Binocular - McCoy

Said he was pleased with his jumping,he aint one to get carried away,but more positive about the horse than he has been lately.

Cheers Buddeliea, for my eye that was as good as I have seen him.

yeh,i was well happy with that as a backer for the CHurdle.
Likes the festival,always ran well there.

Good to see him travel and jump with some of the old fluency.

As you say, will need to improve again to get past the Fly, but apart from the Irish Champion Hurdle that was the best 2mile hurdle performance of the season imo.

Bino has improved with every run this year; from the Fighting Fifth to the Xmas Hurdle and then today.

The 9/1 with Hills for Binocular makes a lot more appeal to me than the 6's for Zarkandar.

If Brampour wasn't running yesterday and Zarkandar had to carry top weight, he wouldn't have won and would be a 10 - 12/1 shot now (although I accept that a lot of you will think that's bollox)

i got binocular at 12's think hes a great e.w bet in CH, hes the next best to hurricane fly and they aint met at the festival so shud be good race

If Brampour wasn't running yesterday

if my aunty had balls she'd be my uncle

and if they had gone a proper championship pace you could say Zarkandar would have won impressively

it is what it is

Judo, if they had gone a championship pace with Binocular in off 151, what do you think he would of done to that field?

Bino looked pretty good today and celestial Halo is a good yardstick (and had his ground). He probably ran to 170ish. The problem with Bino is that he's very inconsistent nowadays - but he's run Cheltenham well in the past so if you're a backer you've got reason to be cheerful. Henderson seems to have his horses in very good order at the moment. I hope he hasn't peaked a month early

he would destroy them mate

the point was that there is no point saying if this that and the other, you have to assess what actually happened

other than hurricance fly binocular is the next best, proven at the top level, awseome when he right ,which is at the festival

Denman, are you some kind of relative of Nicky Henderson?

how did u no?

That's it Judo, what I was getting at though is that Zark is 6/1 and his most recent form is scrambling home off 151 in an admittedly competitive handicap that wasn't run to suit. Binocular has just beaten a horse that recently won off 160 on the bridle and is 8/1.

binocular is miles ahead of zark, reason zark is so short hes open to improvement, binocular is a class act when he's right theres no aruging about that, i no who id rather back at the prices, but HF is the one to beat, but binocular is the one if any that is capable

Was at the course today and not seen him in such form since probably his first Christmas Hurdle which he won last season. He probably ran to about 170 today and looking at him in the paddock I'd say there is more to come. He was simply electric at his jumps and that is the key to this horse putting in his best performances. I have backed the Fly but I'm tempted to have a bit e.w on Binocular after that. Pretty impressed and we know how much he can improve for better spring ground at Cheltenham. Hurricane Fly will take a lot of beating but he could easily be placed or maybe better if he improves on that run.

I deffo won't be backing Zarkandar in the Champion at any price

Masterminded - how did he look in the paddock? He often sweats up and looks dull in his coat. If he's looking well as well that must be a good sign.

He looked great in himself and looked very ready to have a run. I was however surprised how well he traveled because having seen him plenty of times now I have seen him bulging with veins & muscle before the race and this is when he has ran well. Today I expected him to win but maybe workmanlike. I think the wind operation has done a lot of good and has allowed him to travel through his races that little bit easier.

Thanks MM. They must have had a delivery of some pretty decent feed lately at 7 Barrows.

Denman - binocular is miles ahead of zark, reason zark is so short hes open to improvement, binocular is a class act when he's right theres no aruging about that, i no who id rather back at the prices, but HF is the one to beat, but binocular is the one if any that is capable - I echo that.

MM - He was simply electric at his jumps and that is the key to this horse putting in his best performances.  Pretty impressed and we know how much he can improve for better spring ground at Cheltenham. - I agree with this. He was a horrendous AP loss for me last yr and whilst I was impressed at Kempton (a track he hates) and knew Newcastle was irrelavent, I did think the Liverpool and Irish runs last yr late on were suggestive of a horse who had slightly 'gone'. Today he looked sharp again, like the older model. I thought he hurdled quite brilliantly, stepping over them with the utmost efficiency, and whilst AP in interview did not glow about his jumping, for me it was a marked improvement from LTO. I actually suspect he dislikes Kempton. His jumping (possibly because he was not travelling) down the back LTO was quite terrible in places - reminscent of the  09 Christmas Hurdle when he jumped poorly. In fact I think it was in that race that he hurt himself, had physio treatment, and was ruled out of the Champion before coming back in at the last minute and winning. An enigma certainly but when caught right, he is electric. On that form he'd be the one to worry Hurricane Fly most IMO.

RC - I basically agree with that. I'm surprised you think he dislikes Kempton though - The Christmas Hurdle run in Jan 2011 is the best I've I ever seen him I think. He was simply awesome that day. He reminded me a bit of that today.

Just a hunch Strontium.

He's won there 3 times but I always think its not a place he loves. I agree he was lethal last yr, he butchered Overturn,  but this yr (which was quite smart), his Adonis, his beating by Go Native all pitched against his Champion win always make me think he loves the wide open galloping Cheltenham more, which is odd because many (though not I) concluded after comparing his supreme / 1st champion run to his efforts at Haydock and Aintree that he wanted a sharp track!

Strontium, either that or he's been on one of those nice holidays to Ireland again...

Also it's worth noting that he was only supposed to be going for a racecourse Gallop. He is a hugely annoying horse it has to be said! That was a great performance today, and certainly would make me rethink the betting without Hurricane Fly market.

Me too Viking - I was quite confident in my bet on Overturn w/o HF until today.