£2.50? £25? £250?

Don't be nosey

Im not a big hitter mate.

I'm 2 points The New One and 1 point ew The Tent

So butt out!!

If he's down the pub surely he would say 25 pints!

On the question of Hurricane and possible improvement this season, I think what Willie said was that the horse came back in stronger than ever this year, and he implied that it was therefore possible that he could show improvement. I don’t think it’s impossible for a horse to produce improved performances at ten. I doubt if the basic ability could be improving at that age, but supposing for example you had a horse who was always a bit too buzzy for his own good, and he finally learned to settle when he was ten, that horse would be likely to show improved form. Or supposing the trainer started to train it differently ? That could also lead to improved form. Having said that, I’d be inclined to take what Willie said with a grain of salt. It just sounds like the sort of trainerspeak which is best ignored.

Separately, Willie also said to Matt Chapman that he thought there was more than 5lbs improvement in the Hurricane after the Ryanair Hurdle, but that’s just normal ‘improving with racing through the season’ improvement, and, as has been pointed out above, probably all of the trainers of the leading candidates could say that.

Does the Hurricane dislike Cheltenham ? He’s run there three times. In 2011, there was nothing laboured about his performance. He travelled keenly and quickened up well. The now maligned Peddlers Cross was imo a tremendous horse at the time. He was unbeaten, including a win over a subsequent Ascot Gold Cup winner at the 2010 festival. If you watch the video of the 2011 Champion Hurdle again, Peddlers puts up a great fight but he definitely cracks in the last twenty yards or so. Was he ever the same horse again ?

In 2012, the Hurricane’s performance was laboured and he was well beaten. I didn’t see it myself, but I have heard that he was in a shambolic state in the parade ring. He’d only had one previous run that season. With the benefit of hindsight, that wasn’t a positive. His subsequent win at Punchestown was also laboured. An off year ?

In 2013, he once again looked laboured. I had mentally torn up my ticket at halfway, seeing it as the repeat of 2012 which all of us Hurricane supporters feared. But then Ruby got after him and he battled, rather than swept, his way to the front before the turn-in and gutsed it out from there. What happened in that race ? Heres’a possible explanation. They went too fast up front. In the normal course, Ruby might have let them go and then picked them up much later and more easily (like Punchestown 2011), but he got beaten in 2012 by getting detached, and fearing a repeat he got to work very early and it panned out as it did. That’s only a guess, and I’m laughing at myself sitting here at my keyboard second guessing Ruby Walsh’s tactical nous. It was a strange race, and I don’t know what happened. They’re not machines. And the particular non-machine we’re talking about here is byMontjeu, so you wouldn’t know what would be going on inside his head.

How is he going to perform this year ? Assuming all goes well at Leopardstown and all the vibes are positive, I hope he will give a non-laboured account. It will be Ruby’s fourth go on him over course and distance. Maybe the experience of the previous three years will help him to come up with the optimum game plan. Soft ground would be no harm either.

What about the opposition ? I rate My Tent and I rate TNO. My Tent hasn’t just beaten the other novices. He won the Schwepp … sorry … Betfair Hurdle last season doing handstands. And himself and TNO are obviously pretty much the same horse based on Kempton where they ran right away from a horse who was beaten half a length in the Greatwood the time before. One aspect of the Christmas Hurdle which seems to have fallen through the cracks is that AP gave Sam 6-8 lengths for free at the start, and he ultimately had to use up a lot of petrol to get them back.

But if you rate My Tent, and therefore TNO, where does that leave Champagne Fever ? I know, as has been pointed out to me in another thread, that it was always planned to go chasing with him. But surely if you win the Supreme, and the horse you beat fair and square is all but favourite for the Champion, you would consider having a crack ? Unless you think it’s pointless. And maybe Willie Mullins and Rich Ricci, between them, do think it’s pointless. And if it’s pointless for Champagne, where does that leave My Tent and TNO ? And Jezki ? And Our Conor ?

First things first though. Let’s hope all the above-named make it there in March. And let’s hope Annie Power lines up in a different race. If she lined up in the Champion, I’d be afraid of her.

Good luck to everyone and thanks to CV Byrne in particular for kicking the debate off in such good style

Most have appeared to have blanked that jasey. Fly is still the one to beat,some just dont seem to like him for some reason?

Yeah. If he's as good as ever, and the ground is not unusually fast, he has to be favourite. Surely backers of other horses are assuming that he has regressed. I must admit, I thought he was on the downgrade prior to his Ryanair Hurdle win. Now I'm not so sure.

How do you boys rate Un De Sceaux? Looks like a machine to me. Hacked up again today and next target is the Red Mills
If he is successful there Mullins reckons Champion hurdle

Giddy ....no way of knowing as Mullins keeps running him against nothing (although not his fault) - Mullins could really sort out his pecking order in the Irish Champion hurdle if he wanted to but wouldn't mind a bet he just runs H/Fly and we won't really know until Cheltenham. Geeting a little uncompetitive in Ireland but makes for an exciting Champion Hurdle , best, most indepth I can recall this century.

horse he battered finished 3rd rated 143 so he is interesting no doubt about that.

no way of knowing as Mullins keeps running him against nothing (although not his fault)

iirc Mullins did say he was deliberately keeping UDS to lesser company.

That is the reason i don't want UDS to run.

Just been through UDS form,and everything his beat has gone on to do zilch.His last run in France ,15 months ago,he beat a horse called Upsala Collonges
7 lenghts. This beast has run 10 times since and has never got anywhere near winning.He beat Sammy Black at Punchestown less than a year ago, and SB
did win on his next outing but has run 3 times since that, and has been well beaten.
Although he looks really good on the eye, jury's out for me until after The Red Mills

While everybody may have differing views on who can win and can't win this race, one thing we can all agree on is just how exciting this race could be if all the major players turn up. Hurricane Fly, The New One, MTOY, Jezki and Our Conor,and with the extra intrigue of not knowing how good UDS could be. My pocket says Our Conor or MTOY, but my heart, head and eyes just want to see all six of them jump the last together. What a race we could be in for if all the market principles turn up at 100%. 9 weeks, 4 hours, 30 minutes.....let the countdown begin

Another question is whether Jezki was unlucky to get hampered in the Supreme last year and Ryanair last time behind the Fly, or whether he gets hampered repeatedly because he is not quite good enough.

No mention of Ptit Zig on here. He goes at Haydock on Saturday on his preferred testing ground. Think his interesting if it does get soft ground at Cheltenham

Think Ptit Zig has improved significantly since then. Take your point though!

Turns out Foildubh was injured during the race. Form is not worth 2 onions.

Look through the form book and some of the Hurricane's best form is on good going, especially at the Punchestown Festival.