Cheltenham Festival
There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
These 157 comments are related to the topic:
Buveur Dair
Buveur Dair
sort by:
Show
per page
Replies: 157
|
By:
"ducking the Tolworth was a significant pointer"
The Tolworth is for novices. |
|
By:
Sorry, just seen duffy saying the same thing.
|
|
By:
Sorry, you're both correct. She'd have run in at least one race prior, I'd have thought. No worries, the Irish Champion then.
|
|
By:
I'll give it maybe 2 days before impossible has another go at mullins over not running laurina in the tolworth. He may be absent minded but he doesn't forget his grudges
|
|
By:
No I am not on drugs. May be Laurina should be favourite then. My point is that having watched the Kempton race again, VB beat BD'air without Nico having to pick up his whip. May be she responds negatively to the whip, may be BD had an off day. However I would back her to beat him most times over 2 miles on good ground. It is pointless mentioning the mares hurdle. She barely gets 2 miles hence the decision to go for the AW races as an alternative to hurdling. When ridden like that over 2 miles on good ground, I certainly would not oppose her. Clearly connections have watched the race back and come to the same conclusion.
|
|
By:
VB deserves her chance in the CH; she'd have a better chance than Laurina, in my opinion, who certainly needs further than 2m - her jumping needs polishing up too.
But BD if ridden with a wee bit more patience until the last or just after will race away from these lot any given day, I believe.; Laurina at best 3rd, I firmly believe, thus will lay her for a place. |
|
By:
Well the Kempton race has certainly made it all more interesting,and that has to be a good thing.
Still BD for me,think Cheltenham really suits him,but the mares are both fascinating runners. |
|
By:
VB showed in the Greatwood that her mark of 151 was about right then. Using If The Cap Fit's last 2 runs, there's nothing between him and VB bar the mare's allowance.
Apart from BD,who looks vulnerable, the British hurdlers again look to be a very poor bunch indeed.The Champion Hurdle looks intriguing all the same even if the quality is not there. Sharjah, Supasundae, Laurina are all right in the mix. If they have found a problem with Samcro then they have 2 months to get him back which is very doable.And Faugheen could yet come back onto the scene if he runs in the Irish Champion which Mullins has hinted at.Apples Jade would really spice things up is she were to run. |
|
By:
Personally think the exposed Irish form is a pile of pooh to be honest....Sharjah,Faugheen etc.
Faugheen is finished at this level over 2m judging by last couple of years. Laurina only Irish one that can beat BD imo,simply because shes still unknown ability. AJ will be in Mares or Stayers cos shes a stayer not a 2 miler. |
|
By:
All champion hurdle winners are stayers
|
|
By:
I think the best Irish 2 miler is on the sick list with a lung infection; the present lot is at least 7lb below Champion Hurdle standard.
|
|
By:
Ok,i will put it this way.
Big Bucks was stayer,had he ran in a Champion Hurdle I don't think he would have been quick enough. Whilst I do think AJ is not quiet in that category,i just think shes more chance of winning top races over 2 and a half - 3 mile. Shes been campaigned over longer distances for over 2 years now,pretty much all of them over 2 and a half,and has gone up to 3m latest run.I cannot see connections going back to 2m. They know what distances give her the best chance of winning good races. |
|
By:
Interesting that you still rate Samcro the best Irish hurdler. His highest ever RPR of 161 was when second to Buveur d'air at Necastle with Summerville Boy well behind but subsequent results suggest that BVD may not be better than a 165 horse with Samcro at around 158 (as he was given after the Cheltenham win over 2.5) and who knows what Summerville Boy is worth. It was that race that seemed to convince everyone that BD was very good but if you take all of this seasons form literally, there is little to choose between BD, VB (with the 7lb allowance) and Brain Power with Bedrock close behind! Laurina is the great unknown and could well be better than all of them. I am still not convinced that any of last season's novice hurdlers apart from Laurina are much good.
|
|
By:
There was a massive over-reaction to the Newcastle win, I suggested on this thread afterwards that if Samcro was indeed a staying chaser what then was so exciting about BD being too quick for him in a sprint
|
|
By:
duffy, at that time everyone in Ireland still thought that Samcro was the next Arkle and many here in GB thought that Summerville Boy was a good horse but events have made it clear that it was a very weak Grade 1. To be fair to Mr O'Reilly, he warned that the horse was overhyped last season.
|
|
By:
Plenty were suggesting he wasn't a top class 2 miler by then, that's why I questioned it myself once the dust had settled after the race.
|
|
By:
Laurina has yet to beat anything of substance and ducked every race a Champion Hurdle runner has run in hence why she'd still be considered the best of the novices of last season? She's beaten absolutely nothing of Champion Hurdle calibre.
I think she is solely because of her trainer, certainly not her form; 4/1 with the ground needing to be at least good to soft (to run) on the opening day of the Festival, and at a distance shorter than her optimum...only for her die-hard supporters, I believe. |
|
By:
Not sure about the Fighting Fifth myself, it was after his first Champion Hurdle performance when I decided BD was very good and performances since have confirmed that for me.
The Kempton race confused me and I imagine it confused his trainer as well. Cannot imagine they ever thought VB would beat BD. I don't think she will do that again, certainly not at Cheltenham anyway. Cheltenham suits his running style best imo,giving him more chance to show his staying power to go alongside his speed. 3rd CH unless Laurina spoils the party. Don't think any other horse can beat BD at Cheltenham. |
|
By:
You can criticize Laurina's price but a number of factors have contributed to it, the fact that the division is weak for one, we can also assume that she must be out performing the likes of Melon and Sharjah on the gallops and considering how close Melon got last year allied with the progression that Sharjah in particular is showing I find that quite notable that they're at least double her price.
I'm not saying she's another AP (before anyone jumps on that) but AP never ran against a single horse of CH calibre, not one, not even remotely close to one before hosing up in it, she doesn't have to prove she's worthy of her place before the race, she'll just have to do it on the day. |
|
By:
Annie Power had a lot more experience behind her when connections finally decided to run her in the race,would have won more than one imo given the chance.
Laurina could literally be anything,none of us have any idea how good she is or can be. You may have a point re whats going on at home,certainly that makes sense in regards to Ruby wanting to ride her(I believe that is right?)and the bookies prices. Melon got close last year imo because the ground blunted the speed of BD and the staying power of BD won him that race. I would not expect Melon to get close to BD on normal Tuesday festival ground. |
|
By:
Laurina needs to be better than AP to beat Buveur D'Air (BD); AP and BD both beat My Tent Or Yours by the same margin at the Festival.
Personally, Vroum Vroum Mag and Limini all over again - both these horses were reckoned to be serious Champion Hurdle contenders. |
|
By:
I believe Gigginstown will run Apples Jade if Samcro doesn't line up and she would be their best chance of winning.
Its just nonsense saying she's not a 2 miler (she won a Grade 1 at Aintree by 41 lengths for god's sake and followed up at Punchestown). She's a super mare at any distance, end of. She is a 7 y o rated 62, which is exactly the same rating as that other "stayer" Annie Power had when she ran in it as an 8 y o.The tactics would be just the same - make the running and make it a brutal stamina test. And there won't be many still involved from 2 hurdles out. |
|
By:
That jumping out to the right I wouldn't fancy much in a CH.
|
|
By:
Well looking back at her race record, AJ had good juvenile form,losing to IG at Cheltenham,and then thrashing the same horse at Aintree(why the big difference? the Aintree after Cheltenham factor perhaps??)
She then lost 2 races at 2m against the older horses, and was then stepped up to 2 and a halfm,presumably with mares races in mind, in particular Cheltenham. She has been very good in those races aside from two beatings by BDD.She has also had two races at 3m and won them both well. All this tells me that connections see her as either a mares horse or a stayers horse in March. Yes its possible connections could drop back to 2m,as AP did with success. AP was a super sub and hindsight tells us it was the right thing to do,and also hindsight tells me that they should have run her in the race before then instead of the Mares races and the stayers race she ran in!!! maybe that will happen with AJ as well. I can only go on what the formbook tells me though,and that tells me shes been campaigned since her juvenile days with no thoughts of a Champion Hurdle. More thought about the Stayers seems to me. If she does turn up in the Champion Hurdle that would be great,giving us extra intrigue and excitement. She may well surprise me,fair enough if she did. My feeling is BD would have too much speed for her, but no way of knowing for sure until it happened. |
|
By:
Apparently Nicky Henderson is fuming that other trainers have entered horses against Buveur D'Air in the Contenders Hurdle today. "As the reigning dual champion hurdler, the horse deserves a nice exercise canter with no rags to distract him. I'm trying to complete his preparations for the treble with the weather and everything else against me and it's a disgrace the BHA has allowed other trainers to use the Sandown course. My horses deserve the best and this is yet another example of the ****-eyed thinking we're getting from the BHA these days."
|
|
By:
****-eyed = abbreviation for cockerel-eyed
 |
|
By:
Well i have to say AJ has got me right confused......or maybe her connections have!!!
All this campaigning in Mares races and more recently 3m races,she now goes and does that over 2m. She has to be a major player in the Churdle for sure......if they run her in the race!! I hope they do,she would add some much to the build up as well as the actual race. |
|
By:
Eddie o'leary after todays race says she runs in Mares.
I have a feeling their will be discussions between owners and trainer in the coming weeks!! |
|
By:
I'll be really disappointed if they don't run her. It would be another example of dilution spoiling Cheltenham. She jumps a hurdle as quickly as BD.
|
|
By:
Nice comfortable victory there as you would expect from the current champ.
Should be spot on now for March. |
|
By:
I hope AJ runs against him at least then a good pace is assured; a messy race is the only issue for him, I believe, all things being equal.
|
|
By:
All true racing fans should want her in the Champion Hurdle.
Simple as that. |
|
By:
they kept samcro over hurdles to win a champion hurdle(unless his jumping was dire) so why wont they go champions hurdle with apples jade after that?
|
|
By:
Because we often see these very good mares running in the mares race.
|
|
By:
"Nothing is concrete but I'd say it's likely (to be the Champion Hurdle)."
Music to my ears from Gordon. CH is a race to look forward to. Hope both horses get there fit and well and AJ is not in season! Goodness knows what they're doing to prevent this - playing Brexit debates to her? I couldn't make my mind up at this stage and will wait until the day. |
|
By:
jp and hendo will surely run a spoiler in this to give apples jade some company up front !
|
|
By:
anyway it looks as tho apples an dairs in the champion
|
|
By:
if its good side of good to soft (likely imo) then everything I've seen of buveur tells me he's v beatable
|
|
By:
say 2 weeks ago what price was BD for the race,
1/2 or 2/5? cheers. |
|
By:
Autocue 03 Feb 19 11:43
"Nothing is concrete but I'd say it's likely (to be the Champion Hurdle)." Music to my ears from Gordon. CH is a race to look forward to. Hope both horses get there fit and well and AJ is not in season! Goodness knows what they're doing to prevent this - playing Brexit debates to her? I couldn't make my mind up at this stage and will wait until the day. They insert a marble into the horse's uterus to prevent the horse from coming into season. |