Queen Mother 2018

Don't like backing anything for March before the New Year but if I had to pick one for the QM it would be Politologue.

With doubts about the top 3 and Douvan is unlikely to take on Min due to R.Ricci splitting his I've played Great Field at 12/1.  Feel certain JP will want a runner so fair price to me.

Would love to see the them all turn up on form, but has to be a major doubt.

have backed politologue for the champion chase at 10s and 8s and will continue to do so at the 8s or better ,given the doubts around altior,douvan ,special tiara etc the odds  about the ditcheat horse are attractive imo .......beat a decent horse in fox norton yesterday and shirley has improvement to come ,douvan and altior have to prove they are as good as they were and according to hendo we wont see altior till march at best ,douvan ? is he as good as he was before the setback ? well he may be but w.mullins took him out of the tingle creek as "he just didnt please us enough in his last bit of work "or words to that effect !so make of that what you will ! we can only guess how hard or how softly they push douvan at home following an injury but obviously the fact he missed the race shows that they were not happy enough at this stage of his comeback .
the fistpump in the winners enclosure from nicholls was significant to me ! i.e  we have a  genuine grade 1 contender after a few years in the wilderness. at the prices to me  8/1 is fair.
MIN is reportedly stepping up in distance aiming at the ryanaire and would possibly be pitched into the champion should douvan not line up but he is around 7-8s and not a value price given the iffs and buts

would min go to the ryannair? always looked a 2 miler to me..we will see i suppose

where has it been said he goes ryannair foyles i haven't kept up with it all but the horse looks a crack 2 miler to my eye

think it was in todays post ,dint buy it but had a quick look when i backed politologue in my local  laddies this morning ,may be wrong tho harry

altior according to hendo on  impossibles post earlier on the tingle creek thread on the ap forum " wont run untill the champion " thats a long time off no matter how good a horse .wind problem ? breathing op ? they are usually back in action sooner? correct me if i am wrong

UDS that is.

yeah budd would have a very good chance if it came up soft or worse ,on yesterdays evidence  looks like last seasons 2m novice chasers are a decent bunch charbel ran a decent race also anyone heard anything regarding future  plans for this one ? was considering having a saver on him each way at big prices for the champion around 33s on here but nothing on the pink which is a bit disconcerting so will hold off till plans are clearer  ,could be a bit better going left handed andrwas running  stormer in the arkle before departing at the 2nd last no way of knowing how close he would have got to altior if he had stood up but put it this way he was making altior work for it and was going no worse than the winner ,it may have been a tired fall but to me the winner wasnt looking a 1/4 shot before the 2nd last .

I didn't see any obvious excuse for Charbel at Sandown.

Douvan very weak on here looking at 7/2 makes you think he is not the horse he was. Plenty of insiders from the stable to give a realistic price on here.

For me he looks like a decoy horse, not the horse he was living off past reputation being used by Mullins to announce him on target for races to create openings for his other 2 milers. Lets see how strong opposition he is pitched in against first time out. Probably weak.

Wrong fred

Fox Norton put Cloudy Dream well in his palce earlier this season betating him nearly as far as Altior did in the Arkle and Politologue beat fox Norton so I don't see that Altior is that far ahead. Douvan's best rating was when beating Sizing John and Simply Ned but neither of those has won a Grade 1 over 2 miles.

I see Nicholls is now looking at the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton over xmas for Politologue.
Makes sense to me not to have a really hard race trying to beat UDS at Ascot.
Would not be great for confidence either should UDS beat him well.
Good move by the trainer imo.

Politologue, rejuvenated after being dropped in trip, is Champion Chase bound, all things being equal, and UDS is not even if Douvan is an absentee as Min will most probably deputise. So, why engage UDS at Ascot over 2m? If Mullins was unwilling to bring UDS over for the Tingle Creek, and with the two principals, Altior and Douvan, had yet to see a racecourse this season I think a good decision made by Nichols; the main target for Politologue is next March, not Ascot.

Min vs Altior in the Queen Mother,...a rerun of the 2016 Supreme Hurdle. If so, Altior for me if he is fully fit.

No doubt you would have gone for Al Ferof to beat Sprinter Sacre when they met in the Arkle based on the previous years Supreme result.

Try having an origianl thought that goes against the market for once you bore.

After backing Politologue ante post for the Tingle and getting a decent price for once, I decided to do the same for the QM the next day. A long way off but so far so good. Surely only a fully fit Altior is ahead of him now?

I shall be doing a rain dance around festival time,been taking big prices on here for UDS.
Actually think he would have a fair chance on good/soft,especially with the Altior situation,but probably wont run unless its at least soft.
I'm sure the owners would love another crack at the race anyway.

Unbelievable.