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 .
If he arrives in good fitness without being at the back-end of a hard prep race he'll at least finish thereabouts, if not he'll be found much earlier just like it did on this sort of surface over Christmas. Even if he turns right he won't be able to use his turn of foot on this ground so Ruby doesn't afford to play around like he did in 2015 and has to make it a proper high-speed stamina test like in the 2016 ICH. We'll see whether he's the same horse or not but the pre-conditions to run at his best depend on jockey/trainer.
 
All eyes will surely be on the battle of the rags tomorrow:-

John Constable for Grassy (100/1) vs Charli Parcs for Tanlic (150/1).

Should be an absolute classic!
 
Tanlic said:
Gotta try and wake this place the **** up...............where is EC1 anyway.........haven't had a decent fight in months :lol:
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If EC1 was here he would be telling us that Fighting Fifth winners don't win Champion Hurdles -one of the hotpots will surely be chinned tomorrow -why not Buva.
 
With Faugheen wearing cheek-pieces, and CP surely acting as a McManus hare, this race is probably going to be run to suit Buveur D’Air. Hard to see him beaten, imo.
 
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I'd rather Faugheen had a pacemaker leading him at a fast pace like in the `14 Xmas Hurdle.. didn't served him well having to go the hard way in front the last couple of years and might be the reason he had enough of it.

BDair looks the one to beat on recent form, but I smell recency bias in every analysis of this race except the one made by Lydia Hislop, although even she didn't correctly identified the issue of his last 2 runs which I think were the racecourse gallops before the official races; with Ruby being injured the suspicion is that Townend did too much and arrived on couple of days later on race-day without anything left. He and UDS apparently are the ones working the hardest from the yard but Faugheen has a much different constitution and doesn't recover as fast. We'll see tomorrow what he does but I definitely can see him taking the scalp of BDair no problems just a return to Morgiana form will suffice.
 
Grasshopper said:
With Faugheen wearing cheek-pieces, and CP surely acting as a McManus hare, this race is probably going to be run to suit Buveur D’Air. Hard to see him beaten, imo.
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For me, BDA is basically a speed horse, Faugheen isn't; both pilots know the time of day, and they'll both be ridden accordingly.
No surprise at all to see the fav flounder, in the ground as it is.
 
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Very game from Buveur d'Air there - well below his best but still saw Melon off . Bet twiston Davies us wishing he ran The New One now.
 
Awesome training by Mullins..I faulted him for not sending him chasing but boy did he get it right again.........Hat's off to Nicky Henderson too getting it spot on.

Not sure who the ground favoured but hope the two meet again on a better surface
 
Aughex said:
I'd rather Faugheen had a pacemaker leading him at a fast pace like in the `14 Xmas Hurdle.. didn't served him well having to go the hard way in front the last couple of years and might be the reason he had enough of it.

BDair looks the one to beat on recent form, but I smell recency bias in every analysis of this race except the one made by Lydia Hislop, although even she didn't correctly identified the issue of his last 2 runs which I think were the racecourse gallops before the official races; with Ruby being injured the suspicion is that Townend did too much and arrived on couple of days later on race-day without anything left. He and UDS apparently are the ones working the hardest from the yard but Faugheen has a much different constitution and doesn't recover as fast. We'll see tomorrow what he does but I definitely can see him taking the scalp of BDair no problems just a return to Morgiana form will suffice.
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What a load of nonsense - Faugheen not the horse he was end of story. The way he plugged in suggests they should step him up in trip.
 
I think Barry might be best hanging up his riding boots at the end of the season. One more year might be one too many.

Serious class from Buveur D'Air there.
 
Not sure what to make of the form.

I think Melon likely ran at least 8lbs better than anything in his previous but Mick Jazz holds the form.

Ground will make it a hard race to judge.
 
just melon's seventh race over hurdles

the bula experience stood to him and he was clearly the horse to take out of that race with all due respect to the old lads
 
I agree that Mick Jazz holds the form down . Just wonder whether too many penalty kicks for BDA this season and he wasn't 100%.
 
hezz said:
I think Barry might be best hanging up his riding boots at the end of the season. One more year might be one too many.

Serious class from Buveur D'Air there.
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Biggest mistake he made was taking AP's job but you just hit the nail right on the head why he took the job
 
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