How come they are shorter in the shops? 33/1 according to my internet screen. Looking at last year's race and my belief that the newbies won't really get into the picture I agree that its quite a big price on Bino. Excellent record at Cheltenham and a nice saver in case of a raft of injuries. In the last few years at least two of the big guns have exited before the big day.

gut feeling right now is HF or Zark,but i do think ROR Is a nice price and he wont be far away,hes tailor made for a CHurdle as already shown,jumps travels well and stays very well.
They would be my 3 against the field with Bino the dark horse that could on his day shake them up.
Have bino and ROR backed,looks like one of the other 2 on the day.

@Seathestars NO1, not great business from them. As sponsors they should be nearly top price everything. Are you restricted online? The price element is pretty tasty considering there are a number of horses in the market who will likely have other targets. Oscar Whiskey, Peddlers may have other targets, Grumeti we haven't seen yet. I can see 7 horses plus Bino as CH certainties should they make it. If one or two of those drop out its a big price.

sorry,forgot about the soft ground factor,that brings in Oscar,think he would win the race if it were heavy.

BINO ENTEREED IN A VOVICE CHAE NEXT THURSDAY

Only joking nail the 33s and trade off

I've just watched last year's CH again and I am of the opinion that last year's race was a top class affair. There were a couple of leaps where HF didn't wing them like he did yesterday and I still feel that Ruby walsh should have rode slightly closer to the pace. Both him and Bino were too far back and made up as much ground as they could considering the ground. The horse that scares the life out of me is Zarkandar, he made up about 10L coming up the hill and think in soft and a bit older he is a monster player.

The only concern with the form of last year would be the proximity of Overturn who finished way behind HF in 2011. It may have been that the faster surface saw him to much greater effect as all his big wins have come on Good or Good to firm ground. I am hoping that all the supreme horses stay in because there will be plenty of horses that you can take them on with in the place market come March.

pearl swan was the one i was looking out for.

spirit son*

spirit son career is sadly looking to be over

The race he's alluding to was the Punchestown Champion Hurdle, the year he won the Cheltenham one, when Menorah and Binocular (both still highly rated at the time) came over and HF trounced them on the bridle.

Yes he nearly died. Had a rare spinal condition I think and couldn't get up. Everything was done to keep him alive and pleased to say he's walking again and looks great in a few photos I saw. I don't think you will see him race again though very sad.

Thanks for the update MM.

It would be nice if trainers could update every now and then on the condition of their injured horses.

I think Bino is a good price at 33's ew, but I'm going to wait and see if he faces the Fly before hand.  I can see the Fly beating him, so I can't see his price getting any shorter.

Darlan has never been in a fast run race. That Betfair Hurdle at Newbury they went slow. The Supreme was also slow, while his Christmas Hurdle win was a farce. Darlan also doesn't hurdle very well. He'll be a quality chaser, just not a top class hurdler.

Will it though? He'll run at 1/5 in a race up at Kelso or something.

anything else out i meant to say

I've a strongly held belief that Scopey Chaser types lack the hurdling fluidity and speed to win the Champion Hurdle. Darlan is a lovely horse, but he's a chaser and will go into the Champion Hurdle without ever having tested himself against any top quality 2 mile hurdler like the other 4 at the head of the betting.

I am strongly looking to side with GRANDOUET for the CH tbh chaps and think possibly he may well carry my 'jackpot' bet for the race though am not backing him yet at his current odds of just 7/1. As you all no i never just let a race like this run with one or two bets lol i like to stake carefully and build a book on what i believe are the most likely winners.
Though at this stage and before they have run again, ZARKANDER, CINDERS, and possibly ROR may replace him.
My method for this is to work out what the least return will be if i get winner only, then stake a win only bet on said horse to that amount. If least amount is winner i dont lose, just make money if i get any places, if jackpot wins

The only horse I have backed in the race is HF not because I don't think there are big dangers to him but because I think the Champion make up is particularly weather dependent. On really soft or heavy I would have to be with one of the stayers in particular if he was running OW would be of interest. If the ground is good to soft or better than ROR has to come into it. He was running a nice race at Cheltenham in the international before tiring between the 2nd last and last on better ground in the spring he would be a big danger.

That being said anything worse than good ground and HF will take all the beating, potentially softer the better. The only way we will learn anything new about Darlan is if he takes on an older horse between now and Cheltenham Festival and Henderson will ensure that doesn't happen. Anything else and he will be beating the same horses that turned up in the Supreme or the Triumph. 

He may well get shorter in the betting but it won't be because his form has got stronger.

Was over 6 seconds slower than Champion Hurdle which is quite a lot slower. Usually there is only 1 or 2 seconds difference given Novices carry less weight