Tingle Creek Likely runners?

Yes but he might have had a string of 1s by hi4 name by than. There is two no brainer races he could have won this side of xmas.
 
That is a fair enough point and the small field was a plus but you cant avoid soft ground but you could have avoided the jumping test today against highly rated animals. I just dont think the Tingle Creek should ever have been considered for him.
 
Without wanting to dwell on it, but Fix The Rib would definitely have been placed. Fact. I have emailed Victor but he is still not paying out.
 
Agree with Luke. Big Zeb for me a decent way short of top class. Name of the game is jumping and he can't.

Top, top performance by Twist Magic - surely close to his stablemate's performance last year.

Disappointed with Well Chief - Granger, you were right, it was too good to be true!
 
I'm only writing him off in the sense I think he's done very little, one race against what was clearly an off-colour Master Minded aside. He's only beat poor horses and keeps falling - I don't know how he's got the reputation he has.
 
Hamm said:
Agree with Luke. Big Zeb for me a decent way short of top class. Name of the game is jumping and he can't.
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...funny thing was his jumping wasn't bad... which makes his performance even more hopeless. I was thinking he just about deserved to be favourite ahead of the race, maybe he didn't relish the going, but I can't see much of a way back from this.
 
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I think the way Big Zeb travels through his races is his strongest asset - even in last year's Champion Chase he was travelling supremely well when falling. I thought Barry G was squeezing him even after two fences - horse just did not turn up. Champion Chase winner or not it was clearly not his form.
 
Surely his Punchestown form entitled Big Zeb to be favourite, Hamm? It certainly stands better scrutiny than the Connaught Chase.
 
Grasshopper said:
Surely his Punchestown form entitled Big Zeb to be favourite, Hamm? It certainly stands better scrutiny than the Connaught Chase.
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I don't think so. I made the mistake of backing Well Chief (angle was % chance he would retain enough of old ability) but for me Twist Magic (especially around Sandown) has achieved much more than Big Zeb.

I don't believe we saw anything like the real Master Minded at Punchestown.
 
Yep....maybe so, right enough.

It was a trappy race the moment Fix The Rib was taken out, and any of hounds left in were liable to win it. :D
 
Looks like RPR have dropped Mahogany Blaze back to the still-too-high-mark of 157 after Sandown.

:whistle:
 
Good day wasnt it hamm? Great to see you again

I was suprised with how poorly Big Zeb ran and I will be very suprised if he ever wins (or maybe runs again) at Sandown and whilst Cheltenham is a challenge of course, his poor fencing will surely be found out there once again. Its true that he jumped so so on Sat, but ok isnt good enough in this race (or the QMCC)

A lot is being made of this being Twist magics course, but as someone said, he looked superb in the paddock and it might just be that he has really developed this season. Suprised he is still 10s with one firm for the QMCC.
 
Great day indeed, apart from a rather large wayward bet on Well Chief! :o

I can't imagine there is a better place to view NH - everything about it is just about perfect, from the paddock, viewing, decent crowd, atmosphere, and so on. I hopefully won't miss a day's NH there till the end of the season.
 
I haven't been to that many courses to be fair, but are there any other tracks with similar bowl-like viewing?

The Betfred Gold Cup day is great as well - good fun between the flat and jumps jockeys.
 
It just came too soon for Big Zeb. He's best fresh and irrespective of how easy a race you think he had at Navan, it was 2 miles on heavy ground against a 140 rated horse (I think). He was very quiet at the start and normally pulls through a race. The fact he had to travel too would not have helped. But anyway, tiz done now. If Twist Magic had beaten For Paddy in a photo, people would be saying he bottled out of a winnable race to pick up easy races at home. At the end of the day, no one died and he will be back for Cheltenham and more importantly, IMO, Punchestown where he has done well before.
 
Hamm said:
Great day indeed, apart from a rather large wayward bet on Well Chief! :o

I can't imagine there is a better place to view NH - everything about it is just about perfect, from the paddock, viewing, decent crowd, atmosphere, and so on. I hopefully won't miss a day's NH there till the end of the season.
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Cheltenham of course is in the natural bowl of natural bowls and is God's own racecourse. You only have to go to know there is no place like it.
 
I loved Chelts - my first visit there for a day during the Paddy Power last year, and the viewing is absolutely wonderful, no matter where you stand. It was so friendly and easygoing, too, no rush, no crush - but I doubt I'd enjoy the monster crowds of the Festival. At the PP, it was easy to get from the parade ring to the stands or (with Diamond and Mrs Geezer) to the centre, then back to congratulate the winners. Plenty of food and drink to suit most pockets, too, and a really nice feeling that it wasn't giving itself grandiloquent airs, which top Flat courses are so wont to do.
 
Couldn't agree more Jon. The crowd at Cheltenham is like no other... totally absorbed in the sport, people who live and die racing. It's simply a wonderful place to be.
 
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