2024 Champion Hurdle (Previously Constitution Hill thread)

[Frankely My Dear]

FFS I cashed out the Champion Chase bet to release stake for no loss. I guess the hope is that if he does switch then he'll run the Arkle first. Presumptions all over the place so I'm with you Lobos, no more bets on him

[Kevloaf]

FFS I cashed out the Champion Chase bet to release stake for no loss. I guess the hope is that if he does switch then he'll run the Arkle first. Presumptions all over the place so I'm with you Lobos, no more bets on him

I think even if he went chasing you'd have been right to cash the QMCC bet. Owner didn't sound keen on that at all


I also think Hendo is flapping gums for the sake of it now, he has been the one talking about the Champion Hurdle and cooling Chasing chat..... now he's just doing a bit of click bait. Playing the game. Making it sound more interesting that it is

[HesTheOne]

I also think Hendo is flapping gums for the sake of it now, he has been the one talking about the Champion Hurdle and cooling Chasing chat..... now he's just doing a bit of click bait. Playing the game. Making it sound more interesting that it is

Can picture him swirling the glass of red “ohhhh no no no..not at all chappies, all options are open in fact I always wanted him to go chasing”

[Quevega]

The owner interview was like a long winded question on jeopardy - You'd be buzzing in and saying "Why have you decided to stay hurdling with constitution hill ?"
And you'd be correct.

Then Henderson comes out with his usual waffle, the whole argument of needing to know he stays to decide to go chasing is just fluff.
You do need to know he has the attitude and technique to jump, so assuming he shows he can jump in schooling sessions, the whether or not he'll win a Gold cup will be answered along the way.

If he showed he can jump fences professionally and you then asked any racing fan or punter if they think Constitution Hill would be competitive in grade 1 chases over 3m/3m 2f then the vast majority would say "Fucking definitely"
Because he has the obvious class and ability required.

Is he guaranteed to win a Gold Cup ? No
But he's not guaranteed to win a champion hurdle either, he just has a much better chance of winning another champion hurdle, and then maybe another after that.

If Henderson is now throwing out stamina concerns then it's game over, because if he's not able or willing to try and find out then end of story.

If there was anything they could do at home to determine his stamina limits and how this impacts on his ability levels, then they would do it, but short of asking the horse or sending him round the field for longer or actually training him to stay !!, the only other option is trying to prove it on course, and even then, beating up novice chasers over 3 miles will not prove sufficient until he lines up in a Gold cup and wins.

So in a nutshell, they are talking shite.
And if he does go chasing, they're now going to have to come out and say we "think" he can stay. (mind blowing stuff )

Basically you'll never know for sure until you've actually done it, and you need to think it possible first or simply not bother trying.
It's definitely possible and probably quite likely but they appear to have opted to not bother trying and take the easier path of gobbling up grade 1 hurdles over 2 miles for a year or two.

Can't blame them at all, but it's the talking fucking rubbish for no reason other than talking that is tiresome, but not uncommon in the trainer world as most are prone to thinking out loud.

As Tove Lo would say - They're just Attention whores.

[Kevloaf]

......but it's the talking fucking rubbish for no reason other than talking that is tiresome, but not uncommon in the .......

......Fat Jockey Forum pages




and yes HesTheOne - very much could, and he's earned the right to flap his gums too.

More interesting than reading people's opinion on whether Kane should move to Bayern to win trophies or stay and break Shearer's record - wasted far too long reading that stuff today.

[somer1]

Kevloaf. Time for a poll Kev? Which race does CH run in?

[Istabraq]

There seems to be a modern kind of snobery around hurdling, C Hill could go on to win 3 or 4 champion hurdles and be lauded the greatest hurdler of all time but for many it won't be enough because he didn't add G1 chases to his CV, chase championships seem (in the modern world) to have greater value than hurdling championships for some reason.
He's a special horse and one that could go unbeaten for five years, personally I think it should be celebrated whatever he achieves, but I don't have a financial position on him...

[Lobos]

For me it's not about financial position. I want him to be the best ever. The sport needs dreams like that to become reality. For me, if he can jump a fence well, he has as much chance winning a GC than winning 3 more Champion Hurdles. IMO I think he has a greater chance. Hard enough to stay sound for 3 years and retain his form/speed let alone be the best 2m hurdler out there. If he won the next 2 say, is he likely to be considered the best Hurdler ever ? What, beating State Man 2 more times, unlikely. Win a Supreme, Champion Hurdle, Arkle and Gold Cup by 2025.......yes, I'd consider him the best ever. Would bore me to tears were he to stay Hurdling. Of course, if they school him and he's shit then they only have one option but if they school him and he's electric then please do the right thing. Go for glory , be brave, go down in history.

[opatcho]

So much could go wrong with going chasing, with the aim of running in the gold cup

CH may not stay
CH could get injuried or fail to recover from a GC to come back the next year

instead, stay over hurdles and have a campaign which will mitigate some risk

stick with hurdles and dominate for the next 2-3 seasons

A tad boring for some, but 2-3 champion hurdles isn’t to be sniffed at. Could take him over to Ireland aswell and pick up some good wins - but too much talk and not enough action

[Istabraq]

For me it's not about financial position. I want him to be the best ever. The sport needs dreams like that to become reality. For me, if he can jump a fence well, he has as much chance winning a GC than winning 3 more Champion Hurdles. IMO I think he has a greater chance. Hard enough to stay sound for 3 years and retain his form/speed let alone be the best 2m hurdler out there. If he won the next 2 say, is he likely to be considered the best Hurdler ever ? What, beating State Man 2 more times, unlikely. Win a Supreme, Champion Hurdle, Arkle and Gold Cup by 2025.......yes, I'd consider him the best ever. Would bore me to tears were he to stay Hurdling. Of course, if they school him and he's shit then they only have one option but if they school him and he's electric then please do the right thing. Go for glory , be brave, go down in history.

Best Man gets ridiculed for winning three Gold Cups, people crab the horses he beat, to some
he needed to win a National or Irish National to be considered a great.
Sometimes connections just can’t win.
I’d have thought hanging around and winning three Champion Hurdles would be an exceptional
feat, equalled only by a few elite hurdlers in history, win four and he goes down as being as good as my
namesake who was cruely denied a fourth by foot and mouth !
And I don’t recall there being a clamour for Istabraq to go chasing, it was the 90s though and that was a hazy decade…

[Lobos]

Just as much risk Hurdling as there is Chasing. Especially at the top. That's been done to death before on here.
Reading your post just confirms to me how boring it would be if he stays Hurdling. We'd probably only see him twice a year before the festival every season as well and not again after. A waste of a supreme talent. Don't do it to the horse.

That's me done. Not another word on it. Makes me sad.

[Quevega]

......Fat Jockey Forum pages




and yes HesTheOne - very much could, and he's earned the right to flap his gums too.

More interesting than reading people's opinion on whether Kane should move to Bayern to win trophies or stay and break Shearer's record - wasted far too long reading that stuff today.

[Istabraq]

Just as much risk Hurdling as there is Chasing. Especially at the top. That's been done to death before on here.
Reading your post just confirms to me how boring it would be if he stays Hurdling. We'd probably only see him twice a year before the festival every season as well and not again after. A waste of a supreme talent. Don't do it to the horse.

That's me done. Not another word on it. Makes me sad.

Interesting view that Lobos, winning 3 or 4 Champion Hurdles being a waste of a talent...

[Benjy23]

Some of my favourite horses never jumped a fence. It'd be nice to see them be really ambitious and win the lot. But winning a bunch of Champion Hurdles would also be awesome.

[Quevega]

Interesting view that Lobos, winning 3 or 4 Champion Hurdles being a waste of a talent...

If he got new challengers each season then I'd think it was great, especially if they were UK based.
Unfortunately I fear we'll have to wait for one race a season to have any real doubts (still odds on doubts) barring accidents of course.
Hopefully this is a bare minimum and the Irish keep throwing different challengers at him.
If it ends up as State Man vs CH every year then that will be pretty sad.

Like watching Heavyweight boxing at the minute, now that is a fucking joke.

I do think they may be a little narrow minded in their vision and what the horse could achieve though.
He could easily run in three novice chases during the season and win three grade 1 hurdles as well.

The horse looks like he makes all the decisions and posh boy is there for the ride, so switching disciplines looks easy for this lad.
As in he doesn't look the type to hurdle fences and jump high over hurdles.

They won't do that though, of course.
The frustrating part of the recent bulletins is the sudden emergence of the doubtful stayer excuse/reason.

When they do confirm hurdling though they will be more forthcoming and admit it's the safer option and an attractive thought to be a multiple winner of the Champion Hurdle, as well as collecting weak grade ones as practice before the big day. Nothing wrong with that, just probably could have not dragged it out as long.

More of a saga than when we debated on here which novice hurdle race "Birchdale" was going to run in. Approximately 30 pages of it.
That's when I started self harming and grinding my teeth.
I blame COD