Had a little e/w tickle on Hammersmith
@66/1 with Sportsbook

35-1 is available for 4 places ?

Good Luck George

No shocks, with Cerberus reversing the form with his stablemate on 4lb better terms.

Dismal from my two, Guinevere had a minor place chance on RPRs, but was settled out the back and never sighted. Hammersmith looked a nice type physically down at the start, but did zilch to suggest that this game is for him.

Form has run cold on this thread, there's no denying it, I can only hope for better in this final month of the thread

The next juvenile hurdle is the opener at Market Rasen on Thursday, though there are handicaps which are open to 3YOs before then.

Running P/L: +163.6

And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, after playing just one AW comp, you're now ahead of me in the overall standings. The embarrassment of it

the overall table, chav, is on the your comps forum, you scored 9 pts for finishing jt 4th yesterday, I've only managed to collect 8 pts in the previous 3 weeks

66-1 value but you can't always eat it Good Luck Thursday George .....

keith got just the one tomorrow george ,in the bumper,brian rides.

Great Dane, 1pt EW @ 20-1, 12.00 Market Rasen

I have five qualifiers: Zoffee, Silkstone, Hurricane Hero, Glorious Dane and Dolly Dupree.

The market is pretty much priced up on Flat ability with the top-rated off the Flat, Zoffee, currently vying for favouritism. He showed a willing attitude round Windsor during the summer, in both victory and defeat, despite racing keen enough and doing plenty from the front. There is a query about whether he's as effective on softer ground, but he wasn't disgraced on soft ground on his final start for Tom Dascombe, when stepped up to 14f in a valuable handicap round Haydock.
He's gone to a good NH yard and would appear to have an obvious chance if taking to hurdling.

Silkstone is currently rated 7lb inferior to Zoffee on the level, but does have the benefit of previous hurdling experience having run well on his NH debut to finish runner-up at Huntingdon; that was on good ground but he was a soft ground winner on the Flat.

Hurricane Hero is rated higher on the AW than he is on turf, with his best piece of form coming on the Fibresand on Southwell, so the surface is a concern, particularly as his runs on softer ground on the Flat haven't been encouraging, but he has joined Olly Murphy ahead of his hurdling career, so wouldn't want to be too dismissive.

If I was sticking to my usual policy of selecting the biggest-priced qualifier, I'd be selecting Dolly Dupree, and while the ground shouldn't be an issue, the opposition probably will be given she's rated just 45 on turf on the level.

I've decided to take a chance EW on Glorious Dane, who is up against it on Flat ratings, but comes here in reasonable form having placed on his last two Flat runs over 12.5f at Newcastle.
His sole hurdles run to date came in a class 3 event at Aintree back in June, in which the winner was coming off the Flat rated 77 and making his debut for Dan Skelton (and has since run well in the USA), and the runner-up was the useful yardstick Maria Magdalena, who has gone on to be Listed placed. Glorious Dane ended up fading out it from before the last, but he had gone keenly enough, and with the hurdling experience probably needed, he perhaps shaped better than his finishing position suggested.

He joined Mark Walford prior to his latest Flat start, and his new stable have already tasted juvenile hurdle success at Market Rasen this season, having won with Half Bolly here in September.

The other runner who is prominent in the market and comes here with a relatively high Flat rating is Lord Lamington, who has joined Alan King from Mark Johnston. He won a 14f handicap round Sandown off a mark of 80, so shouldn't fail for stamina, but does have to prove himself on soft ground having run poorly when encountering soft ground at Ayr (though did lose a shoe and perhaps the 2m1f trip on the level was too far).














12.35 Punchestown

I have two qualifiers, and they're both penalised for previous wins, Harvest Bow and Leahman.

At the prices I'll make Leahman the pick despite a concern that he needs a decent surface to be seen to best effect. He was quite impressive on his third hurdles start when making most of the running round Gowran to win by a wide margin on good ground, in what admittedly might not have been the strongest of races.

His latest run back on soft ground saw him fold tamely in the Down Royal race won impressively by A Wave Of The Sea, however, he had previously run OK on soft ground when behind Harvest Bow at Roscommon when finishing 4th of the 16 runners, and while he has work to do to reverse the form with that rival, it could suggest the ground wasn't solely to blame for the poor run last time.

Kevin Brouder, whose only ride on Leahman so far was for the win at Gowran, takes over again in the plate.









This is straightforward for me in terms of a selection as I've only got the one qualifier and it's Allmankind.

He's currently rated 86 on the Flat, and he made his hurdling debut at Warwick the other day for Dan Skelton with a bit to prove, given his final run for Michael Bell was a poor one, he'd since undergone wind surgery and was reappearing wearing both a hood and tongue strap. As it turned out, he defied market weakness to win as he liked despite having been keen enough.

The opposition didn't look the greatest at Warwick, and his tendency to race keenly could be costly in today's  testing ground, particularly in a much stronger race. However, he did enough at Warwick to show he retains his ability, and as long as he doesn't pull his chance away, hopefully he can be competitive here.

Mick Pastor has a 5lb penalty to contend with on his debut for Paul Nicholls, but looks the one to beat given he brings strong French juvenile form into the race, as the horse he beat on his final French start at Auteuil, has since gone on to Grade 3 and Grade 1 successes.

* I think I need to start again, obviously the selection is Glorious Dane, not Great Dane, the useful colt trained by Henry Cecil back in the late 90s.

The opener at Sandown tomorrow is the Class 2 Introductory Hurdle which Goshen runs in.

I don't have any qualifiers, which is probably a good thing given how frosty things have turned on this thread.

There's a fillies' Listed race at Aintree on Saturday.

Running P/L: +161.6

dealer, the good news is that I stated in the opening post the thread will end on December 31st, so thankfully the Fred Winter is not a race I'm going to have to worry about!

It's still going to end the year the second highest level stakes profit thread of 2019 on this forum.

The P/L would keep most detractors quiet GB
Most

George.B, this is always an enjoyable read... I've backed Red Archangel, primarily in the first four market at around 8... logic being that the trainer is in form, doesn't have many hurdlers, over the referenced period 13 runners, 2 winners and 5 places... like yourself I enjoy watching the juveniles in the build up to the Triumph, carry on the good work, cheers...

Good luck colopaul, it looks a tough start for her.

I suppose the overpriced one is Fleursals, relative to Gavrocheka, but different ground today.

Did you notice the 3yo that won an all aged h'cap recently George?

Hazran, 1pt EW @ 25-1, 12.35 Cork
Clemencia, 1pt EW @ 33-1, 12.35 Cork

I have two qualifiers, Clemencia and Hazran, and tentatively I'm selecting them both EW.

The well bred Hazran didn't really progress for Michael Halford, being turned over this year four times when sent off favourite, including twice at odds-on, though did post some fair form in defeat and is currently rated 78.
He has yet to race beyond 10f on the Flat and perhaps will be seen to best effect when there is more emphasis on stamina, being out of a mare who is a half-sister to Derby winner Harzand.

Hazran was sold for 52,000euros, and his new stable have had just two winners over hurdles from 185 runners in the last 5 seasons (compared to 8 from 54 over fences), so not a stat' to fill you with confidence, and Hazran is returning from a two month break today.

I noted Clemencia the last time he was seen on the Flat back in August, when finishing 4th at Killarney, when unlike the three who eventually finished ahead of him and came towards the outer of the track in the straight, he raced towards the inside which might have been riding slower, but he was still in second place until fading inside the last half-furlong. His Flat OR of 64 leaves him with several pounds to find with the best of these off the level.

He made his hurdling debut just 8 days later at Down Royal, and shaped OK in 6th, held in that position when making a bad mistake at the final flight.  The form has worked out OK with a subsequent winner behind him, and the first two not disgraced since behind the useful A Wave Of The Sea.
Clemencia is returning from over 3 months off with a tongue tie applied, so fitness has to be taken on trust.

Pasley is obviously the one to beat given he's currently the highest rated of these on turf on the Flat (OR 81), and his debut second over hurdles at Punchestown was a given a big boost when the third horse Tremwedge came out and finished a good third in the recent Group 3 juvenile hurdle at Fairyhouse.

gl george

Well played George...

WD GB
Someone backed it

Cheers all, seeing the money that came for him, makes you wonder if he'd been back to his Uncle Jim's for a short holiday

Brendan's usually a glass half full guy even at the worst of times, so he'll be thinking he's got the Triumph Hurdle winner on his hands! Unless Jim sell him

Quite impressive how he hurdled and galloped on strongly up the home straight.

Hazran was poor, had a nice position tracking round the inner, but folded tamely