Sonko, a spring horse is what Jonjo trains mate.

Lord Windermere, Holywell, Albertas Run, Champagne Fever, Jezki etc - could Josses Hill be in there?  Only one way to find out.

Take it you are referring to when he took off too early? He did bl00dy well to get the other side though!! Some leap that was. Never looked like falling in the whole race,jumps a tad too big at times though.

What price without the fav Tim?

Got to laugh at the "know it alls" on this thread who seem to know more about horses than BG and NJH lol!! I personally would prefer to listen to BG myself who still seems to have faith in him. I dont think anybody is now suggesting Josses will beat UDS but this years arkle behind him looks awfully weak. It wont take much to take 2nd and then there is the small chance the fav could tip up. Why go back over hurdles and finish 6th or 7th at best in a champion hurdle? Now a great EW price imo.

it looks that way sint

I don't think anyone is bigging Josses Hill up as an Arkle winner, but behind UDS it is wide open.

I think the market has it about right now - Un De Sceaux is miles clear, and Vibrato Valtat and Clarcam are both ahead of Josses Hill - I couldn't argue with any of that.

Add to the fact that if Gilgamboa, Vautour and Ptit Zig were switched to the Arkle, then I'd have Josses as 7th in the pecking order.  Truth is though that the last three will not run, which leaves Josses fourth.

His technique can only improve from this point imo.  Based on his hurdles form, his optimum conditions were going a good clip, on good ground with the sun on his back.  At the moment he hasn't had them yet, so whereas now he is fourth in my order, with those conditions, he can only improve - they won't make him go backwards.

If he doesn't improve for them, with the lack of depth in the Arkle, he has place claims no doubt, and then if they want to consider hurdles again, there are good prizes at Aintree and Punchestown.

I think using the Oscar Whisky falling and sadly RIP is unfair on his connections, and Oscar Whisky's.  I'd like to think that if they ever thought either horse was in danger of losing their life, they'd pull the plug on jumping fences.  Both horses owe(d) connections nothing, and their welfare would be top of their priority imo.  I don't know that for sure, I can only guess, but that's what I'd like to think anyway.

Before the Tingle Creek, Budd, you used your eyes and your own opinion and thought it was a crazy idea to run Oscar in a Grade 1 two miler. You said Henderson had made a real mess of his career.
Now though you tell us we should trust his opinion and Josses Hill will be fine in The Arkle. Even though what he has shown on the track is far removed from a Grade 1 chaser.

He still jumped far too big at some, and others he seems to land on his rear legs. He is not a natural. I don't believe he is frightened as he runs with such enthusiasm but he is not a natural fencer.

He may improve with time but I can't see him fulfilling his promise myself.

It is a huge leap of faith to think he can improve with a faster pace. He was still being out jumped yesterday over the last couple by the Tizzard horse. Not being able to win yesterday receiving that weight regardless of not having his optimum conditions was very disappointing.

@buddeliea watching it live I was sure he was going to fall at that one, but once he didn't I was sure he wasn't going to win because his confidence was gone. I think we may see a better jumper next time no doubt as such huge mistakes only help horses to jump better(take UDS fall how good it did for him) but I don't think he has the fluency & the same class over them(as he did over hurdles) to win an arkle... Without fav I wouldn't take anything shorter than 8/1

The flip side of that though Bud is that OW was a seasoned campaigner, so his falling was still a surprise even though most people thought he had little chance of laying up in a fat-run Tingle Creek, given that he didn't ever appear to like jumping fences much.

Josses hill looks like a horse that is all at sea over fences, and he makes different mistakes throughout his races. He will be going quicker and against better horses in the Arkle, so while those conditions saw him at his best over hurdles, they are far more likely to see him come down than 2m4f in softer stuff round Kempton. BG keeps saying that it'll suit because they'll go quicker and he'll have no chance to think about his options re fencing - he has never looked clever at his fences, so my heart will be in my mouth if he's wrong at any of those fences when they're going a clip in the Arkle.

Maybe some of us like to give a horse every chance before slating him.

Well that depends on how you look at Novice Chasers I guess.

Personally I watch a novice and then have a think about what ive seen,and what I think would be his ideal sort of race and how he might improve,if he has to.
JH certainly has to improve, and watching him when the pace quickens I think that's where the improvement will come,plus better ground.

Fully justified his place in the race, and a much improved performance.  Was never going to live with UDS, but I was made up to see him stay on well to place.

What a round of jumping, at the last 3 fences i was like wow, woow, wooow. Any ideas where he'll be entered? Hopefully CC as he deserves the chance

to my untrained eye, his jumping got better as the race went on but I did n't think he was great on the first circuit, a bit hesitant and gave a few of the fences too much air - whether that's down to confidence or that he needs to get warmed up I don't know - in fairness, it could also have been because they were n't going fast enough, which is what connections have said in the past.

The way he finished out the race suggested to me they could even consider stepping him up in trip.

yes not very economical but spectacular hence the wows perhaps a fast pace might force him making another mistake but if he were mine I'd take the chance in the CC as he's classy enough and accidents happen over hurdles as well so no point being afraid..

probably would keep him as pet , but accidents happen at home too and fatal ones as well.. no reason to be afraid he jumped them so high that its more likely to lose the race than fell due to his jumping. I'm more afraid of horses that take lots of risks over fences than ones that don't want to touch a twig.

He's a lovely horse and really divides opinion. I think I'd lean more towards the Ryanair in the hope that the extra distance would give him a chance to warm to the jumping task, but I can see the argument for the Champion Chase as it may be that going quicker stops him thinking too much about the fences. I suppose the other tempter in relation to the Ryanair is that it looks very winnable and a horse of his class could easily do it if everything clicked on the day.

If UDS was ridden as was over hdls I would give JOSSES a chance in CC but as UDS is usually restrained in front this won't  Help,I don't think they can go fast enough for JOSSES,if there was a NEWMILL type in there that would be up his street,even the ARKLE last year UDS was waited in Front and thought JOSSES done alright in the circumstances

I just don't think he will be quick enough at the fences for 2 miles.
He was going away again at the end today, he's such a big horse as well,I just think he's a stayer more than a speed horse.

Ryanair according to trainer,and would make perfect sense the way he ran over similar distance yesterday.