The Horse racing thread

[beer baron]

Southwell 4.40-way west worth having a second look at

[Catch the high ball]

Hell of a shock there at Kelso. If you thought the Champion Hurdle was wide open, it certainly is now with that performance like that. Geraghty was reaching for the whip 2 out. Go Native all the way, would love to see them pick up the £1 million bonus.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Don't go getting any ideas now Philip after the events up at Kelso. That has me worried.

Just goes to show how poor the 4yos were last year. Mourad, Jumbo Rio or Ebadiyan have only won a few egg and spoon races between them and Walkon hasn't even run since Liverpool last April. I think we'll take the Champion Hurdle this year with either Go Native or Solwhit. Just hope its not Dunguib now with the arse falling out of the Henderson challenge - wouldn't surprise me if Punjabi gets beat at Wincanton on Saturday too.

[Hardy]

I know it's not right to crow after the event, but I have to tell someone - I just laid Zaynar in running at 1.07. Cheltenham bank in place!

[Declan]

Get out and do some real work Hardy Fair play

[Donnellys Hollow]

 

What clown took that price off you Hardy?! I thought Barry never looked happy with him. He was giving him a squeeze and a slap down the shoulder four or five out.

[Hardy]

He was 1.08 at the start. I just stuck him in at 1.07, reckoning that even if he walked to the first hurdle he'd come in a little more. 1/14 is a ridiculous price on any horse in any jump race and especially in a race like this, which was effectively a training run, feck all prize money at stake and no skin off anyone's nose if he lost, other than a better price for the Champion Hurdle.

[Treasurer]

Hell of a shock there at Kelso. If you thought the Champion Hurdle was wide open, it certainly is now with that performance like that. Geraghty was reaching for the whip 2 out. Go Native all the way, would love to see them pick up the £1 million bonus.

I sure hope so!! In to 4/1 now with PP.

[charlieTully]

Southwell 4.40-way west worth having a second look at

beer baron

[charlieTully]

need rossbeigh in the next at clonmell for a saviour, terrible couple of days.

[Mickey Linden]

The champion hurdle has turned into some puzzle this year. Think I might have a sneaky each way bet on Celestial Halo and leave it at that. As Donnelly says I just hope Fenton doesnt get ideas with Dunguib!

[Hardy]

The champion hurdle has turned into some puzzle this year. Think I might have a sneaky each way bet on Celestial Halo and leave it at that. As Donnelly says I just hope Fenton doesnt get ideas with Dunguib!

I hope the opposite, from a selfish point of view, though I gather it would be a disaster for DH and yourself. I had a small bet at 42, just in case. I suppose I swallowed the bookies' hype, but you'd be very annoyed if you could have taken 42 and didn't. He's 16 now. Not a big enough bet to bother trading out, though.

You'd imagine Fenton has to be looking at the opposition and thinking there's no reason to fear taking them on.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Mikael D'Haguenet entered up at Fairyhouse next Wednesday in a beginners chase 

[Donnellys Hollow]

Philip Fenton blog - posted at 4:32pm 18 FEB 2010

It just isn't going to plan

DON'T worry, it's not Dunguib's plan I'm talking about, it's poor old Nicky Henderson's Champion Hurdle chances. What about Zaynar at Kelso? Beaten at 1-14 and, you know,he was labouring coming up to the second-last.

After last year's Cheltenham Festival the team must have been rubbing their hands thinking they had three real chances for this year's Champion Hurdle in the 2009 winner Punjabi, third-placed Binocular and Triumph Hurdle star Zaynar.

Now, sadly, Binocular is out of it and that run at Kelso from Zaynar can hardly fill them with confidence (although the ground was deplorable up there). Still, Punjabi is a very, very goodhorse and I'd be more than happy with just him, so all is not lost.

I was talking to Simon Claisse at Cheltenham the other morning about the ground and he said that the cold spells have left the track with very little growth and the grass is more brown than green.

With a month to recover, this should hopefully be okay come Festival time and, with the meeting being a bit later than last year, the ground might even be good.

Dunguib began riding out again on Monday and has been cantering the last few days. He is fresh and well, thank God, and will probably have a first school back next Thursday.

All he'll do is pop over three flights, although I've a feeling his jumping is not as big a concern as it looked at Leopardstown - he was maybe just too relaxed.

What is a concern is the preliminaries, as he has always been highly strung, so we've discussed putting ear plugs in - probably when he's saddled - and taking them out down at the start to help keep him calm with all the noise that'll be around. The atmosphere for the first race on the first day is very different to that of the last race on the second.

Away from Dunguib, the rest of the team is coasting along nicely, but the past two trips to the track have produced more headaches than joy with Gusda falling on Wednesday and Nova Sila falling at the first in the first race at Clonmel today.

The form of the rest of the string has yet to have a bearing on Dunguib's running, but there's a first time for everything, so I'd really like the others to pull their fingers out in the next few weeks.

Old Charm is one who particularly needs to step up, because if he wins at Naas on Sunday he'll be entrusted with the very important job of defending our Champion Bumper crown.

http://www.racingpost.com/blog/horse-racing/philip-fenton/it-just-isnt-going-to-plan/683539/


First day. First race. Keep up that kind of talk!

Surprised he didn't have anything to say about Johnny Francome thinking the horse had sore shins on last Saturday's Morning Line.

[beer baron]

my apologies charlie-that was apparently a horse the jockey said would win on the bridle