have been crabbed anywhere near as much if HF had done it.

I'd have HF at 7/4 and Binocular at 10/3, with the rest out with the washing.

Before you ask for a piece of that, I'm not laying...:D
 
Last edited:
reet hard said:
Would that be the same Khyber Kim that went into the race off an OR of 165 - and came out a 169, with three 168 horses in his wake? :)
Click to expand...

Meh, according to OR's Woolcombe Folly was 8lb's better than Sizing Europe before last year's Queen Mother. KK must have been assessed by the same dude who had Poquelin on 170 at one point.
 
Back
Top