Have to admit that although I'm not quite as quick to forgive him his run against Nichols Canyon, I did find the 5/2 that Ladbrokes dangled too tempting to resist.

Time will tell whether I should have stook with my instinct or whether that was a fantastic early Christmas present!!

On the RP podcast Tom Segal said you'll probably get Faugheen around 5/2 on Champion Hurdle day. Even with price enhancements I find that hard to believe. Hacks up at Kempton over Christmas and he'll be cut again to near evens by the bookies wether rightly or wrongly.

Faugheen sleeps soundly tonight. They dont gallop Semper Medici with the good ones at Willies he would get in their way!

Nothing to worry Faugheen so far this season. Looks a big price at anything above evens.....

Paterson92, I know where you're coming from regarding those that keep saying Faugheen has nothing to worry, or lose any sleep over, etc. Its ridiculous. I think he needs to prove he's at least in the form of last year when he'll go to Kempton. But saying that do you think that Faugheen ran to form in the Morgiana? Or that he has some undiscovered injuries that made him hang right?
I believe that a horse at the start of the season won't run at his peak, especially if he has almost 2 races in a short space of time. Faugheen did last year a gallop at Curragh, just like this year, but he took him 2 weeks after that to get to Ascot, it took only 4 days this year for Morgiana. By Mullins report this year he destroyed Nichols and before the race both him and Ruby said in all interviews Faugheen did a really good piece of work. The couple dozens of watchers at Curragh also explain his price steam from 2/7 into 1/4 1/5 with few days till Morgiana. I will say that on all evidence he basically had a half race that day. Combine that with how big he looked still, and with the fact that unlike last year at Ascot, this time he took on a top class novice who won all but one of his G1 hurdles(u/r when winning another), with flat speed and the highest ever that was sent hurdling, that was allowed to dictate the pace but not doing even fractions upfront and with Wicklow Brave still in contention at the turn, means the pace was on the slow side. They made a sprint for home who didn't advanged Faugheen at all, and coupled with the mistake 2 out and hanging right, he still only got beat by half a length. I think Nichols Canyon, just like I said about Arctic after the CH, will struggle to get within 5-6 lengths of a fully race fit Faugheen in a strongly run race.
Based on all the above I also believe that 6/4 is a fantastic price and I filled by boots and I will continue with those that offer it, but I do have concerns on how he'll run at Kempton, the couple of smart improvers this season like Top Notch, Old Guard and Identity Thief are very underestimated, even P&C is underestimated now. And the 'old guard' MTOY(runner-up in `14 CH) and The New One(even without the pathetic injury excuse that his fans use) are also underestimated. Ruby said in a blog he underestimated Nichols Canyon and he'll never do it again, but who will he underestimate next?

Yes Mullins did state Faugheen worked all over him, as I said above they took them at Curragh where couple of dozens of watchers saw the great piece of gallop. Faugheen had almost a race beating Nichols senselessly but the latter keeps to himself apparently. Only after this gallop Mullins and Ruby gave interviews and said they were happy with how he's working, Ruby blog: "John Codd, who rides him at home, kept on telling us he’s in great form, and we saw that for ourselves on Tuesday". But then after only 4 days Faugheen was asked for another race which probably would've been fine if the correct tactics had been used or if this had been the middle of the season when he was 100% fit and the stamina/muscles recovery takes less time than when coming back from so long off training. The closeness of WB only justifies the lack of a strong pace and the fact he was in contention at the turn shows that form is unreliable. We've seen where WB would finish in a evenly run race like Top Notch and Identity Thief assured in the Fighting Fifth. The fact that Faugheen didn't picked and hanged was due to the fact he just had almost another race and was tired. Therefore I'm not at all concerned about Morgiana, he has plenty of class for any generation and if he shows it in the Christmas Hurdle the 6/4 will look big but I know the dangers are there and plenty, they're just underestimated.

Thats not only my assumption that Faugheen did too much, it was also Mullins who just after the race said that maybe Faugheen "left his race behind" as he destroyed Nichols Canyon on Tuesday. So live and learn, going to the track must've switched his brain in racing mode and even though they did the same gallop last year maybe he didn't worked himself out that much probably as he was too fat and the Ascot race was 2-3 weeks later so it wouldn't have affected him anyway. The Morgiana form already proved unreliable so for me thats enough to dismiss the run, but Faugheen will need to prove on Christmas that he maintains his last season form and beat TNO by at least 4-5 lengths(if Ruby asks him). Anything less would be concerning for my 6/4 supposed value.

apparently he's keen at home and the race only has 4 runners so `why not` is Nicholls thinking. It should be noted that Kempton is not Chelt and horses don't improve in 1-2 weeks, by Festival time he might well improve another 5-10 pounds but atm I can't see how he'll get involved with either TNO or Faugheen.

im on identity thief ew at 25/1, faugheen should win but its no price

yes arkle was impressed with its win before running in ireland today so had a punt then. ran well again today pity it couldn't just see off nicholls canyon

Was travelling like the better horse and my guess is that on better ground Thief may be slightly superior. 25-1 is a nice price.

I don't know about NC, the next time they'll meet the inclination of his jockey will be to take on Faugheen and as of yet there isn't a horse that stayed on Faugheen's pace upfront without affecting their own chances. The only exceptions are his seasons reappearances when he was either setting- Ascot `14 or following - Ptown `15 a moderate pace that didn't affected anyone other than himself, only beating 3 lengths Blue Fashion and then getting beat half a length, admittedly by a v good horse. Of course the seasonal debuts also coincided with Faugheen's worst fitness and this season also with a hard gallop only 4-5 days prior to the race itself.

But the tendency of NC jockey will be to stay with Faugheen and that will of course be a mistake, the only way realistically to beat him is to wait off the pace but not to far back, and have a good enough horse that can come forward in the last furlongs with plenty of energy to combat Faugheen's turn of foot. The only horses that have that class are AF, MTOY and P&C. The last 2 named if they can finally settle off a good pace, set by Top Notch and Nichols Canyon, then they could trouble the favourite. But if IT is given a good ride he can improve by March on better ground. NC could again show battling qualities and stay on, but so could TN. Getting the right tricast on this requires either a genius or a very lucky punter.

I see PP have edged Faugheen out still further for the Irish Champion at the weekend - - also longest by some way for AF. Looking more and more like a WPM is going to award Nichols Canyon a penalty!

looked his best performance

no point in anything else turning up

My inclination was always to try and take this beast on, to my cost, that was the best I've ever seen from him and I think now, belatedly I finally get it.

That was awesome! Looks increasingly like a Mullins Benevolent Day on 15th March.

Where does he sit among the great hurdles? For me he was already better than Hurricane Fly before today and if he wins the CH again this year he is capable of elevating himself up among Istabraq and some of the other greats that won multiple CHs. Visually his cruising speed is massive and he simply burns off other horses often leaving permanent scars if they try and stay with him.

Marvellous performance today but again Ruby was given a soft lead. Presumably the other stable jockeys were riding to instructions. The only chink in Faugheen's armour is his jumping (took the last on all fours). I doubt anyone will be brave enough to try and put it under pressure at Cheltenham. I suppose Peace & Co might for half a lap regardless of what his jockey wants him to do

Don't let's have another debate that can't be proven either way,it' always involves needless criticism of great horses.
Let's just enjoy Faugheen.

You have to take account of the opposition. How many championship races have Nichols Canyon and Arctic Fire won in open company?