Grandouet ( Champion Hurdle )

I agree stevo, clearly a quality horse. Be interesting to see if he runs if the forecast rain arrives. Think I saw he was also going to get an Xmas hurdle entry, may be as a precaution.

At this stage I am firmly of the view that, at Cheltenham, I much prefer Zarkandar. As you say I might have to change that opinion come Saturday

Interesting horse. Watched back last night the 2011 triumph and following aintree races. Feeling is he'll travel through the race better than anything but not sure what he'll find for pressure.

Watched those races more as I was thinking about an AP on zarkandar for CH but not sure now. Needs an awful lot of riding quite a bit out

Tory those runs were in Grandouet's novice season. He's improved tons since then. You should watch his runs from last season.

Yeah I will do later tonight. Would certainly fit the right profile.

Still distraught that Spirit Son is out. Adamant that with a good prep this was his year

He is 10s with Bet Victor non runner stake back day of race best option imo.

You don't get your stake back, its to be used as a 'free bet'

Im so excited with the return of this lad tomorrow,Ive been backing it steadily for the CH for months fully expect it to win tomorrow and go 5/1 fav for March,I will hopefully be in a great AP position if it wins, if not as long as it runs a good race and comes out of the race well after the lay off it will be all systems go for the CH.

Backed him AP for the Champion think he could be a bit special

I'd be worried about the ground, get the feeling he might get stuck in the mud, He'd have to be very fit first time out to beat a match fit Zarkandar who will most probably set a strong gallop trying to test the fitness of both grandouet and rock on ruby.

More than happy with that. Giving the winner 4lb and race fitness, better ground I like

Well happy with that performance 1st time out for year on that ground, bring on March on better ground you have the winner imo.

zarkandar will get outpaced on good ground in the CH.

Pleasing..............very pleasing !

Not quite down to 5/1 but Im still in a excellent position on this lad,better ground and levels well if your holding AP vouchers on Zarkander dont see you collecting.

chelters,you said it would win,it didnt.
i get the feeling Zarkandar is another big bucks in the sense he will always just do enough,Nothing flashy,just does what he needs to do to win his race,
Grandouet will be doing well to reverse that form imo

Zarkander has beaten Grandouet everytime they have met,Always next time he'll beat him but never happens.
Zarkander will also be suited by a faster pace and better ground as shown in the Triumph hurdle,i don't think Grandouet finds much off the bridle so will always get fought out of a finish by a grinder like Zark.

Backed both for Champion Hurdle a little while ago and think they will fight it out. 4lb, fitness and better ground make things v interesting for Grandouet though.

Also like Darlan on at a decent price but he needs to improve his jumping a bit.

its a match got the 12s yesterday so now in a good position grandouet is clearly a better jumper

Cheltenhamroar there is a world of difference between "fully expecting it to win" and will win which I didnt say at all, but your comment has been noted and I will bump the thread after Grandouet wins the CH.
I didnt have a penny on it today as the cash was down at double figure odds(average 12.5)for the CH and its around 7.8 at the moment,Im on the right line and am happy with my position,but thanks for your input if your going to quote me please get it right m8.

chelters16 14 Dec 12 18:15 Joined: 02 Jun 10 | Topic/replies: 498 | Blogger: chelters16's blog

Im so excited with the return of this lad tomorrow,Ive been backing it steadily for the CH for months fully expect it to win tomorrow and go 5/1 fav for March,I will hopefully be in a great AP position if it wins, if not as long as it runs a good race and comes out of the race well after the lay off it will be all systems go for the CH.

Haha you need to look up the word "fully"

Fully expecting something to win is as good as 100% expecting it to win if were gauging it on an "empty" and "full" scale,

HTH.

Passing Zarkandar up the hill likely to be some task. Think Ruby will have a major headache unless Hurricane back to absolute best.

As we say up north yer wrang !

Think rubys choice is straight forward, HF is still a no brainer for me, in any case ( call me naive) I don't reckon he would get off the horse even if he had a sneaky suspicion that Zark had abetter chance, in much the same way he'd never have deserted kauto.

Troll alert---- Cheltenhamroar now where is that ignore button,Ive posted for

Ive posted for 2 1/2yrs and in that time Ive never said a horse WILL win,Ive said I fancy a particular horse or expect it to win but never it Will win,now if you cant accept that Id rather you didnt comment on my posts. Id hate to think you were a troll as on the Cheltenham threads we tend never to go down that road as we take our jumping seriously and dont really put up with trolls.

Still with Zarkandar, but can see the reasons why Grandouet's supporters are happy with today's run.

Don't think Ruby is that struck with the horse tbh, has always said he feels he is too slow for the Champion. I'm with duffy, he'll stick with HF unless he shows a significant drop in form

Good reasons for being happy with all three there. Zarkander is a toughie in the Katchit mould and will be battle all the way, Grandouet has a touch of class and Rock On Ruby struck me as the least ready of the three and travelled like the winner till he blew up.

Funnily enough, it wasn't as tactical as I expected as Ruby fairly quickly grabbed the race by the collar. Fastest run race of the day against atandard on the corae.

Suspect Hendo is very pleased with Grandouet. Not run for a year and conceding 4lbs against a race fit rival was a very good effort.

As a Grandouet fan I'm not saying he will defo beat Zarkandar just that I'm very happy. He travelled a lot better than Zarkandar today, was giving him 4lb and didnt have the benefit of a run. On better ground I think he will travel past Zarkandar it s whether Zarkandar can stay on again past him.

I think HF would have to improve on his Cheltenham form to win the CH on decent ground. He beat Peddlers cross to win the race, and last time i think he was beat fair and square. Rock on Ruby supporters must be pleased he has been pushed out after a crawl on a swamp. He was travelling well, and you'd have to say the 12s look decent.

Cant remember a more open Champion Hurdle with the first 10 or so having a chance. The ground will be very important on the day.

Cant believe why anyone can get excited about yesterdays race.
It was ran on desperate ground and will be totally different come March,unless its desperate ground then as well,and in that case the most likely winner ran in the folowing race yesterday.
All it told us was that the 3 horses are strong candidates,which we knew anyway.
Zarkander was match fit,the other 2 needed the race and it showed.
They will all be primed for March,they werent yesterday.

I love the way Grandouet travels, a beautiful looking horse. To me though, it looks like one that is afraid to put its nose in front. I dont want to call it a "Harchibald" but I can imagine some big powerful type giving it a Hardy Eustace-style eyeballing coming up the hill, and doing it for desire. I would think that the two it raced against yesterday would be the most likely winners at this stage.

When I re-watched the race, I was struck by Geraghty's face just as they pull up past the post. In my eyes he looks pretty taken aback. Maybe he thought he had Zarkandar's measure and was surprised when Grandouet didn't get past. The other dynamic which I've not sure I've seen a comment on is the form of NJH's horses across the last 10 days. Oscar Whisky apart, he hasn't had a winner since the 10th December. No disaster by any means, but a lot of well fancied horses beaten. His last 8 runners have all started favourite or 2nd favourite with none bigger than 5/2 and only Oscar Whisky has won. 3 odds on shots have been turned over. I'm probably way off the mark, but next few days will be of interest especially with Simonsig running tomorrow and then Kempton over Christmas which is traditionally a great meeting for the stable.

Have you guys read Harry Fry's comments from last week? Apparently that was ROR's first run since having TWO breathing ops, and THEY took the 12/1 when he drifted.

Illuminating comments really imo.

Aren't they considered best on the first run back from a wind op.?(Fitness withstanding)
Would have thought they'd have been on him on the day,trainer was incredibly upbeat and dare i say bullish in his comments to the press in the build up.
I will say that 10/1 is very big for a defending champion with a outstanding festival and course record,Seem's to be a horse people aren't really taken with ala Hardy Eustace.

To me he ran like a horse which lsightly blew up. Before the race one of the presenters said he looked big enough. If I had backed ROR I wouldn't be at all disappointed as he travelled very nicely through the race.