Cv you said to me all last year Briar hill wasn't a 2 miler when I was saying go for the supreme,just like you have telling me c.f. shouldn't go for the queen mother

briar hill has failed to get competitive on two starts and now the champion hurdle is being suggested!

not a chance

the horse has clearly lost confidence/regreseed since the fall at cheltenham where he injured his eye socket

See the Pipes have one for people to talk about now,would not be the same if they did not have one in the build up to the festival.
Runs today,and some of the posts I have read are rather bullish for a horse never ran 3m,or up to the standard required.
Will be interesting to see today if he does stay and runs well in this company.

cufcno1 23 Jan 15 10:28 Joined: 20 Sep 11 | Topic/replies: 1,065 | Blogger: cufcno1's blog
Cv you said to me all last year Briar hill wasn't a 2 miler when I was saying go for the supreme,just like you have telling me c.f. shouldn't go for the queen mother

I don't get your point? Nobody can know if a horse really stays 3 miles at the top level until he tries the trip. Last season I was saying Briar Hill was going for the Albert Bartlett as he was. Now I don't think he stays 3 miles, but who knows how much the bad fall where he broke his eye socket took out of him.

As for Champagne Fever I just don't think he's good enough at the very top level over fences for 2 miles or 3miles. 2m5f is his optimum trip and only trip I'd be interested in backing him over.

Well after that today, I still fancy the Irish.

Yeh mate, I know you do.
I just still worry about him staying well enough, and these Irish ones,Monks,Colonel and Jetson will certainly bring out any staying flaws imo.
Reve de Sivola if he brings his A game(which is no given I admit) will also make it a true staying test.

At Fishers Cross made mistake 2 our and was only beaten 6l at Leopardstown. Cole Harden beat him and he was buried by Saphir today.

really nice performance from saphir today getting weight but at least he is back on track, interesting they think he will handle better ground just as well, he is a pure french bred so will be interesting if he does, he has always been a horse who has liked cut and travelled like a dream on it today...he has got a big chance if it were to be soft and at the weights today he was favoured but it still marks him down as a solid mid 160's horse and has to be open to improvement but he was getting weight so will need to go forward from here

the irish horses had a nice form boost in the week so the race is brewing up nicely but is still a complete cluster feck for betting imo with so many horses rated around the same mark

monksland and degiout were way behind at leopardstown and franked the form

why not zaidpour a good yard stick and ran his race and the other two entitled to improve on the back of absences...ok form i suppose it depends how good you think the irish form is...not my bag but solid horses

well i suppose it depends how you view the race but what i will say is monksland and dedigout sat in rear and missed the race pace wise, so the front two are solid but agree it isn't brilliant form, however thought zaidpour ran his race the other day so imo the races form was at least franked by monksland and dedigout...i will agree though it isn't top grade form and i still believe the winner at leopardstown needs cut in the ground...

fishers can't be used as a form line as was lame after race and is becoming a rat or at least has major physical problems

this race is the hardest of the festival betting wise for me unless more of that turns up?? he is lbs clear if able to reproduce last years run, if he can't any from a number of runners have every chance

Not overly sure why SDR is 6/1 and 7/1 and Reve is 25's after todays race, given the weight allowance?  Both of them were fully race fit and Reve comes out on top at level weights.

Cracking bet, you've got there though CV at 130.0, glad it wasn't me who layed that.

Cole Harden's jumping today would be an issue for me, as he was way out to his left at a couple of them.  UTPT will no doubt improve for the run too and I think he did stay.

From reading this, and a few other posts, you may think I have something against SDR, but I don't.  I just don't really get his price, as he's three times shorter than UTPT are almost four times shorter than Reve, when only 2 lengths covered them.

I'm all over Zarkandar for this. He wasn't beaten far last year after being dropped out and was never really put into the race. If STD had held on to him for longer at Ascot then I think he'd have won quite cosily. PN was very quick to remind people about Zarkandar when he was interviewed after The Cleeve yesterday. Who rides what amongst the Nicholls runners could be interesting.

I was thinking the same about RubyJacob could become available if the ground came up to quick for Reve De Sivola.

Find it strange MOT not had a mention won World Hurdle on fifth run over hurdles beat Annie Power who some rate better than Quevega jonjos horses woefully out of form whenit run earlier in year and looked like a bull, so i think if it comes back on the better ground there will only be one winner.

I've been looking at the World Hurdle for a few days now - as everyone knows, an intriguing race.

Firstly, to introduce myself - I'm a typical mug punter who bets with minimal stakes.  I'm not involved with Racing, but love trying to work out the puzzle of finding winners.

I'm hoping that getting my thoughts down in writing will help me make a decision.

More of That - I think everyone has agreed that for this years race, this horse is an unknown as such, it's not for my money (I did like the comment regarding the miraculous discovery of a problem only after the horse had lost a race)

Saphir Du Rheu - Clearly a good horse (was it on this board where it showed he was the 4th highest rated hurdler in training?).  Anyhow, done nothing wrong over hurdles, battling well to beat Reve De Sivola at Cheltenham last time.  However, he was in receipt of 4lb and Reve De Sivola doesn't have the greatest record around Cheltenham - 15 runs 2 wins including 5 runs at the festival without a win.  Can never rule out Paul Nicholls horses though and will possibly have improvement to come as he only got as far as the 7th fence on 2 of his 3 chase starts.  His only previous visit to the festival was disappointing - 20th in the Fred Winter in 2013 when joint favourite

Lieutenant Colonel - This was my first choice a couple of weeks ago, but not so sure now.  On the plus side, he did win on his only start over 3 miles, and to me, he was going away from Jetson at the end of 2.5 miles last time.  However, Jetson's record does not scream out 'Champion' and all of Lieutenant Colonel's victories have been on soft/heavy.  He has however been beaten by some top horses when running on better ground (beaten 9l by Vautour over 2.5 miles, 13l by Faugheen in last years Neptune and 5l again by Vautour on his hurdling debut over 2 miles)so maybe it's harsh to bring up his record on softer surfaces.

Zarkandar - I like this horse - though can't really explain why.  Last season's race was his 5th of the season, and the first time he had gone further than 2.5 miles.  Earlier in the season he had ran over 2 miles on heavy before twice being well beaten by Annie Power over 20/21f and once by The New One over 17f.  This season, he has ran twice.  Beating Gemix by 5l over 3miles and then more recently the Ascot race where he all but stopped when seemingly having the race won and was beaten by the course specialist over 25f.  As per the recent comments from Paul Nicholls - I get the impression that he really likes this horse and has targeted the World Hurdle all season.

Rock on Ruby - The best horse in the race - but the 3 mile question to answer.  He could be anything and does love Cheltenham. I don't think i've ever actually backed Rock on Ruby and probably won't do again, although 10/1 could seem a crazy price in a few weeks

Beat That - On his only run at 3 miles he beat Don Poli who is getting rave reviews.  Has also beaten Cole Harden over 25f.  However, only run this season was too bad to be true (beaten 21l by Rock on Ruby).  As with the favourite, couldn't back this horse based solely on this season's form.

Un Temps Pour Tout - Placed in every race and I thought he ran reasonably well in the Cleeve.  However, he was beaten fair and square.  Yes, he'd been off the track for 266 days, but in today's world, that's not a valid excuse.  David Pipe has always seemed keen on the horse so likely there is more to come, but at the moment, I'm not sure if the stable is in good enough form (I really don't know this - i just don't recall hearing from David Pipe/Tom Scudamore recently).

Whisper - Excellent Cheltenham record (won twice and placed once out of 4), including the Coral Cup last year, however does seem held by Saphir Du Rheu on last season's form - as with that horse, did go chasing this season but was turned over at 2/5 and hasn't been seen since.  Wouldn't be the greatest surprise to me to see this one pop up, but can't be backing it.

Monksland - Off for too long for me.  Clearly was a top quality horse, but not enough form for me to go off.  Beaten by Lieutenant Colonel and Jetson on comeback and then by Dedigout on second run.

Blue Fashion - I include this one as he is very lightly raced and to be honest I hadn't heard of him before looking into this market.  Only ran twice since June 2013 when trained in France.  Those 2 races were over 2.5 miles and resulted in 2 second places.  Firstly, behind More of That - beaten 2 lengths when giving the winner 6lb, then 2nd to Faugheen, beaten only 4 lengths, albeit in receipt of 4lb - nothing else has ever finished closer to Faugheen.  Does anyone know anything about this horse - is it likely to run in the World Hurdle?

I haven't looked further, or at least not in much detail as I saw something that I wasn't keen on regarding Cole Harden, Reve de Sivola or Jetson. 

Damn - I still don't think i'm any closer.

Yeah, agree with a lot of what you say there.  I've been a big L Colonel fan too, but like you, I'm less confident on him now than I was about a month ago, so may lay off my stakes on him.

When I liked him (and backed him), the race looked a lot different, with no Saphir Du Rheu, Whisper or Un Temps Pour Tout, so the race is looking a lot more competitive now.  You could make a case for about 8 or 9 of them.

Zarkandar

Agreed. One of very few antepost bets.

Zarkandar is better for being run fit and fresh. He was over raced last year, one run every 22 days of all kinds of trips. He was beat by Reve because he idled, not because he tired as you can see him pick up again and battle back to almost beat Reve once he sees him go by. I agree Reve didn't jump great but he does preform his absolute best at Ascot.