2024 Champion Hurdle

Elisjohn.

The best festival  without  any doubt  is the Royal meeting.

I'd suggest that's more of a preferential choice between jumps and flat Ronnie , my fav flat festival is Royal Ascot but would put in behind all the jumps festivals.


Hope your health has improved     

Hopefully State Man makes the gig. Otherwise will go down probably the worst champion in living memory ( may still do even if he makes it). A bunch of hopefuls who really should be in the county hurdle except Irish Point who should be in the stayers, fighting out for place prize money.

Lossiemouth looks exceptional mare and the way things are going will be re-routed to the big one. Interesting.

Hayden
My health is a lot better than my wealth thank you.
Sat here with a very large glass of a very nice Merlot thinking about the festival can still remember the first winner i backed there Meladon.  said to myself many times this is the greatest meeting in the world know i say to myself it USED to be the greatest meeting in the world even this year i can see about the foxhunters having about a dozen runners.What an earth has gone wrong .
Had some great times there but sad to say wont be going back for the festival but looking forward to the April meeting.
Hope you are well.

R

as i'm sure ive banged on about before , we are now  cramming a 6 month season into 2 months and basically 3 meetings at most with one being a total stranglehold  . couple that with only a few stables having all the firepower and seemingly every opportunity to avoid gr1 horses with ease .  . not very inviting really  is it ? ...i do wonder if there will be so much interest in jumping in 5 years time . grass roots uk ptp is virtually dead .

Market suggest not TMM. Pushed out to 40 on here this evening.

Ronnie. Was my first ever visit to Cheltenham.
Gold Cup  day when Meladon won the Triumph and Davy Lad the Gold Cup .Lanzarote tragically fell and was killed.

Geoff.
Looking by this the same owners Gaelic Warrior will be going
Hope you are well.
Ronnie.

well, Windsor and Ronnie, I am with you on this. I wonder whether it is age but , watching RTV tonight, and seeing some of the great races, I am not so sure. In the days, you could get out alive with 2 well placed and staked bets. Now , you could have 3 winners each day and lose money. I have been NH racing so  few times this and last season. Time was I would not miss a single saturday and often take annual leave to go midweek. I can see myself ditching the Fez (at least going 4 days) soon. What makes it worse is the ludicrous promotion of the meeting on the media when they know full well it isn't as good. Keep well Ronnie. I've had some bad news myself recently which means a large part of the flat season may be watched on the telly. Age eh! I suppose if Fact to File wins (@ 16/1!!) all will be better, especially a few bottles of decent pinot noir. All the best

First was early 70s and then had a break until became annual member for 15 years before packing it in after the first 4 day festival . Still find it equally riveting and far more profitable doing it at home with the aid of betfair prices . Ante post book is nothing special this year but look forward to digging around the handicaps . Always record and watch from middle of afternoon with a few libations , usually doing dough live on the last race or two .

ronnie your book looking heathier now !

I couldn’t agree more. 
Agree with you Hayden, sorry Ronnie, but for me NH always before the flat, but Ascot best of the whippet racing. Though last year at Ascot the amount of scruffy pikies in the enclosure made me think it’s gone to the dogs as well.

Always loved going to Chelts but it’s not a patch on what it used to be and I won’t be going this year.
Too full of corporate plebs who aren’t interested in the racing and just want to get as drunk as possible. What’s the Bentley area for ? It’s meant to be the home of NH racing, not trying to attract more influencers and made in Essex types,
plus the racing is not what it used to be.  Small fields and odds on favs, uncompetitive fayre compared to meets of yesteryear. 

Wasn’t that long ago when we had races like the Moscow flyer.  Now all hype and very little substance compared to what it used to be

Don’t get me wrong, but I’ll enjoy it far more watching at home with smoked salmon hors d’ouevres  and nice glass of wine,
  I will feel like a winner not having to battle the traffic getting in and out of the course .

I think the same but it`s just nostalgia mate.

Youngs uns watching now will think the same in 30-40 years saying:

.... Wasn’t that long ago when we had races likes of State Man and Galopin de Champs.  Now all hype and very little substance compared to what it used to be.

Foyles.
Regarding the book still not looking good .
the bogeys

the mares novice hurdle fav laid at12\1
the stayers fav laid at 12/1
the champion chase fav laid at evens
the mares fav laid at odds against.
and plenty more.
anybody want to go halves.

Foyles
Add to that the 6  50s I have laid the Ballymore  fav.have a good day off to the opticians.more bloody  cash.
Just hope I am not off to ocean finance  next week.

jeez ronnie im feeling uncomfortable and its not my money on the line ........fingers crossed for ya and the ground may help a bit later in the week but obviously youll need the gods on your side!

Ronnie, I misread on earlier threads that you were talking about your shop liabilities, not your own personal ones!
You'd be over the moon now if you'd got those prices as a backer!
That's why I don't generally lay, I've got a backers mentality

You could end up getting away with all the lays, although I suspect at this point in time you'd be happy with only paying out on 1 or 2?

Good luck anyway

I think you'd have a hard job to beat Katchit or Flakey Dove for the worst ever winner...in my memory anyway..

Lead on I backed Katchit as I did when he won the Triumph Hurdle

But I seemed to remember him being kept being run long after he should have been retired, way past his best, unless my memory is playing tricks
So, would have to agree that he certainly wasn't one of the best winners

sorry chaps. The site I looked at was pessimistic but it has changed now. The jetstream forecast suggests decent weather for the week. Apologies