Challenge Stakes (newmarket saturday)

Well unoriginal but i'd be disappointed if Strong Suit doesn;t win this, even under his Pen. Looks a very good horse to me.

Maqaasid has enough class to trouble him and looks the main danger.

Its a match and I like both horses. Chachamaidee has done nothing but improve and 7f is definitely her best trip. Strong Suit has done nothing wrong since his breathing operation and will be very tough to beat. Ran poorly on his only other start at HQ but that was on soft ground. Won't be a betting race for me but hope Chacha prevails.

Wouldn't say he ran poorly at HQ, tbh Jonibake. He did get second place afterall and it was behind Dream Ahead.

I expect a bold show from Giant Sandman.

'I am sane'  Can you hear me Doctor?

He WAS beaten 9 lengths tho Sint! 14lbs below his previous run. Probably due to the ground more than anything. I still expect him to run well on Sat tho.

If Chachamaidee drifts out to around 11/4 or 3/1 I'll certainly be interested in backing her, as I think she has the best form over the trip on the forecast good to firm ground.

beaten 9 lengths by a superstar on ground he hated is a fair effort imo Joni [:D]. That was before he had his breathing op too.

Strong suit travelled and quickened like a top class horse at Goodwood. He's got bags of pace so if they go slow it won't be a problem. It's a long time since that run and estimating the horses condition isn't easy.
Given that he's 11/8 I won't be going through the stress of trying to judge his pre-race condition from
limited TV pictures, so its a pass on this race for me.

Typical end of season race. Strong Suit looks fairly solid, Chachamaidee should give him a race... ... ... then we all sit around afterwards scratching out heads as to how Elshbakiya has won by 3 lengths

Im going to take a shot on the Gosden animal just for the fact that her best run was here in May on quick ground, shes had a break unlike the Cecil one

Maqaasid has cost me a packet I keep forgiving her, its not exactly the strongest of races even the Norwegians think they have a chance, but on all known form impossible to see beyond Strong Suit, the Hannon juggernaut has shown no sign of relenting.

I shall be having a few Krones e/w on Giant Sandman good chance of making the frame at big odds. Proverbial 'feeling in the water'.

Unfortunately human intervention has changed the going at Newmarket from 'good to firm' to 'good', with more watering expected this morning, so with all the uncertainty about the state of the ground I won't be betting today.  A shame, as it is an excellent card and there were several horses I was interested in backing, including Chachamaidee in the Challenge Stakes and Alsindi in the Rockfel.

There is a drying wind though James, i agree about changing the ground(you wont be surprised!!) where does it say they are watering this morning though???

Michael Prosser was interviewed on the Morning Line (C4) and indicated that a bit more watering would be done this morning.  Why this obsession with watering just before a big meeting?  What's wrong with fast ground?

He watered yesterday morning and then had 5mm of rain on top. Cant believe it.

I liked Sunday Times but the quicker the better for her.

He's watering ground already described as good!!!!!!-should be shot

FVCKING CVNTING RAIN!!!!!!!!

Mystiko last 3yo colt to win Challenge Stakes with Group 1 (or 2) penalty and he won 2000 gns

cant believe Chac got down to 13/8 joint fav how could that happen

No idea.

But SS looks another Canford in the making. Shame he had that breathing problem early season.

It was,but i think he was bought by the new owners with the plan to stay on as a 4yo next season,so we will get a full season out of him with all the top mile races being targeted,but first we have one hell of a breeders cup mile to look forward to with goldi,excelbration and whoever else turns up

Excellebration is going QE2 route.

Did they not say QE2 followed by the BC mile

Think he said would only run in one of them ..

Hughes came out with an interesting excuse for his performance in France when he came third ,can anyone remember what it was? It may have been something to do with the journey over their which wouldn't bode well for him travelling
to America.

He mentioned it in his RP column .

also said the horse was dreadful on the way to post

Well I watched that run in France live and he very nearly won the race. The reason why he lost,imo, is because he had to make his own running. If you look at his Ascot,Goodwood and most recent wins, he has had a nice tow into the race and then kicked 2f out and put the race to bed. In France he was making the running all the way and got nabbed on the line.

That said, I would love to know what Hughes said in his column if anyone can remember it ..

pretty sure it was in the Rp saturday edition the weekend before he ran at Glourious Goodwood. I think he was
pretty admant that strong Suit wasn't quite right that day.

Strong Suit pulled like a train in France and still only caught in the final strides

got saturdays RP here and he does not mention the france race in his colum,he definatly came out of the race as the best horse,as sint says,he made all his own running at just got nailed on the line,travelled much the best as well that day and the ground would have been much softer than he likes,i also remember him saying that he did not travel down to the star well and did not feel right on the way down,as sint said
but i would not be concerned at all about it being down to travel,he must have a massive chance in the BCM

Was that last saturdays RP or the saturady RP prior to his Glor Goodwood win?
It's not ideal that the 2 x he has run abroad he has been beaten ,though he's run pretty well both times.
If he runs like he did in France then he won't be winning in America, which is why I'm so interested to know
what Hughes excuse was. Pulling hard isn't really an excuse as exactly the same thing could happen again over
a mile in America. He's settled well off fast paces in his 7f victorys this year. If he settles fine and travels over well he must have a strong chance. I get the impression that R.hughes has a real understanding
of this horse and what he says in his excellent RP column on the day of the race will make interesting reading.
The other point that would concern me would be R.hannons Breeders Cup record, I cann't remember him having
much success in it or America in general. Any stats on that would be interesting.

They think this horse is far more suited to the bends of Churchill Downs than Paco Boy was, and Hannon does not often target the States as he is on record as saying he does not like the racing over there. But this horse has been purchased for a big fee and subsequently aimed at the Breeders Cup. All the 5/1 has gone now but 9/2 is fair enough imo. I dont think Excellebration or Immortal Verse will line up.

this saturdays RP,the goodwood edition will probably be laying around the house somewhere,will hunt it out and post what he said if i find it,

another huge note of caution is that hannon has always been massive anti lasix,so the chances of him using it are slim and we have all seen in recent years that those who dont use it,usally flop big time!

can anybody remember if paco was on it or not?

Richard Hughes reliquished his licence until further notice ..

Ryam Moore to take over..?

sorry,just got in and seen it all now