Cheltenham 2018

Fayonagh .

Have to go back to a horse named Sky Pink ( Fred Winter aboard 100/8 ) to remember seeing a horse win from so far back at Cheltenham , and win going away .

On an overall note I counted up all my bets at Cheltenham , with the bookies that is , leaving out those I traded internally within Betfair / Daq . 44 in total with the bookies .

Nearly all of these bets were before 1.00 pm , in not ONE case did the returned SP exceed the price I backed at . The Betfair SP's however in some cases did , but not one of the bookies SP's . Proves once again to me that the bookies are ripping off the punters big time  , artificially keeping returned SP's to as little as they can get away with .

One of those was Presenting Percy , it was 12/1 for 15 mins in Billys shops , drifted out to 18.5 on Betfair near the off , but never showed at more than 12/1 with the bookies despite that drift , and was returned at 11/1 . No doubt some bookies ( on course probably) backed it on here at the bigger price while laying away at the 12/1 and 11/1 they had on their boards . Good business for them , no value for the punters .

Djakadam will probably stick to 3 miles max in future , wouldn't beat his Ryanair winning stable mate Un De Sceaux at any distance below that in my book .

PS , the antepost markets should carry a government warning which says betting thus must be restricted to those with accredited insider information . Occasionally for a bit of fun , not for serious non insider backers .

Agreed on both points Kelly.
Fayonagh post is very similar to a post from a guy called "cyclops" when he said he was in love with don  cossack after a Irish bumper win 2012.
Can Fayonagh reach those dizzying heights?

Sp is the same daily noticing every race , the betting percentage increases from opening show and generally early prices re 10am are better than sp.
The earlys overnight and pre 10am are tighter

the grand national prices are the worst of all.from  oddschecker prices at 9am to sp its usually at least 20% which really is a scandal.the once a year/casual punter gets ripped off but i suppose they will argue they dont know the difference.

Is it fair to say that a grade1 winner at the festival was campaigned over the last 2 years to suit the trainer and rider and not the owner.More i look at it its so obvious.Say the owners have little or no say in this yard.Nice,pay for everything and have no say.

Which horse are you referring to? I assume it's a Closutton rep.

It can't be UDS as won the Arkle 2 years ago, one could suggest that he could have ran in the Ryanair last year but wouldn't have beaten Vauotur.

Perhaps you're suggesting Nichols Canyon should have ran in the AB and then stayers but don't see the conspiracy theory there.

Or is it Yorkhill should have ran in the supreme and then the champion hurdle. I am not sure he would have beaten Altior in the supreme.

Altior/Yorkhill would have won the champion hurdle this year in my view, a champion up (down) there for standards with the likes of Katchit/Sublimity.

The standard of the 4 championship races and novice hurdles was as poor as has been in recent memory.

Maybe artic fire will get his time in the sun this time with the others been injured, that was some effort off top weight.
Perhaps compensation awaits at aintree where he was desperately unlucky when hitting the deck at the last 2 years ago

By purpose its fair to say that the owners you refer to are more than happy with their lot and its most unlikely that they'd win more with another trainer. UDS has won close to 1M pounds sterling. Won an Arkle in 2016 found wanting in 2017 in the Ch Chase and won the Ryanair this year. Hindsight says he probably would have won the Ch Chase this year but I'm sure the owners were more than happy to go the Ryanair route.

He'd have won the champion hurdle on the staff too

*snaff even

I don't think UDS would have got near any of the previous 2 champion hurdle winners - Faugheen/Annie Power.

Connections have attained the maximum out of his ability, he is vulnerable over 2 miles on good ground as a post injury Sprinter Sacre showed last year. He hardly ran away with a poor Ryanair this year either. He's very good over the minimum with some give but needs a trip on good ground. Decent horse but not in the same league as Faugheen/AP in their pomp.

I agree with dj he would never have won those ch hurdles. UDS is all about the ground.

Connections of UDS would have no gripe as it wasn't really forseeable that Douvan would do what he did.

Prior to the Champion, I would have said that Wylie might have been entitled to wonder whether Yorkhill should be back over flights but I think he had already debuted over fences when Annie and Faugheen were ruled out. Faugheen is probably a generational talent & Annie isn't a million miles off one & defending champ so I why he went the way he did. The owner also had Nicholls Canyon.

I love to complain about a good owner rinsing but this probably ain't it!

Without wishing to annoy I had my best ever Cheltenham.
I was helped by the excellent contributions of Pa Lapsy and CheltenhamRoar.

It was Pa Lapsy that drew the forums attention to Fayonagh,he also first nominated Labaik as a bet in the first race when there was a bit of 50s.

CheltenhamRoar also contributed on Labaik but his post on Douvan surely sowed seeds of doubt among the money buyers.
He also insisted that Sizing John would stay.

I went to Cheltenham on Friday backed Pacha Du Polder but didnt enjoy the day at all.
Pacha Du Polder should have won last year with Victoria Pendelton riding,Bryony Frost ( born to it ) made some difference.
Its more than likely an age thing but that was just pure uncomfortable,crowd way too big.
Oh to be young.

Good stuff wildman, always great when an opinion is rewarding. I too had a very profitable Cheltenham, which makes a change!
Enjoy the winnings.