2016 Champion Hurdle

[TheRowebot]

Is that a quote from Ruby about the discomfort/injury?

[gjt7756]

No not a quote from ruby, just an opinion from a reporter in ireland

[Istabraq]

Disappointing I guess, we all love a superstar.
I thought he was fortunate to get as close as he did, NC got the last all wrong and lost a couple of lengths, you have to say there didn't appear any obvious excuses and the better horse on the day won.
I'm surprised NC was tried over 2m today, I assumed he would be stepped up to 3m, is he a live champion hurdle horse ?
Don't forget the yard also have Arctic Fire....

[Morning Glory]

a few quotes below. Agree Wicklow Brave too close


Willie Mullins, who was recording his third winner of the day, said afterwards: "That worked out completely different from the way they worked on Tuesday. Faugheen left Nichols for dead - maybe he left his race behind, I don't know.

"Nichols won four Grade 1's last year and he's no back number by any means. He looks like a Champion Hurdle horse now, rather than the stayers.

"Faugheen was a little disappointing. Ruby said he hung but horses hang when they get tired. Maybe he just met a good horse.

"They went a good gallop and Nichols did it the hard way, out in front, and jumped fantastic. Maybe he has improved more.

"Until he tells me something wasn't right I'm not making any excuses for Faugheen.

"We'll see how they come out of the race and they'll be entered in all those races that Champion Hurdle horses should be in.

"They'll probably have to take on each other but if we can keep them apart we will.

"Nichols Canyon was under the radar last year. He was a second string but did win four Grade 1's.

"We used the wrong tactics with him at Cheltenham and that took the gloss off him a bit. It was out fault. He put in a huge performance today.

"The other horse (Wicklow Brave) ran very well. We rode him to come home but Patrick said we should have made more use of him.

"I'll talk to the owner and see if we keep him in training. We were going to put him away but ran him in this race as he was so well.

"We'll probably put him away now as he was as fit as he could be today and couldn't beat them first time out."

David Mullins, who was recording the biggest win of the his career, added: "I never rode anything like that before anyway. He was just alive underneath me the whole way.

"I'd say he was a lot more professional this year, I just remember riding him out last year.

"He settled well enough, every time I gave him a squeeze to come up at a hurdle he was there for me the whole time."

[TheRowebot]

Anyone there who could confirm how big faugheen was? Seen a lot of posts on Twitter stating he was very fat but difficult to see from replays etc.

[mayo]

Anyone there who could confirm how big faugheen was? Seen a lot of posts on Twitter stating he was very fat but difficult to see from replays etc.

a few pics..always a muscular type so hard to tell

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Faugheen <a href="https://t.co/DKjJfu5qOt">pic.twitter.com/DKjJfu5qOt</a></p>&mdash; Dan Heap (@Ohdannyboy77) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ohdannyboy77/status/665890941073534976">November 15, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Faugheen and Hurricane fly <a href="https://t.co/Z5lHTK267y">pic.twitter.com/Z5lHTK267y</a></p>&mdash; Dan Heap (@Ohdannyboy77) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ohdannyboy77/status/665891018143875072">November 15, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Old Vic]

Mullins & Co sound genuinely perplexed. Dont think that can have been Faugheens true running.

[MrMcGoldrick]

The ground looked very soft and he just didn't come up out of it like he usually does, I wouldn't be reading too much into the race, it's given us an opportunity to hoover up some prices that would have been unthinkable last week. Remember Vautour last season being soundly beaten by Clarcam, that was the opportunity to back him at big prices, the ground was heavy and he got tired, same as Faugheen, these are championship horses and are being prepared primarily for one day in March.

[Yeehaa]

time for brave men to back Faugheen

The Old Guard franked the Triumph form again though

[TheRowebot]

All three have come out of the race fine, according to Willie - is still surprised on recent homework how Faugheen got beat..

Also says that next race will determine if everybody has under estimated Nicholls Canyon..

[TheRowebot]

I would also be very interested to hear people's thoughts on the piece of work that faugheen apparently did last week, where he may have left his race behind. What would a piece of work that close to a race involve in terms of intensity, distance? I have absolutely no idea and would be intrigued if anybody can shed some light..

[Istabraq]

Good question and not one I can answer with any authority.
I was once told that a week or so from a big race is usually the last piece of 'fast' work they do, this will be racing speed over about 6f, certainly nowhere near the 2m race distance.
Mullins is about as good as they get so you wouldn't think that he's misjudged anything.
The horse didn't appear to pull too hard and lose his chance exerting energy before settling so maybe everyone just underestimated the winner ?

[mayo]

Its a bit of a pattern with some of the Mullins/Ricci horses imo. Trained for fez with other owners getting the grade 1s beforehand.

[TheRowebot]

Hard to think a 6f sprint would have taken that much out of him, although to obliterate an 111 ex flat horse over 6 furlongs, would take some effort!

All I keep thinking is vautour last Xmas getting turned over at 1/4..

[mayo]

Hard to think a 6f sprint would have taken that much out of him, although to obliterate an 111 ex flat horse over 6 furlongs, would take some effort!

All I keep thinking is vautour last Xmas getting turned over at 1/4..

and Champagne Fever in his time. Djakadam in Hennessy. I am sure there are more.