The Well Worn Road To The Champion Hurdle (2016)

Clive

you are putting words/slant on people's views. I have never said its impossible TNO wins..i've said he is not a CH horse imo..isn't that what the forum is about?..passing a view.

we all know anything is possible..if you think he is a CH horse..get your money on now before he wins some more soft races and gets reduced in price would be my advice. If he wins you can rub it in..if he doesn't you can just disappear off the thread for a few months like you did last time:D..win win from your point of view i'd say.
 
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Aughex said:
TNO has excuses for last 2 CH's so until he'll get overthrown in England by P&C or others then he should target the CH again. WH is not a guarantee either as last year winner was very good and some good stayers novices are coming along this season. I would say that the Aintree Hurdle is the race but he only beat ROR and Diakali by a whisker, so not many options for him unfortunately..
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What excuse did he have in March?*

* Not being good enough isn't an excuse.
 
I'll answer that because I was thinking the same thing as Aughex.

In 2014 he was badly hampered and the debate was equally divided as to whether he would have gone close or maybe even won. Last year he was carrying a problem. You could visibly see it and both NTD and STD have both confirmed it, which is why I suspect they are still hopeful he could be a Champion Hurdle horse. More likely I suspect they either think he has a very good chance at Aintree and don't want to throw it away by him having a tough race in the World Hurdle, or they simply don't believe he will get or be anywhere near as good at 3 miles.

I agree with the consensus that he won't beat Faugheen in the Champion Hurdle, but Faugheen has to get there first and he's be in the mix with the others if for any reason he didn't.

For me TNO is a top quality horse and gets knocked far more than he deserves, as does NTD for the way he's perceived to be handling him.
 
Carrying a problem? Since when? If he ran in a CH whilst "carrying a problem", then NTD deserves stick for that - you can't have it both ways.

The truth of the matter is that he has been hoovering-up in poorly-contested UK G1 hurdles, before getting beaten in the main events whn Ireland send their best over. The one time he has genuinely faced a top 2m hurdler outside the Festival, he was beaten by MTOY - and he isn't exactly resolute.

I honestly can't understand why people would continue to give TNO the benefit of the doubt. Horses beaten in two Champion Hurdles and go on to win the race at the third time of asking are like hens-teeth. Of the first dozen in the betting, he should be the first one written-off, imo, because he is more exposed than any of the alternatives.
 
Coral Cup with Liz Kelly on (new course suits him as his Neptune win proves) is his best chance of a Festival victory.
 
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They had been struggling to get to the bottom of why he was jumping and hanging right all season. They finally got to the bottom of it and he was suffering from kissing spine, which is excruciatingly painful for a horse and has a serious impact on their ability to jump. He missed Aintree for treatment as a consequence, and they suspect he'd been suffering from it for some considerable time.

A horse finishing 5th in a Champion Hurdle when suffering from kissing spine is pretty remarkable to be honest. And don't forget that was the only time he's not won or finished second in a Grade 1 over hurdles in three seasons apart from being badly hampered in the same race when he finished 3rd a year earlier. He's a seriously talented and gutsy horse who is easy to overlook. As I've already said, Faugheen will almost certainly win, but he's by far and away the best ew bet in the race at 20/1.
 
Maruco said:
They had been struggling to get to the bottom of why he was jumping and hanging right all season. They finally got to the bottom of it and he was suffering from kissing spine, which is excruciatingly painful for a horse and has a serious impact on their ability to jump. He missed Aintree for treatment as a consequence, and they suspect he'd been suffering from it for some considerable time.

A horse finishing 5th in a Champion Hurdle when suffering from kissing spine is pretty remarkable to be honest. And don't forget that was the only time he's not won or finished second in a Grade 1 over hurdles in three seasons apart from being badly hampered in the same race when he finished 3rd a year earlier. He's a seriously talented and gutsy horse who is easy to overlook. As I've already said, Faugheen will almost certainly win, but he's by far and away the best ew bet in the race at 20/1.
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Its a huge assumption to believe he had the issue when he ran in the CH last year. A handy excuse for the trainer for an average performance. The kissing spine injury has been massively overplayed by NTD. If he really had full on kissing spine he wouldn't be seeing a race course again! I expect much better from you old chap. :p:p
 
Digger said:
Its a huge assumption to believe he had the issue when he ran in the CH last year. A handy excuse for the trainer for an average performance. The kissing spine injury has been massively overplayed by NTD. If he really had full on kissing spine he wouldn't be seeing a race course again! I expect much better from you old chap. :p:p
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Flat alert flat alert.
Not saying I'm an expert on kissing spines but Treve suffered from it then had it sorted and won an Arc.
Just want to clarify though, TNO won't be winning the Champion imo.
 
Go back and look at his races last season Dave. I don't believe it's an excuse and I'm inclined to believe them.

No sign of a problem in his first race of the season, and then progressively as the season went on his jumping was getting further out to the right. In his last two races he was also clearly hanging to the right between flights in the latter stages of his races. In my opinion the visual evidence clearly backs up what they've said.
 
Yes - a minor kissing spine issue....Treve didn't have surgery neither did TNO. Massage therapy can do the job if its minor. AND if TNO had the problem all season NTD should maybe stay off the red wine and concentrate on the horse. Its an excuse. All trainers are full of them.
 
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You do have to laugh at references to tin pot small fields grade ones from someone who bangs on endlessly about a frequent Cheltenham failure that picked up quite a few tin pot small field grade ones
 
Only a tit like you would describe Hurricane Fly as a "frequent Cheltenham failure".

Now go get your fu*cking shinebox.....
 
There is no need for that language . I was only helpfully trying to point out something you may not have fully appreciated. I don't know why I bother trying to be of assistance.








Cnt
 
The fact that HF won two Champion Hurdles despite not really liking the track is a testament to his greatness. I can only think of him, Kauto Star and Dessie who had the class advantage to be able to overcome that obstacle.

SkyBet have price boosted Peace and Co to 14s. Don't think it will last long though.
 
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