Minsk Triumph Hurdle ?????

200k  would  look a good investment now esp for a improving 3yo .i agree with what you say, and was thinking about it myself, defo looks like being aimed at the race (also prob will go back to oxx next summer).  but, what price do you think he  could go off at? hardly single figures, and a lot of variables involved.

I would find it hard to back any horse yet jump a hurdle/fence for a Cheltenham novice race at this stage.

he may need further than 2m over hurdles

I think he is right and as well the top rated flat animal has a good record in the triumph and seeing as he is now rated as 108 on flat don't think there will be many more higher rated come march if of course he likes hurdling etc etc, have backed him at 16/1

Indeed a very shrewd buy from Connell but I'm with Prospero, at such an early stage I would too find it hard to back any horse for a race at Cheltenham that has yet to jump a hurdle.

flat ratings arent worth a hoot over hurdles, just like hurdles ratings dont matter a sh1t over fences, take my username as an example triumph hurdle betting now is a terrible idea i think, for all that this horse is very promising!!

like i said at the start lads talking about a horse to win at cheltenham that hasn t seen a hurdle is ludacrist ...... but in this case i m basing it on taking a risk that it could be very good value come the day and that he is gone to a top class NH trainer who i feel if he can t get him to jump a hurdle nobody will ..... as limestone said he s now rated 108 , who knows he mighn t have stopped improving on the flat and might be better than that ....i doubt there will be much higher rated 3 year olds either side of the irish sea  going hurdling this season .

I also looked at the prices of the last 6 winners of the Triumph and gone seems to be the days of big price winners ..........the biggest price winner in the last 6 years was Zarkander last year at only 13/2
Only worry is that they do what that other inmate from oxx s did last year ......stop him through the winter and end up in march in what Arther Moore described as the best handicapped horse he ever had !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mick, since the inception of the Fred Winter, most of the lower rated horses go for that, and you are correct the triumph is now a punter friendly race with the winner the past 6 years coming from the first 3 in the sp betting.

Dinglemick i think your post is excellent and well thought out,anybody on the Curragh Sunday would rate him higher than 108 such was the ease of his victory,there is one caveat he might go for a longer distance race at Cheltenham,the 4 year olds get a decent allowance.

very true wildman and a lot of the time the good two milers on the flat need 2 1/2 - 3 mile over hurdles but i think connections will try keep their dream of having maybe a future champion hurdler on their hands alive and go down the 2 mile root this season ....
At the end of the day who knows there are so much variables needed for things to work out over hurdles .
revedesivola is also right   the best flat ones often don t make the grade over hurdles look at all the ballydoyle castoffs that ended up yokes over hurdles !!!!
And katchit i think he was rated something like only 60 on the flat

One thing you have in your favour with backing Minsk is that Oxx trained him on the flat and is unlikely to have gotten to the bottom of him; the same couldn't be said about flat horses coming from other top yards.

I was going to say the same thing wildman, how would an Albert Bartlett field get this lad off the bridle, I'd be dissapointed if he went for that tbh, but the Neptune looks ideal. Binocular did the Supreme as a juvinile. The thing is though that Dessie and Barry haven't had loads of Cheltenham winners, the might just get him right for the easiest race, the Fred Winter, I'd be fairly disgusted if they did that with this horse and I don't know would they get away with it with the high profile of this fellow. He'd have gone well in the Cadran.

Doubt very much that Barry Connell gave 200k for the horse to line him up for the Fred Winter. Given that Dessie Hughes ran Hardy Eustace in the 05 Champion when he looked thrown in the Coral Cup, id imagine he'd be aiming for a championship race at Cheltenham.