The Well Worn Road To The Champion Hurdle (2016)

Anyone else think 10/11 is a decent price for Faugheen to retain his crown? His only obstacles appear to be the 79 days to tick off the calendar without injury.
 
He was extraordinarily impressive today but TNO is clearly on the downgrade and it is a big ask of any 4 year old to run in both the Bula and Christmas Hurdles albeit the proximity of Sempre Medici told us all we need to know .

The one remaining question appears to be how good is NC ?
 
EC1 said:
:lol:i thought Euro had referred to Faugheen..read it wrong last night and thought it were odd..
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One too many Jack Daniels eh :D

I would actually like to see Arctic Fire have another crack at him in a proper run race. Clearly Faugheen will be tough to beat but the race is already thin on the ground without removing Arctic Fire.
 
I suspect WPM views Arctic Fire in much the same light as he did Thousand Stars i.e. unlikely ever to beat his more illustrious stablemate under anything remotely resembling normal conditions, so fart about at different trips for a while, and hope to relieve France Galop of about €1M over the course of the next 5 years.

If I was the owner, I'd be more than happy if that was Willie's plan.
 
Hatton's Grace and Aintree Hurdle aren't bad pots to pick up for a couple of seasons to compensate for any farting around in the interim I suppose.

What I found strange about yesterday's performance was that it didn't seem like stamina was the issue. Walsh started showing slight signs of animation before that should have been the case.
 
Agree with Tanlic on the Leopardstown thread that Windsor Park should put up a bold show today
Don't think he'll win but I've had a cut at the 33s for the Champion, DK had him spot on for his big day in March and will likely do again.
 
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fonz said:
Agree with Tanlic on the Leopardstown thread that Windsor Park should put up a bold show today
Don't think he'll win but I've had a cut at the 33s for the Champion, DK had him spot on for his big day in March and will likely do again.
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World Hurdle horse is he not?
 
Maybe so, May even miss the festival altogether for a flat campaign,hence only a nibble at the 33s
Today looks a test the water run and an encouraging performance could tempt them towards the CH, Doubt they would be running him today if they didn't think it was an option.
 
A tenuous line through Wicklow Brave makes me think the bookies have the price discrepancy between Nichols Canyon and Identity Thief way out of line so if I were to have a bet in the race the HDB horse would be the one.
 
Identity Thief is the one I'll be backing. I just feel there's something a little hollow about Nicholls Canyon....I can't quite put my finger on it, but he just seems a little soft to me. I'm probably being unfair to a horse who has a pretty-good record, it has to be said, but a scrapper like IT is a good type to have going for me, if I think the fave might not necessarily like it up him.
 
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Grasshopper said:
Identity Thief is the one I'll be backing. I just feel there's something a little hollow about Nicholls Canyon....I can't quite put my finger on it, but he just seems a little soft to me. I'm probably being unfair to a horse who has a pretty-good record, it has to be said, but a scrapper like IT is a good type to have going for me, if I think the fave might not necessarily like it up him.[/

NC has to be pretty tough grass winning as many Grade 1s as he has done in his short career
I think it's your ingrained Flatism coming out again :D
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As expected the Fighting Fifth form is confirmed today in the Ryanair Hurdle and shows how much all the rating organizations downgraded that race for no reason, it was run a proper pace and WB finishing position showed the top 2 are proper G1 horses. Top Notch, hence P&C if back to his ways and if he shows improvement to keep up with TP, will both have a big say in the CH line-up.

Decent bloke Graham Wylie, can see his love for horse racing in that post race interview. I got a feeling he doesn't expects Willie to send NC for the Irish CH so hopefully Faugheen might get his first deserved prep run before Chelt, only his class brought him home in last 2 seasons when going straight to Chelt. I'm hopeful he gets it now but Willie could drop both NC and F and give AF a chance to return to winning ways who the hell knows what he'll do..
 
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