Cheltenham Festival
There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
These 46 comments are related to the topic:
celestial halo - what now?
celestial halo - what now?
sort by:
Show
per page
Replies: 46
|
By:
Good luck with that project Paul!
What next for a PN horse that disappoints? Why, a breathing op of course!  |
|
By:
Over two miles hurdles, I suppose he has not so much disappointed as marginally come up short of the top standard in open company. He has a good Cheltenham record in this division, as Paul4 points, without quite looking as if he could dominate in that sphere.
Rather than sending him off in front, as they did in the 2010 CH, it would be interesting to see how he might fare racing just off a strong pace, hoping the race will develop into a long, driving finish in which his stamina might pull him through into the places. They might hope Overturn will to do the front running this time and set a good pace, which Celestial Halo definitely needs over two miles. I would be surprised if they go down the CH route again with Celestial Halo, but if they did and he was freshened up for it, drawn on by the competitiveness of the field, he might just get into the race a bit more than many would be expecting. Can't see him being good enough to win, but a staying on fourth or fifth would be a possibility and if the pace really gets to some of them in the finish, he might be one to sneak a place at a decent price if ridden less aggressively than last time. |
|
By:
I'd rather see it run in the World Hurdle but wouldn't be suprised to see it pitched up in the Champion Hurdle as Nicholls has been quiet on CH. Has CH got a World Hurdle entry?
|
|
By:
his distance is 2m whether he's top class or not... aka u said pretty much what im getting at. im not saying this horse is better than HF, binocular, PC etc, but i do think that he is clearly suited by 2m, around cheltenham. his 4th in the champion hurdle was behind binocular, khyber kim and zaynar, arguably 2 if not 3 running their career best runs? i think the race this year will go off very fast, which will suit a horse like celestial halo as will certainly stay the trip and does have pace. interesting about what u said regarding different tactics, and letting overturn set the pace. either way i think it will be a quick race, and i can see the first 3 places having at least 1 of the "big four" in them, as i would be shocked if all 3 are from top of market (rarely is) at 50/1 for a place, i just thought would be worth a few quid as nicholls is not going to go into a championship race with no runner imo (surely not?!) and if silviniaco conti goes to aintree, halo is his only other entry and could even have ruby onboard.
|
|
By:
last 3 runs over C+D have resulted in OR's of 168, 168, 166 (i think)
|
|
By:
and almost in reply to my posts....andy stewart has this morning all but ruled celestial halo out of cheltenham and said aintree is the likely target :)
|
|
By:
However, one horse who may not be heading to Cheltenham this season is Celestial Halo. The seven-year-old won the Triumph Hurdle in 2008 and has shaped well in the last two renewals of the Champion Hurdle, but Stewart believes the Aintree Hurdle is his major spring target.
"He's entered in the Champion Hurdle and the World Hurdle but he's not quick enough to win the Champion and he's probably not good enough to win the World Hurdle," said Stewart. "He was going to go for the totesport Trophy at Newbury but it's a very competitive handicap and he'd have had top weight. We'll give him one more run before we decide what to go for if we go to Cheltenham. "If we missed Cheltenham altogether, he'll definitely go for the Aintree Hurdle in April. He was going well when falling last year, so he'll probably go back for that. Two and a half miles is more his bag. Once we've got Aintree out of the way or whatever, we may have another go at chasing with him." |