McCoy on Binocular.

Flattened the last, thought i was going to get the f/c

Not good enough on the day,him or the fly,they went a good clip and they didnt come back because the rest were not good enough to go past,Credit to rock on ruby and overturn,they were the best horses on the day

These things need to be looked at with a cool head. The last thing you want to be doing is talking with your pocket. So I'll give it a couple of days, have a good think and then come back and call him a fool for lying so far off the pace as if he was nursing a doubtful stayer.

agreed it was strange and you're not just pocket talking

you can just about excuse ruby's overconfidence, he thought he was on the best horse and could win from anywhere

ap on the other hand, his tactics made no sense. even if overturn and ROR had fallen in hole and walked up the hill, bino was never getting past hurricane fly and would have been 2nd place at best

Very poor ride by McCoy IMO. When Hendo was interviewed before the last,you could tell he wanted to say it was a poor ride and stated that the race never panned out as planned. It seem to me that McCoy made his mind up to follow the Fly and as it turned out it was gross misjudgement.I think he may have nicked third without the mistake at the last

people often get accused of pocket talk and being an armchair jockey when they criticise a ride but it is fair comment. When has Bino ever been a deep hold up horse? He wasn't held up miles behind when he won the race and today Hurricane Fly was nowhere near his best. Missed opportunity imo. Settle him in 5th or 6th behind Overturn, Celestial, ROR nd Oscar then move up coming to two out, he was still miles behind at the last. Badly judged

yep,too obsessed with tracking Ruby,followed his every move,and dead right Judo - hes always closer to the pace than he was today.

shame for the horse weren't it

yeh it was,but hopefully he will be back next year,could still get another at his best i reckon.

I think they thought that the front two would stop, i timed it compared to the supreme from the 1st hurdle to the second last and it was around 3 seconds faster in the champion to that point so they didnt go slow up front.

Alright Judge. Agree with everything you, Budd, Giddy, Eternal and others say, spot on. I had a relative free trade on Binocular antepost so didnt really lose on race (but it has been a bad start for me on day 1!) so I dont feel as though i'm talking out of my pocket. I just thought when Binocular won the Champion Hurdle he was pretty much ridden in exactly the same way as Rock On Ruby was ridden today for the most part of that race. I agree with Giddy that AP was too obsessed with following Hurricane Fly thinking he would easily pick up Overturn as he battered him last time and looked to hold Rock On Ruby from the same race but seemed to hold him up too far back having to rush him up on the run in culminating in even losing a place. As someone else stated i don't understand the thinking behind tracking Hurricane Fly that far off the pace as if The Fly was on a going day he would have outstayed Binocular any way. I thought it was an ill-judged ride by an exceptional jockey but i don't like to criticise and im sure he will make me look very silly before the festival is out for mentioning the above!

Yes Swagger mate you sum it up well - shame. I am not normally a McCoy backer but got sucked in today but fortunately only for a small loss. Was bailing out from a long way out in running

Did nobody notice Rock On Ruby pulling away as he won? The best horse won the race today.

I agree with you Cider, the best horse won today and i'm sick for changing my mind and not backing him, got drawn into all the hype surrounding Hurricane Fly so stuck with my antepost trade on Bincular and didn't take him on. I just think AP had Binocular in the incorrect position and in my view, Binocular would have been second with his more usual handy style. A lot of people would have done their brains today having backed him ew when he should have been placed in my opinion, that was the only point i was trying to argue. Hand on heart I do think Binocular has regressed since two years ago and Hurricane Fly may have already gone the same way given his age, Montjeu factor, etc - he had so much racing last year that it had to catch up with him at some point. Also, great ride by Noel Fehily. Fair play to him.

My bets in the race were Hurricane Fly & ROR w/o the fav. Personally would have been fuming if I was on Binocular. Ruby & AP seemed to be playing their own little game of cat and mouse the whole time. I'm not saying either would have beat the winner on the day but still... Is Overturn a better horse than those two?

Have to say I think Nicky will be gutted Oscar Whisky didn't run in this plus having Grandouet & Spirit Son stood in their boxes. All 3 would have gone very close imo.

Also Rock On Ruby was brilliant don't want to come across negative there about the winner. I think he was definitely the best horse on the day and he was given a super ride.

I don't know if Bino would have beaten the winner or not but I would have liked to have seen him close enough to find out, bearing in mind he beat off the same horse's challenge at Kempton!

Well I've turned it upside down and back to front almost as much now post race as I did pre race. I still cannot fathom out the tactics. There seems no doubt that Bino was ridden to beat Hurricane which rather begs the question of who in their right mind would think they could do it from behind him?

Ruby can be forgiven for getting caught up in the hype. He believed he was on the fastest horse and would pick them up at his leisure. Perhaps a combination of the course and ground undid him as his previous performances on softer at other courses has usually been of a high calibre.

I do think that Fehilly deserves tremendous credit. He always sat just off the pace and along with Overturn was able to get a breather in going to the top of the hill when the others closed up and my timing suggests they lost time between hurdles 4 and 5 on the supreme field. At this point both Ruby and AP must have felt confident they would pick the leaders up as (in AP's case) instead of being about 14 lengths behind he had closed up to about 6 lengths behind. The problem is as I alluded to earlier they did a Hardy and refused to set a totally frantic pace. It was fast enough but not extreme and consequently both Overturn and Rock had plenty left to turn the screw running downhill at which point the distress signals started going out behind them.

I'm sure being about 10 lengths down rounding the home turn wasn't in AP's script but then sitting plum last at halfway shouldn't have been either. The horse was simply never put in the race to have a chance. Whether he would have been good enough on the day to get past Rock On Ruby has to be questioned but I do feel if AP had just aloud Bino to bowl along just in behind the leading group and ridden the horse to make Hurricane come past him then he would have finished at least second.

Ah well. JP lost a lot more than me even if the bugger can afford it.

I suppose the question which we will never know the answer to is whether they would have ridden the horse like he was Istabraq had he not won in such scintillating fashion at Wincanton?

You have it in a nutshell Eeternal.

Yep. Wise after the event is a very underrated quality I find.

My only bet was Bino e/w and I disagree. Binocular didn't pick up down the hill like did in his year. AP had to niggle him to make up some ground, as opposed to taking a pull after jumping the second last. I don't think it was a going day for Bino, as we know he is very in and out. He does find off the bridle but he is never at his best if he has to be asked for an effort early on.

Brilliant by Fehily and Maguire. Maybe Ruby reacted too late and maybe AP was too busy watching Ruby but youd have to think they will be sharper for the rest of the festival. Oh and some of the horses did well too.

Cider

We'll never know but I don't think the idea of riding him a little closer to the pace is asking him for an effort early. He could afford to take a pull two out when he won because he was bang there coming down the hill and not striving to make up ground against stayers which had got in a breather and who were themselves quickening.

And whether it was a going day or not he was 10 lengths or so adrift off the final bend, flattened the last and was beaten for second by a relatively short distance. Nobody is saying he should definitely have won. We are questioning whether he was ridden to give him the best chance. Perhaps it was how the race panned out which did for him. I still think a conscious decision to try to outspeed Hurricane was madness of the highest order and riding him in an exagerrated last until well onto the far side surely can't have been part of the script?

Dont think they were quickening that much, they came home in a time from the second last to the line slower than the Supreme(around 0-70) so imo that and the faster time they did up to that point speaks that the others may have used their energy getting to them.

I wouldnt say that HF was much closer at the line than he was 2 out, however i'll do the complete sectional picture next week

I'd be interested in that if you post it up. My quick and rough estimate had them easing going to the top of the hill between hurdles 4 and 5 and running slower than the supreme between those hurdles. This gives me an impression that the leaders were looking to get a breather in which wouldn't put our views at odds I don't think. I don't think either race looked to the naked eye like it was run at an early breakneck speed with Overturn's jockey looking to get into a quick jumping rhythm over the early jumps seeming to be the difference.

No issue with the tactics whatsover from me. A fast pace was expected and that's what occured. Everything was off it turning in. Bino just didn't take AP into the race by himself, like he did in 2010. The final hurdle mistake could well have cost the place, however ROR was comfortably best on the day. People are trying to backfit the race because of the 1-2.

In response to the issue of quickening I think the old adage applies because at the end of a championship race it isn't usually the one which is quickening but the one which is slowing least which wins the race. To the naked eye this may seem to be quickening. Off a decent but not spectacular pace on clearly good ground the first two were always in the van and were able to dictate the nature of the race.

Will gt round to it next week, but if you look at the Ruk replay at the second last i wouldnt say that hurricane Fly was more than 6-7l of the leader and at the line he's beaten 5.5L which suggests that he didnt gain much on them despite the pace they came home at(Ground, not himself, beat stayers last year)

Anyway, gl for today

Considering Bino only beat ROR a short head at Kempton,it seems a tad strange for AP to let him have such a lead yesterday.
Was like all he was bothered about was HF and paid the price,especially when you consider had he jumped the last he would probably been at least 3rd,should have been closer to the pace.

Zil if you actually check em out @ top of hill I think Hurricane is closer to Rock On Ruby than he was @ the line
Ive run a  sectionals thro of the 2 winners and they where certainly slowing up the hill in the champion by comparison.
Cinders & Ashes was around 1.5 seconds quicker than ROR from the 2nd last despite flattening the last in the supreme.
Seemed to be a very fast  mid race section in the champion where they burned off the turn of foot of Bini & Hurricane .
As with others bizzare tactics by mcCoy to give 2 horses that on form where around his equal, but whatever made him think he could come from behind Hurricane & outpace him?

From the horses mouth as it were:

Binocular ran well in fourth but I tracked the wrong horse in Hurricane Fly and, if I could ride the race again, I would have definitely been closer to the pace than I was.

Cider

I've had another look at his win in 2010 and McCoy was never as far back settling him just behind half way directly in behind the main group of 5 or 6. From memory I think it was also quite a bit slower ground though I could be wrong on that. Whatever the original plan it should have been looked at in view of the time of the supreme. That was certainly the first thing I wanted to know after the first race and it suggested that as the ground was riding good it wasn't going to suit strong 2 mile stayers if they were dropped way off the pace set by other stayers.

I've enjoyed the discussion. The aftermath can be very informative for future reference but I fear this may have been Bino's last big chance.