2013 Champion Hurdle

[Statto]

Peddler X back in the mix

Another fascinating contender in line for the Fighting Fifth is the Donald McCain-trained Supreme Novices' Hurdle hero Cinders And Ashes.

McCain said: "He's good - I'm very happy with him. We're aiming for the Fighting Fifth at the moment, but we're a long way off there yet. It's early days, but he's in good nick."

A return to hurdling beckons for 2011 Champion runner-up Peddlers Cross following a mixed season novice chasing last term.

McCain went on: "He's going back over hurdles and I'd say we'd probably start him off in the Ascot Hurdle over two and a half miles. That's where we're going at this stage. It's all good with him at the moment.".

O

[Hoof]

Go Native entered on flat at navan on Wednesday

[ABU]

Charles Byrnes has said he was stunned by the disappointing showing from Trifolium at Punchestown last week.
The Supreme Novice Hurdle third, was sent off the 8/15 favourite to score on his seasonal debut in the Grade 3 Ryan's Cleaning Events Specialists Hurdle at Punchestown last Thursday but he trailed home thirty-two lengths second to Miley Shah.

Byrnes said after the success of Moscow Chief in the bumper at Tipperary this afternoon: "We were stunned by his run and Davy (Russell) said that he was beaten after the first hurdle.

“He has undergone a wind operation since but won’t be out for too long as it was only a small operation.”

[Sprinter]

Sean Boyce for ATR Jumps site

Despite Hurricane Fly running a fair third in last year’s Champion Hurdle and winning his final start in a Grade 1 at Punchestown the jury is out now on Willie Mullins star hurdler. Getting the horse to switch off had been a worry in the past and now getting the spark back seems to be the problem. He’s around 5/1 which is going to look pretty big if he does rediscover his old zip but the percentage call in such cases is to wait and see.

Simonsig is proven at the highest level as a novice at both Aintree and Cheltenham over trips of around two and a half miles. I wouldn’t be at all concerned to see him drop back to two miles as he has speed to burn and Champion Hurdlers are very often proven stayers over farther. The temptation to go chasing may prove hard to resist though as he clearly has a future in that sphere and early reports suggest that might be the plan.

Rock on Ruby will now be trained now by Harry Fry who received a lot of plaudits for his part in his preparation for winning last year’s Champion Hurdle. As the reigning champ he deserves plenty of respect but there is a lingering suspicion that Noel Fehily pinched the race from under the noses of the riders on the bigger guns in the race last year. That might not be fair but certainly it seems likely to me at any rate that he may find one or two too good for him this time around.

Currently a double figure price for the race GRANDOUET seems value. The price makes him interesting given that he was 5/1 second favourite before Christmas for the 2012 Champion Hurdle. An injured joint ruled him out of both Cheltenham and Aintree. If he’s back in one piece and makes a good reappearance then he can be expected to shorten right up from current quotes of around 12/1. It’s always a big ‘if’ when a horse is coming back from injury but Nicky Henderson seems confident that they have the horse back in one piece and at a double figure price I’m happy to take a chance that the ability is still there.

Cinders and Ashes' form was on soft prior to his Supreme Novices' Hurdle win at last year’s festival but trainer Donald McCain told anyone who would listen the horse would be better on a sounder surface. In that respect his Supreme win was no surprise and he could easily be the real deal this year. I’m a huge fan of Donald McCain as a trainer but less of a fan of the Supreme as a route for future Champion Hurdlers so, reluctantly, I’m leaving him out for now.

I spoke to Paul Nicholls at Cheltenham a few times during the Festival last season and he made no secret of the fact that ZARKANDAR had been more badly effected than any of his other Champion Hurdle runners by the cough that blighted his yard at that time. Given the yard won the race with Rock on Ruby it seems perverse to argue that Zarkandar is the horse to be with this year but I feel that he is. He lost his place during the Champion Hurdle last year only to stay on again strongly late on and was just a head behind Binocular at the line. I was surprised to see him go to Aintree afterwards and he fell too early to know how he would have fared. But a year older and a little stronger he will be a mighty force this season and makes lots of ante post appeal at this stage.

Alan King has been remarkably bullish about Grumeti in both his comments and his campaigning of this horse and he has answered every challenge thrown at him so far. He is a huge talent but he’s still a baby and I do think it’s very hard for a five year old to thrive in the Champion.

Fences didn’t work out for Peddlers Cross last year making a return to hurdles a formality. He could be a real force to be reckoned with but I’d need to see him at least once before taking that chance. It’s possible the light isn’t burning so brightly as it once was for whatever reason.

I included this remarkable grey, Thousand Stars, as an ante post bet for the Champion last year and I remain a huge fan. I’d be tempted to back him again but the possibility that he will go chasing is a real one so I’ll sit tight for now.

In summing up our Champion Hurdle portfolio the first pick will be Zarkandar. Paul Nicholls was talking of winning a Champion Hurdle with this horse almost as soon as he had him in training and there is no doubt that the wheels came off during his preparation last season. A clearer run will see him emerge as a major player in this division this year.

Nicky Henderson's Grandouet is also interesting but I’m anxious to see him make a good comeback run but assuming he does he’ll be amongst the favourites thereafter.
Sean's Advised Bets
Champion Hurdle (Cheltenham, Tuesday 12 March)

1pt win Grandouet (12-1 general)
2pts win Zarkandar (14-1 William Hill)

[Sprinter]

HARRY FRY, who trained his first ever winner at Exeter on Tuesday, issued a positive bulletin on stable star and reigning Champion Hurdler Rock On Ruby.

Speaking after the success of Highland Retreat, he said: "I realise how lucky I am to have Rock On Ruby at this stage of my career.

"He is coming along well and should be ready to run at the end of November or the beginning of December. His jockey Noel Fehily came down to school him this morning for the first time and couldn't have been happier with him".

[Lester]

We will keep track of main build up races on the fatjockey youtube channel Champion Hurdle Video form playlist.

[Hoof]

Champion Hurdle
11-2 Hurricane Fly (Stan James, William Hill)
8-1 Zarkandar (general)
9-1 Rock On Ruby (9-1, sportingbet, Stan James
10-1 Darlan (general)
12-1 Cinders And Ashes (general), Grandouet (general)
14-1 Simonsig (sportingbet, Stan James)
20-1 Go Native (totesport, Betfred, Paddy Power)
25-1 Binocular (Stan James; 33-1, Betfair), Grumeti (general; 41-1, Betfair), Oscar Whisky (sportingbet, Stan James, William Hill; 45-1, Betfair), Peddlers Cross (general; 56-1, Betfair
33-1 Cotton Mill (bet365, BetVictor, Stan James; 47-1, Betfair), Raya Star (BetVictor, Stan James; 94-1, Betfair), Get Me Out Of Here (33-1, BetVictor, Stan James; 104-1, Betfair)
40-1 Bar

[mayo]

Fighting Fifth added. Countrywide Flame might be under the radar.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpQVFQjcAgmjenIAsBuV0zHOYACS_KE-8&feature=plcp

[Rhinestone Cowboy]

Dunwoody on Champion Hurdle

The Fighting Fifth Hurdle up at Newcastle has been a fair Champion Hurdle guide in recent years and despite only 4 runners we had last season's Supreme Novices' and Triumph Hurdle winners doing battle in the shape of Cinders and Ashes and Countrywide Flame, with the last-named getting the better of the argument by 12 lengths. The McCain team said that on better ground they would be confident of a reversal of form, but Cinders and Ashes had won twice before on heavy ground and although I agree with them to a degree let's not forget Countrywide Flame's Triumph Hurdle win came on good ground last March too.

After the race we saw Flame's Champion Hurdle odds come into 12/1 and Cinders' out to 16/1. We should hopefully see Darlan, Rock On Ruby and Zarkandar in action at Cheltenham later this month so we'll know more about that trio in the coming weeks too, but at this stage the 9/1 on offer about last year's winner Rock On Ruby looks a fair price for a horse that is yet to finish out of the first two from 4 runs at Cheltenham.

[mayo]

Hurricane Fly (5), Zarkandar (8), Rock On Ruby (9), Darlan (10), Countrywide Flame (12), Grandouet (12), Oscar Whisky (14), Simonsig (14), Cinders And Ashes (16), Binocular (25), Grumeti (25), Peddlers Cross (25), Alderwood (33), Balder Succes (33), Get Me Out Of Here (33), Raya Star (33), Zaidpour (33), Cotton Mill (40), Midnight Game (40), Montbazon (40) , Moon Dice (40), Rebel Fitz (40), Thousand Stars (40), Darroun (50), Dodging Bullets (50), Galileos Choice (50), Hisaabaat (50), Ile de Re (50), Minsk (50), Oscars Well (50), Overturn (50), Pearl Swan (50), Prospect Wells (50), Steps To Freedom (50), Well Sharp (50), Baby Mix (66), Monksland (66), Sadlers Risk (66), Tetlami (66), Trifolium (66), Electrolyser (100), Esmondo (100), Olofi (100), Staying Article (100)

[Hoof]

Zarkandar holds off Grandouet to win at Cheltenham
Paul Nicholls' star won the StanJames.com International Hurdle from Grandouet and is now the second favourite for March's championship race back at the Prestbury Park track.

Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Boylesports will all give you 7s about that happening.

Grandouet, having his first run of the season, was just two lengths back though and that run saw some disagreement among the layers.

Ladbrokes were impressed enough to have Nicky Henderson's charge at a shorter price for the Festival race than Zarkandar - they go 6/1.

Their David Williams explained: "We felt Grandouet was certainly the horse to take out of the big race. Zarkandar was backed to win on the day but we feel there could be much better to come from the runner-up."

The majority finished the day with Grandouet at a bigger price, Betfred and totesport offering a best of 8/1.

Sky Bet went into 6/1 about both horses and their Michael Shinners said: "Both enhanced their reputations with Zarkandar very game and Grandouet giving the winner 4lbs."

Rock On Ruby, the reigning champion hurdler, is out to 12/1 with William Hill and Stan James after finishing only third.

Rory Jiwani, of Stan James, assessed: "Rock On Ruby is out to 12/1 despite running a good race in third on his reappearance and that looks a big price about Harry Fry's reigning Champion Hurdler.

"The ground would not have been to any of the big three's liking, but one can't help but feel that Zarkandar's 4lb pull in the weights had a big say in the result."

Hurricane Fly is the current Champion Hurdle favourite at a top price of 6/1 (Coral).

In the same market, Oscar Whisky was trimmed in places after, as expected, he sauntered to victory in the last race on the card. Paddy Power and William Hill will give you 14/1.

[Old Vic]

Barrys Blog

NTERNATIONAL TRIO SET THE CHAMPION STANDARD

It was a very informative day at Cheltenham on Saturday and I’d say we all got a very good guide as to how the Champion Hurdle might play out in the International Hurdle.

I thought the first three home put their credentials on the line and none of the three trainers, Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson or Harry Fry would have gone home disappointed.

For my part, Grandouet could not have pleased me more on his first run back for a year and was trying to give Zarkandar 4lb and pushed him all the way to the line to be beaten two lengths with Rock On Ruby six lengths back in third.

My lad was just outpaced before the last and that was purely down to a lack of match practice. When I asked him to close on the run-in he gave me all he had and I put that down as a very good run.

And I don’t think Harry Fry would have been in any way disappointed by Rock On Ruby’s performance.

I got a look at him in the parade ring and he looked like a horse that was just carrying a bit of condition and would improve a good bit. He’ll be a handful for anyone next time.

I’d be very surprised if this trio aren’t right in the shake-up in March. Hurricane Fly will need to be on his A-Game for sure.

[mayo]

Will Hayler

Nobody knows more about Hurricane Fly than his old stablemate Thousand Stars. Not only does he see his old rival every day around the Willie Mullins yard, but on the eight occasions the pair have tackled each other on the track, it's eight times that Thousand Stars has been left with only a rear view at the winning post.

The consistency of both horses gives Mullins - and us - a helpful guide as to the pair's wellbeing, and there was a lot to like about Hurricane Fly swept past his opponent to win the Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown on Saturday.

Mopping up these kind of events at cramped odds has undoubtedly helped Hurricane Fly carve out such an impressive 14-from-17 strike-rate over hurdles, not to mention the fact that 12 of those wins came in Grade Ones.

Furthermore I was always the first to raise a weary eyebrow every time Hurricane Fly beat Solwhit (again) a couple of seasons ago (to my cost as I opposed him in the run-up to his victory in the 2011 Champion Hurdle).

But although beating up inferior rivals at 1/5 will justifiably lead some to have the same sort of reaction, there was something in his supreme dominance here that has quelled some of the fears I was left with after his defeat in last season's Champion.

It was interesting to hear jockey Ruby Walsh mention some of the rivals Hurricane Fly will have to conquer if he is to regain his Champion Hurdle crown immediately after the race - the likes of Darlan, Grandouet and Zarkandar.

Walsh kept his cards close to his chest as to which horse he might be riding in the race, even though Paul Nicholls has already gone public in admitting that he would like to lure the jockey to forsake Hurricane Fly for Zarkandar.

However Mullins retains unstinting faith in Hurricane Fly - he simply laughed when I suggested to him recently that Walsh's head might have been turned by Zarkandar's Cheltenham victory - and provided he comes through a possible clash with Binocular in the Irish Champion back at Leopardstown on January 27, I can't see Walsh jumping ship.

That said, I cannot find a hole to pick in Darlan's victory in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day.

While it's right to be cynical about the value of the form of any race run in testing conditions and - more importantly - off such a pedestrian early pace, Darlan was surely no better suited by the way the contest panned out than any of his rivals. If anything, he was less well-positioned than the likes of Countrywide Flame and Cinders And Ashes when the pace quickened.

While Cinders And Ashes has been left with questions to answer after two flat efforts (albeit on ground he doesn't like), Countrywide Flame is worth another chance when his stamina is brought more into play. Perhaps not surprisingly for a horse who was only getting going towards the finish at the end of the Cesarewitch, he couldn't match Darlan's burst in the final stages but was given only a single brush with the whip once headed after the second-last flight and I'd be willing to take a chance that he might still be improving, especially with plenty of punters and bookmakers so willing to rule his Fighting Fifth Hurdle win out as a fluke.

[Statto]

David Dickinson covered the Champion Hurdle races in his blog on the BHA site and, while impressed with Darlan, nominated a potential dark horse to monitor.

Dickinson rated the Christmas Hurdle through fifth home Cinders And Ashes resulting in a 6lb rise for the novice Dodging Bullets (now the highest rated four year old) and a 15lb rise for Darlan.

That takes Nicky Henderson's exciting charge to a mark of 166, the level that Binocular ran to when winning the Kempton feature last season.

Henderson has a particularly strong hand in this division but Dickinson believes that there's one Irish horse that could put the cat among the pigeons and it's not Hurricane Fly.

"There is one other Irish trained horse that might be worth keeping an eye on, if the rain ever relents and were the ground to come up decent in March.

"Rebel Fitz flopped at Tipperary in October but prior to that he had caught the eye giving 19lb and a comfortable beating to subsequent Ladbroke scorer Cause of Causes in the Galway Hurdle. Granted, his bare form leaves him quite a few pounds short of the top but the thing that catches my eye is his career record when the word 'Heavy' is not mentioned in the going description - 112121111.

"So should good ground prevail for the Festival he might yet prove an interesting outsider in what still looks a pretty open year," he opined.

[Yeehaa]

GC

Big races en route to Cheltenham are effectively eliminators and Kempton's Christmas Hurdle saw Countrywide Flame burn out and and dreams of another Festival win for Cinders And Ashes turn to, err, ashes.

Graham Cunningham "He certainly nodded off for a few minutes when third in Rock On Ruby's Champion Hurdle last March, but the fact remains that Hurricane Fly has only been beaten once in eleven runs since 2009 and the overall impression is that he retains the ability to get his crown back"
Graham Cunningham

By contrast, Darlan looked a real coming force, travelling beautifully in a race that was much more slowly run than the earlier novice hurdle then taking five lengths out of his main rivals from the second last to the final flight.

It was a striking success - but not so striking as to suggest taking 7-2 is the right call given the strength of opposition.

Zarkandar, Grandouet and Rock On Ruby all looked in good heart at Cheltenham before Christmas, while the 2011 Champion Hurdle winner Hurricane Fly simply sauntered clear of Unaccompanied and Thousand Stars in Leopardstown's Istabraq Festival Hurdle.

The most common reply to my tweet asking whether the Fly was truly back was that he "never went away in the first place."

He certainly nodded off for a few minutes when third in Rock On Ruby's Champion Hurdle last March, but the fact remains that Hurricane Fly has only been beaten once in eleven runs since 2009 and the overall impression is that he retains the ability to get his crown back if Willie Mullins can keep him happy and healthy.

At this stage I'd place him just ahead of Darlan. And I would be astonished if Ruby even dreams of getting off the Fly to partner Zarkandar if both horses stay healthy until the big day.