Constitution Hill on a Thurs not National day

Far to much of the good racing taken from midweek and put on a Saturday.

I largely agree. Hate the Ebor being moved for example. Only mentioned this because I think it's different when you have an all time great or at least champion hurdlers that working people/children can't see live on the tv. You want CH to be seen if you want interest in the sport.

And in the case of the Ebor many are on /could take their holidays and children are off school.

If Night Nurse,Monksfield,Sea Pigeon and Constitution Hill met at their best here,I'm not sure who I'd be backing...as regards the Ebor the ones I remember best took place on the Wednesday..

Totally agree with both of you about the ebor like lead on I only remember the Wednesday ebor winners.

Regarding the champion hurdle my heart says sea pigeon my head night nurse.

Hi Jimnast.Totally agree with those sentiments I missed seeing my favourite hurdler Sea Pigeon live. Not going to make the same mistake thursday.
Im convinced hes as good if not better than the greats ,but will never be able to prove it to the nae sayers.

geoff I go back as far as Persian War. He's better than anything I've seen. Sea Pigeon on quick ground would get somewhere near but this horse is so quick over the hurdles. If there was time travel the bookies would make CH fav that's for sure.

Arkle and Night Nurse were not the quickest horses but they are the fastest I have seen over fences and hurdles respectively...until this one. And I would be very confident CH is a faster horse than NN.

Sea Pigeon is one of the dual-discipline greats without question and we all love him, but unless i'm mistaken, in 6 races where Monksfield was a rival, never beat him.

I was a massive fan of Night Nurse and until CH came along i didn't think he would ever be toppled as best hurdler by Timeform. I'm not going to start blowing the GOAT trumpet yet, but CH certainly has the potential to be, although it may take another couple of years to be considered as such. He will not be beaten over hurdles in a clean race, i'm convinced of it.

Not by the current opposition, that's for sure.

Andrew

He did beat monksfield in his first champion hurdle win,many blame the change in distance.

Hello Geoff

He will put quite of few on the crowd Thursday unlikely to have been as much appreciated on the Saturday.

He would have beaten him the previous year if Jonjo hadn't made a complete horlicks of it.

I get the feeling Thursday might be the last time we see him over hurdlers in the uk

Wouldn't disagree with that Ribero but while NN and M were hardly mudlarks  Sea Pigeon rarely got his ideal ground over hurdles in those days before better drainage.

Afternoon Laurie,

Agreed for 2023, but the Supreme and Ballymore winners looked very decent this year although whether they are good enough to beat CH in 2024 is another story and will they meet over hurdles anyway. State Man will probably be winning anywhere CH isn't running, so the Cheltenham 2022/2023 form of CH will certainly stand up.

I wouldn't even school him over fences if he was mine. But I'm more of a flat & hurdle racing man.

Thanks for the correction Jimnast.

Hello Andrew

I thought the ballymore winner was different class than the supreme winner perhaps they will race each other at some stage.

Hi Andrew, I admire your predictions. It will be interesting to see if they stand the test of time. What I do know is that State Man won the County Hurdle at Cheltenham last season and only one horse has won the Champion Hurdle having won the County the previous year since the war. The reason could be that SM is a fluke or the opposition at the moment is limited. I am prepared to reserve my judgement until there are a few more miles on the clock. It will be great if CH goes chasing but I had hoped he would take on the younger horses in the CH next season beforehand.

Jimnast/Laurie,

It would be something to savor if the 2 pre-mentioned met CH over hurdles in 2024, but how many will go chasing. Irrespective of whatever opposition he meets over hurdles, i feel CH is in a class of his own and beyond anything we know today. I never like to use the term 'freak' when describing racehorses, but in years to come i sense others will use it.