Is Old Park Star a superstar.

Personally I think so.

You are too obvious Newmeercat, if he wins you claim even Nico could not get it beaten and if he loses you claim your usual drivel of Nico being at fault?

I am not certain the sharp Track will suit but if it gets beat you will get to blame Nico for a change

10/11 short enough imo

Hurricane Pat laughed at Old Park Star in a bumper so might have too much speed on this track. Hard to back against OPS but HP looks better value. I look forward to seeing OPS over a fence as he looks another good chaser in the making for Henderson.

v impressive but allowed to walk the dog in front...fill your boots laying that in march

The second beat him five lengths in their introductory bumper.

I suspect that it might have improved a tad,Honcho

he's improved bundles for leaving pumpkin

Or,simply matured,wonders

Very impressive, particularly as you would think a stiffer track would suit better.

Very very good. 3's is correct

Beat nothing

Could easily have been mistaken for you know who.

Well done Betty!  And Jones again.

Jan 17, 2026 -- 1:34PM, uptheirons wrote:

Or,simply matured,wonders

if a 3-4yo hurdler fair counter but not at 6yo

pumpkin 3 runs 107,107,104 RPRs
hendo 3 runs 126,143 & today's run

been at hendo's since late july

For me sometimes the manner and style of winning overrides what they beat.

thought the last 2 furlongs were impressive, u have to still have questions about how a hotter race would pan out where the pressure is on much earlier

Comparing bumper race ratings to hurdles

time figure more important cant go off form in UK as most races lack depth

^loyal

I didn’t compare, I merely pointed out.  Don’t be so stupid.

?

I'd have thought he would be better suited to being able to follow a good gallop, elise. Supreme looks like a likely perfect set up to me.

I can't see him getting beat in the Supreme. Had a few quid antepost at 6s & 7s.

When I see a good performance/s from a young horse who is now showing real promise I always look back at how they started out.  Who knows, I might learn something.  This one has clearly been brought along quite beautifully.  That was my point really.

wsb is usually on the ball but comparing bumper form to hurdles is plain daft. there is a thin correlation but you'd have to have seen him over jumps to have put it down to the trainer switch.

id agree with you cider but you always needs to see it and until you do it's the question, just not tested early but otherwise did what was asked

LoyalHoncho - very good point and interestingly I believe he was 6/1 in his first start for Henderson so clearly the dogs weren't barking and I think the yard didn't know what they potentially had until then. Credit where credit is due - great job from Nicky so far.

When you watch racing as much as we have you get a good instinct don't you. I can just see him swinging down the hill there, looks made for him.

Short as 2/1 with Crookes.

EC looks special as well, mind.

Jan 17, 2026 -- 2:00PM, Cider wrote:

wsb is usually on the ball but comparing bumper form to hurdles is plain daft. there is a thin correlation but you'd have to have seen him over jumps to have put it down to the trainer switch.

and you'd also have to be looking at old park star within a vacuum where no other horses have moved from pumpkins & improved greatly

sure might do, i guess we'll see what the irish throw at him but obviously has a chance and henderson has clearly got a handle on what's needed

this horse took money twice in its last 2 bumpers I'd say they've always known its had an engine

you wouldn't have seen this form produced with pumpkin imo but that's subjective

enjoyed that peter marsh

would be a dull game if people agreed on everything

and you'd also have to be looking at old park star within a vacuum where no other horses have moved from pumpkins & improved greatly


you're comparing apples and eggs to make the point. maybe he has improved for the switch but you can't conclude that from comparing bumper ratings to hurdling ones.

I think you might have. Paul backed him himself (when already with nicky) last time out as he thought he was a certainty. Still has the Mullins army to beat.

I would have enjoyed the Peter Marsh if Myretown had a jockey on. I thought they might have learned their lesson with Ahoy Senor.

So are you saying NH improved the horse by over 20lb in a few weeks wonders? Even he is not that much of a genius imvho! OR 142 btw not RPR.

Great to see Hobbs and Johnson White win a big pot though. They are having a very good season but that is the first £50k prize so far. And owned by their old mucker Richard Johnson.

You delighted with the Hobbs winner sage.  I know you’ve followed their resurgence this season.

Answered as I one-finger typed! 

maybe he has improved for the switch but you can't conclude that from comparing bumper ratings to hurdling ones

how else are you doing it cider?

has he improved iyo?

There's no numerical method to demonstrate it. Not a plausible one. He has improved, but thousands of horses have improved for a hurdle. Thousands more improve for a fence.

so we just take your word for it?

So many don’t though Cider.  He was clearly a big baby with little hard training in the c.v. first time out.

There's no logic to what you are doing, like 95% (the vast majority) of horses will achieve a higher rating over hurdles and/or fences than bumpers. You're entitled to believe that he has improved solely due to moving yards, but the ratings don't prove it.

Cider,the man who is never wrong
What difference does it make?
The horse is top class

You're getting there irons ;)

Yes LH. I get frustrated how many times their handicappers finish second third or fourth but today was the day. And they still have Captain Hugo and Sober Glory who have yet to aim for bigger prizes. Still backed Myretown today though and he would have won had he jumped the third last as well as he jumped the rest.

right now we are getting somewhere

like 95% (the vast majority) of horses will achieve a higher rating over hurdles and/or fences than bumpers

so there's natural progression, improvement has a mean & sd
care to suggest (guess) if 19lb from 1st run is above or below that line, similarly 36lb for 2nd run
and how many sd's that is above the mean?

Jan 17, 2026 -- 2:11PM, sageform wrote:

I would have enjoyed the Peter Marsh if Myretown had a jockey on. I thought they might have learned their lesson with Ahoy Senor.

Scuadmore runners, romanticism

'Our Lad escaped this morning but wS quickly discovered grazing out the farmer next door and we're sorry'

'Plus he took himself out for a beer last Wednesday, but seems in very good form for today'

not really. for me bumpers are generally a throw out. it gives us an indication, that's about it. the different trainers approach them a lot differently, obviously in Ireland they are taken much more seriously. Nicholls doesn't have a record of prepping horses hard for bumpers, they are just used for development, typically. He does run the odd decent one in the festival bumper, not often getting close to winning.

I suppose it is a little curious that he ran OPS in three bumpers. Perhaps the owners were getting frustrated/impatient.

so you don't know

not really

I do know translating bumper form to hurdle form is likely to be futile. Perhaps it would be plausible for the same trainer. But not everything is worth trying to quantify.

Everything is speculative.  How often have we seen an inferior ( on ratings ) hurdler beat a better hurdler when they go chasing.
Bumper form is useful as far as I am concerned but would never back any debutant hurdler on its bumper form.

I take your point LH but I would still back a Cheltenham bumper winner over a ptp winner over hurdles at evens each of two. It is the same with flat ratings over hurdles. It often doesn't work out but in the absence of any other information I would back the one with the highest flat OR every time.

5/2 looks too short, I thought he looked like more of a stayer, EC is going to be a much quicker horse IMO, but the Supreme can suit the stayer at a strong pace but he'll need to get EC at it I reckon.

That was very very impressive, considering bumper form re the 2nd, only 1 can get near imo but not sure it runs in race, up to Mr  Mullins

Duffy.
Why do you fancy El Cairos?
One run over hurdles. Which was a maiden hurdle against two very average horses. In the process of recording a very slow time figure to boot.
He must be the worst priced horse of the meeting as it stands.

El Cairos has untapped potential as it got a series of poor rides under its former owner Amateur Rider Mr D Maxwell so is relatively unexposed.

Horse looked an absolute athlete , could see him as a future chaser and it makes the Supreme a great starter in March .

reminded me of altior a bit tbh  but old park looks to have stamina in the tank as well as speed so could be a superstar

I did think about having a wager on him after his 1st win, but Hendo hinted he'd be suited further. No value now at 11/4. However, he'd be another Vautour.

Two months away,Mullins battalians yet to be unleashed,non runner and you do your money.
Where do I sign up?
Wait for the day,imo.

i wouldnt be a backer for the supreme and it unlikly it will ever be a price that will interest me in the near future ,it will make the market  for bigger priced pokes tho ,

its^

Literally nobody is recommending backing OPS for the supreme on the thread. UTI arguing with thin air again.

The irony of Cider's post

Deserves to be the favourite of the GB runners but which is the best of the Irish? Plenty of unbeaten horses in there. I would back Sober at the current prices but too early to second guess which one Willie and Paul think is the best.

In all his runs has raced up with the pace in no more than ten runner races.  Only eleven went last year.  The Supreme is usually run at a searching pace so the start will be important.
Their record at Festivals is not flawless.  Starters that is. Let’s hope they get the Festival off to an efficient start and give the horse a fair chance.

Altior and Shishkin were virtually flawless. At 11/4, and with several formidable challenges from Ireland, he's not for me. I'd rather back Sir Gino for winning the Champion Hurdle (2026) and Champion Chase (2027).

No, as time will tell

RPR from the weekend 152.
High 150's- 160 normally required to win a Supreme.
Not sure he needed to have such a hard race at this stage.

He didn't have a hard race Johann.It coasted home and was never shown the stick.
The time was 17L faster than the 134 rated Brentford Hope put up in the race before.
A good blowout which should put him spot on for the Supreme where it will take some stopping contrary to the view of the certifiable Eggandchips

The Irish will be tuned to the minute it’s all they live for…..total domination…

Apart from the gold cup which will be won with a point to point rider on board.Imo.

We shall see.
They certainly didn't dominate when Constitution Hill routed them by 22L,did they

Hopefully your assessment of the race is correct.
It felt like he wasn't able to get a breather in, and asked him to lengthen from the bend, which is still a fair way out at Haydock.
I can understand the argument for asking the horse so that he learns what to do for the future, but I would still rather have seen him win 5 lengths on the bridle.
Still, the best prospect on these shores and hopefully WPM doesn't have anything better this year!

Your ludicrous remarks about the jockey merely confirm that you are an imbecile,Aceform

I should also have added,non betting,thread hijacker

Thread hijacker lol,I’m entitled to my opinion….mind you there are threads I wouldn’t p on

Thread hijacker lol,I’m entitled to my opinion….mind you there are threads I wouldn’t p on

Any poster that states Nico is a PTP Rider deserves all he gets.
Do you actually bet?

I do bet most days…..

Not high stakes like yourself,a big pro player…..

My current stakes are between £10 - £100…..

Certain to grow as the year progresses tbh….

Retired you see,financially comfortable……

I’ll let you see my spreadsheet one day……I’ll post the link ……give you a cheap O…..

I have never judged a punter on the amount that he bets.
Many years ago Jenny Pitman had an owner called Stan Payne and when he had £50 on it was virtually weighed in.
I have known punters who regularly bet in increments of £10,000 and £20,000 whose opinion I do not value

The horse is now rated 153p by Timeform, one point lower than last year’s winner Kopek De Bordes was when he lined up for the Supreme.
The mean winning Timeform rating of winners of the race over the last ten years is 158.