2022 Championship Division

[Lobos]

The Big Breakaway to return at Newton Abbott of all places this Sunday.

[SharpHat]

Mullins after Elimay's win at Fairyhouse said....

“I just said to Mark there that on drier ground she probably wants three miles.”

The Friday at Cheltenham is invariably the driest ground of the week. 2 1/2 miles in the Mares Chase or 3 miles 2f in the GC ?

Might need to have a GoL mares Chase and Elimay gold cup kind of related double

[Lobos]

Might need to have a GoL mares Chase and Elimay gold cup kind of related double

There's worse doubles out there.

[Eggs]

….Roksana retiring shouldn’t have a massive impact on the Stayers Hurdle market but I’ve just had a little interest in Vanillier at 33-1 (no cash-out).

[FinalFurlong91]

The Big Breakaway to return at Newton Abbott of all places this Sunday.

Hes one who could take a big step forward

Was still a big baby last year, if he's grown and probably more importantly matured mentally he could be very good

[ComplyOrDie]

The Big Breakaway to return at Newton Abbott of all places this Sunday.

Bravemansgame & Fusil Raffles both entered up too.

[Lobos]

Bravemansgame & Fusil Raffles both entered up too.

Tidy race then

[Odin]

Hes one who could take a big step forward

Was still a big baby last year, if he's grown and probably more importantly matured mentally he could be very good

Agree with this. He's heavily on my Hennessey radar after happygolucky blew his mark and lieutenant rocco got injured (I think?)

[FinalFurlong91]

Bravemansgame & Fusil Raffles both entered up too.

Surely Nicholls won't throw Bravemansgame into a race that deep on chase debut

he wins that hed immediately go very short in the FNC betting

[Lobos]

Agree with this. He's heavily on my Hennessey radar after happygolucky blew his mark and lieutenant rocco got injured (I think?)

Happygolucky out for the season

[Lobos]

Bravemansgame & Fusil Raffles both entered up too.

Zambella in the race as well. She was travelling well 5 lengths off Colreevy when she fell 3 out in the Mares Chase and was comfortably beaten by Annie Mc before that so I'm interested how that form works out.

[ComplyOrDie]

Surely Nicholls won't throw Bravemansgame into a race that deep on chase debut

he wins that hed immediately go very short in the FNC betting

Yeah, was my thought initially.

He's also entered up at Chepstow on Saturday so could go there, but they also have another entered in that race, so who knows!

[Block 205]

Apologies if anyone's offended by referring to the Ryanair in the Championship thread, but I can't find anywhere else appropriate to put this! Allaho would obviously take all the beating for this race if reproducing anything like the kind of form he showed this year (assuming that he goes for this race again), but at 9/2 or shorter I'm looking elsewhere at this stage, and am interested in peoples' views about Greaneteen, who I see this way:

Pros:
1. Current rating of 168, which would have been good enough to win 6 of the last 10 renewals.
2. No ground dependencies - his 7 wins have come on Good (x2), Good to Soft (x3), Soft and Heavy (1 each), so perfect for typical Festival ground.
3. Solid Festival form, only beaten 2L in last year's Champion Chase, and placed (beaten 5.5L) in the previous season's Grand Annual.
4. After winning the Grade 1 Celebration Chase on him in April, Bryony said "He’s going to be a proper horse over two and a half miles.".
5. As is often the case in the Ryanair, it's quite possible that the vast majority of the horses that are currently shorter in the betting could have a different Festival target.
6. If Shiskin turns out to be the real deal, he could scare a lot of potential challenegers away from the Champion Chase.

Cons:
1. It could be argued that his current rating is inflated due to the defeat of Altior at Sandown, and Altior was almost certainly regressing at a rate of knots by that point.
2. After Sandown, Nicholls said "I'm not in a mad hurry to go over two and a half miles with him and his target will be back here for the Tingle Creek.".

I appreciate that there's the considerable risk that Greaneteen will have another go at the Champion Chase, but given the Pros listed above, I think that it's far from impossible that he could not only end up in the Ryanair, but could have a very realistic chance of winning it, and as a result I've had 2pts at 20/1.

Any thoughts?

[opatcho]

Apologies if anyone's offended by referring to the Ryanair in the Championship thread, but I can't find anywhere else appropriate to put this! Allaho would obviously take all the beating for this race if reproducing anything like the kind of form he showed this year (assuming that he goes for this race again), but at 9/2 or shorter I'm looking elsewhere at this stage, and am interested in peoples' views about Greaneteen, who I see this way:

Any thoughts?

I like your thinking.... but not sure whether 20/1 is worth taking now or later on

Based on the bettering, Greaneteen will go Tingle Creek again

- If he beats Shishkin, then he'll be routed to the QM
- If he loses to Shishkin, a close race, then Nicholls may still go for the QM
- If he loses to Shishkin, battered into 2nd or 3rd, then he could go Ryanair. Question is, if this happens would they bookies cut him for the Ryanair

I do like horses that have ran in the QM the year before, before stepping up to tackle the Ryanair - this fella would fit the bill. However, with our GB lot being rubbish, Greaneteen is likely to pick up one or two sneaky wins over 2 miles.

You're also at the mercy of Shishkin, if he fails or is out for the season then you'd expect Greaneteen to go QM

Will be adding Greaneteen to the tracker and keeping a eye out, he could well get smashed up by Shishkin and make PN thing again. 20/1 with cashout... maybe one to sleep on

[Lobos]

I personally can't see him going Ryanair. Nicholls has got proper history in the Champion Chase (once dominated the race) albeit going back a few years and hell not give up the chance to win it again.