The Road To The 2018 Champion Hurdle

Who will win the 2018 CH

  • Buveur D'Air

    Votes: 17 54.8%

  • Faugheen

    Votes: 10 32.3%

  • Other

    Votes: 4 12.9%
  • Total voters
    31
  • Poll closed .
Aughex said:
In case you don't know Faugheen's been around since 2013, almost 5 years, he just returned with a sensational performance. Rather than dismissing him because he was injured for 2 years, you could appreciate the best performance in that race's history, beating a former Champion hurdler(his jockey Mark Walsh claimed after the race Jezki was back to his old self) by 16 lengths is unheard of. The uniqueness and circumstances of yesterday's performance makes him the best I've seen.
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Don't think I've dismissed him at all he's a very good horse. I just said that that for me he'll never match up to The Fly or Istabraq but having said that I might be a bit premature as if he won the next 2 champion hurdles then I too might hail him as the greatest. Personally despite his other performances I didn't really rate his champion hurdle win as that good for various reasons.

Should just add that by longevity I didn't simply mean how long a horse has been around but the length of time he's been winning in top company. Thought that was obvious otherwise I'd be having Big fella thanks in my list of all time greats and Jamaican Flight as one of the best flat horses of all time.

I haven't really looked into his performance that much yesterday apart from watching the race which visually was very impressive so I can't make much judgment on how good it was or wasn't. Certainly looks in good order so lets hope they can keep him in one piece and lets see what he does from here on in.
 
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I think he must have a place in Timeform's heart..

He never got closer than 6lbs of Hurricane Fly with the h'capper yet Timeform have him 4lbs ahead

A 10lb deficit and tbg I reckon the Fly would have laughed at him at levels.

He won the Hatton Grace looking back but he beat Scottish Memories in that who won nothing of note I can remember


You know if you train in the dojo 3 times a week regular for 2 years your sendie will give you a black belt for good attendance.

That's how I tend to think about Limestone lad who ran about 65 times in 6 years.. He ran in everything going and won about half of them
 
frontrunner said:
Paul, the time was 4min dead , for the ground exceptionally quick . The race was run 9 seconds quicker than the 2mile handicap and 14 sec quicker than a decent bumper. It was quite a performance first time out against race fit horses. I have it up there with his best runs. If he keeps this form or improves nothing will touch him in March
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Thanks Brian. I've just logged on to post something very similar. I concur, I've just done the card and the time was very quick, and given it was off the back of such a long lay-off it's all the more impressive.

I will say that it looked like Mullins had him properly fit first time up. He didn't look anything like the barrel he usually does at this time of the year, so the difficulty will be keeping in that sort of form all the way through to mid-March. A different challenge than they usually have with him.

I've had to back him and add him to my book which is something I hadn't expected to do yesterday. Buveur D'air could well be his equal though, and if the race was now I'm genuinely uncertain which way I'd go. Can't wait. We've got a fantastic Festival bubbling up.
 
I thought Faugheen looked as big as a bull (commented as such to Digger during the race), and think he could actually improve next time out.

I was seriously impressed with the performance.

Can't agree with the sentiment that BDA could be his equal. At his best, Faugheen would give Buveur quite a tidy cuffing, I reckon.......and he looked not far of it on Sunday.
 
Faugheen was impressive but rather surprised that Mark Walsh said Jezki was back to his best - that clearly is nonsense if he had been Geraghty would have been in Ireland on Sunday not at Cheltenham .

Patrick Mullins appeared to suggest that Faugheen was not back to his best either in an article I glanced at but I suspect they are of the view that he doesn't need to be and that if he is within 7lb of it he will still win the CH .
 
They were reporting on the tv that he looked gross on the track but compared to Ascot a few years ago, i thought he stripped fit enough

'Devours Ground' will be his legacy
 
Yup they said Magic Court in his prime could give that exact amount to Salmon Spray in a VH trial and Johnny Haine barely had to move a muscle to win on the latter...7lbs is a massive amount to be wrong in any Champion Hurdle.

If Faugheen turns up 7lbs below his best he would like the Fly was... beaten hands down.
 
Jezki's hurdling technique, one of the best you'll ever see, is still as good as ever but I agree that if he still had the same zip between the hurdles BJG would have been riding him.

Nevertheless Faugheen has produced an amazing performance for a horse that was 660 days off the track. Even without taking the lay-off into account it was top class.

I suspect he won't run at Christmas and will wait for the Irish Champion Hurdle.
 
I think if you check back time comparisons for the Morgi against other hurdle races the time Faugheen returned was way faster so there is no evidence to suggest he's lost any of his ability

My question is how good was/is he and we wont know that until March
 
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News from Willie Mullins on Faugheen: "He seems to have come out of the race well, which is very pleasing. Nothing planned at the moment, but Christmas Hurdle (Kempton) and Ryanair Hurdle (Leopardstown) are two races we are looking at."
 
[FONT=&quot]From that Timeform link that DG posted on another link:

Over in Ireland, the 2015 Champion Hurdle winner Faugheen (remains on 176) made his long-awaited return in the Morgiana Hurdle, and it was straight back to business as usual, posting a high-class effort ridden from the front. He faced opposition outside the top bracket, but was significantly strong in the market, and could hardly have done more to suggest all of his ability is intact in running his rivals ragged. It must be pointed out that history is against him in his quest to win another Champion Hurdle, as no horse has ever reclaimed the crown after a two-year gap and no ten-year-old has won the race for well over 30 years, but he's an exceptional talent and still very lightly raced for his age.[/FONT]
 
He’ll stay at Leopardstown over Xmas I’d imagine and face nothing. Buveur D’Air will go to Kempton after Newcastle and face nothing.

They’ll both meet along with the young pretender next March.


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Kauto Abu said:
He’ll stay at Leopardstown over Xmas I’d imagine and face nothing. Buveur D’Air will go to Kempton after Newcastle and face nothing.

They’ll both meet along with the young pretender next March.


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It'd be great if that happens @Kauto, as the nr/nb kicks in around February and if they meet earlier I wouldn't want to get stupid 1/3 1/4 odds on Faugheen. Better if they meet in March and let all the punters in like in `15.

However, the worry is the ripple effects RR horses have on each other and if they send Douvan over, he gets beat in the Tingle, then they'll send him for the KG and bring Faugheen along like they did with Fever and Vautour. Then they'll meet and its antepost game over for the CH.
 
Thing with Faugheen is that he’s literally been in training all late spring & through the summer so they’ll have to freshen him up somehow before March. You couldn’t trust the Ricci/Mullins combo as far as you could throw them so Faugheen could end up anywhere before a break.


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What I'm most afraid of, other than him picking another injury, is sending him over in the Champion again with no prep. That year Ruby also played it very tactical and he made a huge mistake 2 out but he just didn't relished it like he later did at Punchestown, he needs to be in the Irish CH no doubt in my mind that'll help him tremendously going into Chelt.

Also I agree about the late and back in early training but thats what kept him in acceptable racing fitness for first time out.. how can you keep a horse from getting fatter, beside having a training regime, thats what Mullins needs to figure out in the future :-) ... I don't think that'll affect him too much though because he wasn't racing during the summer, he was just doing basic routines and they controlled the food quantity I suppose.
 
Kauto Abu said:
Thing with Faugheen is that he’s literally been in training all late spring & through the summer so they’ll have to freshen him up somehow before March. You couldn’t trust the Ricci/Mullins combo as far as you could throw them so Faugheen could end up anywhere before a break.


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Grassy commented earlier about Digger and himself observing that Faugheen was as fat as a pig. Not true. I've just looked back at the recording from Sunday, and in the parade ring, you clearly see he's built like a tank, but he's got that muscular definition in his hind quarters and under the rib that you never see at the start of the season with him. He may be big, but he certainly looked fit, and at the very least much fitter than they've had him at this stage of the season previously.

When I posted earlier I hadn't realised they had him back in early and were working him through the summer, and had just assumed that they thought that he might not be as good as he used to be and given his relative age they'd worked him pretty hard to take advantage of what they could.

Anyway, I see Grassy and Granger have lined up Fishwives 2, which should be a lot of fun over the next few months. :lol:
 
I believe I used the term "size of a bull", which isn't exactly the same thing. Maybe you're right. It was certainly the performance of a fit horse.

PS. All true fish-wives went to their graves, when Hurricane Fly retired and was elevated on gilded-wings to the pantheon. I have no opinion on inferior, second-generation fish-wives. :ninja:
 
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Apologies you did indeed. It was the sentiment that had stuck in my head.

As for the fishwives............:D
 
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