Silviniaco Conti

hope so :) although rumours he's being saved for aintree instead

Thats my worry, that they'll miss it and keep him fresh for Aintree

i love the horse, be gutted if it doesnt run at cheltenham as cant make it to aintree :( had small bet on celestial halo as cant see yard going to championship race without a runner

paul4 = bias to paul nicholls

as always alvarado :) cant help it, but not the worst port of call as 5 times champion trainer

celestial halo going to aintree according to andy stewart (sounded pretty much certain) so would assume silviniaco conti would go champion hurdle

Interesting that, shame we don't see CH at Cheltenham as I feel it runs well round there

yeh me too, although was going to win at aintree imo. also leaves silviniaco conti as stable's only other champion hurdle entry.... stil 50s on here

I think he needs further than the Champion Hurdle trip; and as regards to him being 50's Paul4, in a win only market that's fair as he's held on all lines of form over 2 miles!

"They are three great horses and on a different day I could see there being a different result - we'll get 4lb at Cheltenham and the Champion Hurdle remains his target - we'll probably look for a Champion Hurdle trial in the New Year."

Doesn't sound too negative to me. Im obviously biased, but can always dream :)

Yeah typical bullish (bullsh1tish) Nicholls comment! Even if he reverses form with Menorah I think he's still got up to 10lb to find on Binocular...but by all means, dream on! :)

yeh, in all fairness, if i dont win a bean at the festival i genuinely wont mind, i just cant wait to watch the races! (obviously be abit happier if have a winner or 2 though!)

Good on ya! In all fairness no serious punter would go anywhere near the Champion Hurdle this year, it's an absolute mine field! In my opinion there are 4 horses with a serious chance of winning, and it's gonna come down to which one is feeling it come the day!

u could be right, although i think back to last year and i seriously fancied solwhit til scoped dirty the week before, then massively fancied go native come the day. also fancied captain cee bee hugely. the world and his dog fancied dunguib etc etc, so if u revert to this year, there's nothing to say they will all win. of course we think they will now hence being favourites, but doesnt always work out that way. imperial commander 7/1 last year, sizing europe and binocular both 10/1 etc so i like to try pick the forgotten ones

Yeah good point! What I meant is though last year there were strong grounds to back all those horses in each race! This year's Champion Hurdle, if anyone tells you they have a serious angle with which to attack the race then they're all lying, becuase on form there's little to seperate the top 4 in the market, and they've all got questions to answer come the day!
Horses this year like Cue Card and Time For Rupert, they're the clear form picks in their respective races; anyone who backs anything else in those races is working on assumption, which is fair enough because that's how people find big price winners! They guess and guess right!

yes but u cud pick apart the form of some horses in similar fashion to the way u could have binocular last season. take conti, doesnt have the strong 2m form but only form that doesnt act as support is the defeat of menorah, whilst giving weight, first time at cheltenham etc whereas last year, binocular had lost to most horses in the race at some point or other...? and with cue card, although cue card seems bullet proof, he hasnt run against zaidpour (who similarly to menorah last year ran well and had 1 blip pre-festival) whereas as dunguib won everything (albeit against lesser opposition) i know cue card has run well behind menorah, but then menorah has beaten below great horses (albeit giving weight) and cue card has beaten dunraven storm etc, good horse but not supreme calibre imo.

I had an interest at 39/1 so obviously gutted that 54/1 is now available.  The horse had several hard races close together and the trial he ran he would have beaten Cue Card off level weights.  Also the race turned into a sprint, whereas the CH will be an end to end gallop which will suit him more.  If Cue Card was in the CH he would be 16/1 or less, so for me this is a knocking value bet. (although I'm not going in again as I feel he has an outsider's chance, just a 16/1 outsider not a 50/1 outsider).