2022 Champion Hurdle

[Ice]

I think the without market would be the way to go now, if your not already on Honeysuckle and are looking for a bet in the race.

[ComplyOrDie]

Honeysuckle is just brilliant.

I'm not up for the 'one of the greatest' debates about her (I've had my fair share of these in the past ), because all of these end up in a scenario where we can't prove one or the other so they are actually fairly pointless.

I thought that was one of her best seasonal reappearance performances we've actually seen. She looks better than ever, and I'm not surprised she is now odds on with most for the race.

I couldn't care less what she beat, she'll be pretty much guaranteed to be facing a completely different bunch over a trip completely different, come March anyway.

I can make an excuse for at least one in the race against her today, but that will be massively bias on my part as I have him backed for this race also, and I think they just realised today he doesn't need a trip at all. I suspect this was done by design anyway.

[Istabraq]

I must confess Ista, though I wholeheartedly agree with your points here, I would struggle to believe she’d go off 2/5

When I looked yesterday she was 4/7 in places now, does anyone see a wildcard emerging to become a real threat ?
Have to say I don’t, so the best 2m hurdler around at 4/7 in November facing the same animals in March had to be shorter assuming good health as factored into that price will be injury.
I can’t believe there’ll ever be a day when we see a five runner champion hurdle so even allowing for an unusually small field of ten they will only be the same inferior horses.
There was some evs around which, for me, would be a price to hit, that sort of price won’t be available for long and if she does in Feb (DRF) what she did yesterday 2/5 or shorter becomes more likely…

[Carnage at Taunton]

Honeysuckle is just brilliant.

I'm not up for the 'one of the greatest' debates about her (I've had my fair share of these in the past ), because all of these end up in a scenario where we can't prove one or the other so they are actually fairly pointless.

I thought that was one of her best seasonal reappearance performances we've actually seen. She looks better than ever, and I'm not surprised she is now odds on with most for the race.

I couldn't care less what she beat, she'll be pretty much guaranteed to be facing a completely different bunch over a trip completely different, come March anyway.

I can make an excuse for at least one in the race against her today, but that will be massively bias on my part as I have him backed for this race also, and I think they just realised today he doesn't need a trip at all. I suspect this was done by design anyway.

Absolutely don’t wNt this to become a greatest debate either.
For me it’s all about competition in what has always been my fav race. We don’t have that at the moment and I cannot see that changing anytime soon, sadly.
Yes I understand people wanting to see superstars, but for me I get no excitement seeing hoses so far ahead of the opposition winning 10 lengths in the championship races, unless they are rated so high that they are actually a genuine superstar, then one just accepts it knowing that won’t always be the case
Thise days are long gone now it seems. No HFly types anymore, Binocular types, you know, top hurdlers that stay hurdling.
So for me, forget the betting side, one can always find other angles anyway, like the forecast with Sharjah, Or horses to be placed, betting without etc etc.
No, for me it’s all about the race itself, the build up talking about this horse and that and it’s chances of winning.
We don’t really have that right now, and not sure we will ever get high class clashes in this race again.
Hope I am wrong.

[Saxon Warrior]

The Champion Hurdle has generally been a weak Championship race for over 10 years, maybe a lot more.

One day, maybe, we will get two quality 2M hurdlers, at their best, at the same time, on the same day, in the same race, and we will get a 180 peformance, like we can get in the top chases.

Not gonna happen this season, we only have one top player again, the way it looks at the moment.

You don't have to be a great to win Champion Hurdles, just the best that stayed hurdling and didn't go novice chasing.

[ComplyOrDie]

Absolutely don’t wNt this to become a greatest debate either.
For me it’s all about competition in what has always been my fav race. We don’t have that at the moment and I cannot see that changing anytime soon, sadly.
Yes I understand people wanting to see superstars, but for me I get no excitement seeing hoses so far ahead of the opposition winning 10 lengths in the championship races, unless they are rated so high that they are actually a genuine superstar, then one just accepts it knowing that won’t always be the case
Thise days are long gone now it seems. No HFly types anymore, Binocular types, you know, top hurdlers that stay hurdling.
So for me, forget the betting side, one can always find other angles anyway, like the forecast with Sharjah, Or horses to be placed, betting without etc etc.
No, for me it’s all about the race itself, the build up talking about this horse and that and it’s chances of winning.
We don’t really have that right now, and not sure we will ever get high class clashes in this race again.
Hope I am wrong.

I think last seasons race will probably end up looking harder for Honeysuckle than this seasons one tbh.

I agree, the competition for top 2m hurdlers is pretty poor, but for me it has been for a little while now, whether that's been down to horses getting injured or retiring, or even getting slower and being moved up in trip or changing discipline altogether. There are so many options for race horses to show off their talent now that the demise of a race over the minimum trip was always likely to happen. This season aside (expected runners anyway), you could argue the same for the Champion Chase (again, a race over the minimum trip). Problem is as soon as trainers get a whiff that one of their best horses has little chance against a potential superstar horse, they start talking about other options, for example, and I don't mean to rant about him again, but Henry de Bromhead and Put The Kettle On, she's the reigning champ for Christs sake, yet one defeat, in a race that was far more competitive than the heap she ran in last season and won, and he's mentioning going out in trip and even worse than that, the Mares Chase, a Grade 2. This infuriated me more than Henderson pulling Shishkin out the Tingle Creek tbh.

I think Honeysuckle is an absolute star, and she has little to no opposition because she is that good.

[Carnage at Taunton]

I think last seasons race will probably end up looking harder for Honeysuckle than this seasons one tbh.

I agree, the competition for top 2m hurdlers is pretty poor, but for me it has been for a little while now, whether that's been down to horses getting injured or retiring, or even getting slower and being moved up in trip or changing discipline altogether. There are so many options for race horses to show off their talent now that the demise of a race over the minimum trip was always likely to happen. This season aside (expected runners anyway), you could argue the same for the Champion Chase (again, a race over the minimum trip). Problem is as soon as trainers get a whiff that one of their best horses has little chance against a potential superstar horse, they start talking about other options, for example, and I don't mean to rant about him again, but Henry de Bromhead and Put The Kettle On, she's the reigning champ for Christs sake, yet one defeat, in a race that was far more competitive than the heap she ran in last season and won, and he's mentioning going out in trip and even worse than that, the Mares Chase, a Grade 2. This infuriated me more than Henderson pulling Shishkin out the Tingle Creek tbh.

I think Honeysuckle is an absolute star, and she has little to no opposition because she is that good.

She is good, but that good that last seasons good novice winners should avoid? Cos nothing else could rescue this race.
Looks to me like the connections want chasers these days, and if that is the case, what happens when we don’t have Honeysuckle around?

[Bollinger]

When I looked yesterday she was 4/7 in places now, does anyone see a wildcard emerging to become a real threat ?
Have to say I don’t, so the best 2m hurdler around at 4/7 in November facing the same animals in March had to be shorter assuming good health as factored into that price will be injury.
I can’t believe there’ll ever be a day when we see a five runner champion hurdle so even allowing for an unusually small field of ten they will only be the same inferior horses.
There was some evs around which, for me, would be a price to hit, that sort of price won’t be available for long and if she does in Feb (DRF) what she did yesterday 2/5 or shorter becomes more likely…

I must confess, I owe half an apology, as I hadn’t seen any prices this morning - the last I checked last night she was trading pretty much at evens across the board, with touches of 11/10.

Now it’s 4/5 across the board, with a few chinks of light at evens. And as you rightly say, Boylesports are only offering 4/7 (maybe they have a huge liability with a specific ‘5 figure’ bet, staked at 3/1 much earlier this year? It could have the potential to explain their price this early out.

And at 4/5 now, with looking at how Shishkin & Envoi A shortened in the timeframe last year between the end of November and the festival (eventually both to 4/9), you could make a strong point Honeysuckle might trend that way.

If she does, then to my knowledge, she’d be the shortest priced favourite (among the event’s many superstar hurdlers) ever at flag fall of the Champion Hurdle. That’s why I suggested 2/5 was out of the question in theory. But with the market as they currently stand, there’s potential for her to shorten near enough to it.

The 12/1 currently on Sharjah as an each way play looks like an exceptionally good price if you can get 1/4 the odds. But even the 1/5 odds might still make some appeal.

[Irish Rugby]

Never mind the price, if she turns up and wins again comfortably, they will surely have to amend the 7lbs allowance condition. It would be no surprise to see her turning up against 5/6 others, scaring off most of the opposition.

[Istabraq]

The 12/1 currently on Sharjah as an each way play looks like an exceptionally good price if you can get 1/4 the odds. But even the 1/5 odds might still make some appeal.

I personally can’t see the attraction in a 12/1 each way bet when you’re effectively throwing away the win part. 1pt ew, outlay 2pts, place returns 3.4pts, profit 1.4pts.
I’d suggest a better play would be the 3 and 4 place markets on the day…

[isitmarchyet]

Probably won't be long until we have without markets for this race which might be more interesting than what we have now.

[Imperial Commander]

I personally can’t see the attraction in a 12/1 each way bet when you’re effectively throwing away the win part. 1pt ew, outlay 2pts, place returns 3.4pts, profit 1.4pts.
I’d suggest a better play would be the 3 and 4 place markets on the day…

Another option would be to take the 12/1 ew and lay all or part of the win bet on the exchanges, leaving the place part of the bet active.

[MadeinJapan]

I personally can’t see the attraction in a 12/1 each way bet when you’re effectively throwing away the win part. 1pt ew, outlay 2pts, place returns 3.4pts, profit 1.4pts.
I’d suggest a better play would be the 3 and 4 place markets on the day…

Agreed with this. I backed My Tent Or Yours several times in the "to place" markets on the day when he'd actually turned up and it worked out well. He was never going to beat Annie Power/Buveur D'Air I thought, however knew he'd run his heart out & couldn't see him out of the places with his record at the Festival. Early morning day of race is the time to do it when there are some "lazy" prices with some of the bookies out there...

[Istabraq]

Another option would be to take the 12/1 ew and lay all or part of the win bet on the exchanges, leaving the place part of the bet active.

Yep, you’re likely to lose a fraction on the lay rate but your suggestion would be a sensible strategy…

[Bollinger]

I personally can’t see the attraction in a 12/1 each way bet when you’re effectively throwing away the win part. 1pt ew, outlay 2pts, place returns 3.4pts, profit 1.4pts.
I’d suggest a better play would be the 3 and 4 place markets on the day…

Pretty much agreed, but of course, the 12/1 (only 8’s in places) includes a small factor of ‘getting there and making the final declaration’.

So the 12/1 is, at the very least, if Honeysuckle wasn’t to make it, a very fair price, at the very least.

But it’s only my opinion, in amongst hundreds of thousands.