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Champion Hurdle 2019

Champion Hurdle 2019

  • Total voters
    75
Just said on ATR Gordon has confirmed he will stay over hurdles and over 2m and 'hope for the best'.
 
Yeah, Samcro still going for the Champion Hurdle. They must feel they have more to come, otherwise it makes no sense?!? :confused:
 
Must be abysmal in schooling , after that today no logic to sticking to 2miles now .
 
If every horse was switched because they had been beaten by BvD, we wouldn't have a CH!
 
Full credit to all connections though to serve up that race. And i'm going to try and take a more accepting viewpoint of the aftermath. If we want races like today then people should be willing to allow horses to progress through the season and not come to conclusions so soon. Otherwise it almost plays into the hands of connections when they avoid these races until the Spring.

So...

Summerville Boy - I've not been sold on him despite being a Supreme winner. I just don't think a horse who failed to win his first 3 hurdle starts could improve so much to then be a CH winner. Future chasers perhaps who could improve from a change in discipline where as SB has the same obstacles and not even a step up in trip to bring improvement. All you'd be counting on is natural progression and improvement as he gets older. However I made the case in here how much Tom George's horse's tend to need their first runs year after year so he was well up against it today despite the ground conditions. Chucked in against the current 2 time champ. No chance really. For me he's not up to the level but you'd have to give him the full season for sure. The problem may well be he may have to face Buveur again but the UK 2 mile trials do allow (they shouldn't but...) horses to sidestep eachother so if he can bypass him at least next time out maybe he can improve to fill the places in this years race

Samcro - again to take the view that we should be applauding the horse running here. The slow pace they went today will be nothing like a champion hurdle. Chalk and cheese. Add in the fact he had to make the running and you could argue the race will be run differently come March. He ran much better than last time out and jumped better - more like a 2 mile hurdler. If they went back to Ireland
now it wouldn't surprise me if he won over there at the trip and backers would just hope Cheltenham will suit better both in track and pace and he continues to jump/adapt to this discipline as each race progresses. BUT let's be honest he was an absolute class behind Buveur D'Air today. Beaten 8 lengths. I can't get away from wanting him over fences, in and around 3 miles. Gordon has just said he still sticks to this race. O'Learys may have something to say but I do feel like it's going that way. It'll a feel like a bit of a wasted season imo (on the basis I don't think he beats BvD)

And the winner - Buveur D'Air What a horse. :triumphant:He pretty much laughed at Samcro there. Let's hope he now gets the credit he deserves. An absolute superstar

I'll end this to quote Gordon Elliott just now...

Samcro is a good horse...he just got beat by a very good horse
 
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'hope for the best' not so confident now :devilish:
 
Any Samcro Backers cashing out ??.
 
If you owned Laurina you want her in the race she has the best chance of winning in and that will be the Mares Hurdle.Looks as if BVD is better than ever and I'd be amazed if Wullie Mullins points Laurina at this race.
 
iainmcf said:
If you owned Laurina you want her in the race she has the best chance of winning in and that will be the Mares Hurdle.Looks as if BVD is better than ever and I'd be amazed if Wullie Mullins points Laurina at this race.
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If you used to own BVD and now owned a horse you think capable of beating him and know that Willie Mullins has at least three other horses aiming at the Mares, you'd go Champion hurdle all day long.
 
quevega said:
If you used to own BVD and now owned a horse you think capable of beating him and know that Willie Mullins has at least three other horses aiming at the Mares, you'd go Champion hurdle all day long.
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There's not much point debating it yet. She'll have to face a half decent horse in open company first and see how she goes.
 
Faugheen_Machine said:
No. Cashing out isn't an option for me.

Great write up Jono. A very fair assessment.
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Not an option for me either F.M. , But i only have Samcro in a couple of small multi's. Buveur d'air very short now !!
 
Cashing out makes sense to me, if you can get your stake back (or most of) and back with Corals at 12-1.
 
Whats does everyone make of vision de flow?........didnt really travel like he does, ground too soft?
 
doctorwu said:
Looked easy, although the race was completely set up for BD. Crawl & sprint.
I remember saying last year that when Melon gets ridden correctly, and gets some decent pace he would be a danger in the CH (to much laughter from this thread) and didn't he give BD a scare. Interesting to see which way they go with Samcro. That should tell us a lot as GE is no fool.
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doctorwu said:
Everyone forgot Melon???
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What makes you think Melon will reverse the form?

Nicky seems pretty adamanet Buveur D'air wasn't at his best last season and he already proved he doesn't need to be at his best to be better than Melon.

The number of 1s next to Melon's name makes single figures about him a laughable price?
 
Stark contrast to last season, I have no 'single' on Buveur D'air - felt like he was (compared to last year at the same price) he was too short to back in a single, when the potential opposition was stronger.

Turns out they're probably not! He's in some nice multiples for me at 7/2 but I won't be backing him now until NRNB. I think that was a superb performance though and I can't imagine thinking he's anything other than a BANKER.

I've been Pro Buveur D'air throughout this thread, saying he isn't getting the credit he deserves, however wasn't willing to get off the fence and say he'd win today an couldn't have imagined he'd win with so much authority!!! - jono sums it up nicely.

A magnificent performance, and credit to Samcro/Summerville Boy for having a go!
 
I backed VDF 40/1. Didn't travel or jump well, disappointing.
 
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