2017 Cross Country Chase

[Faugheen_Machine]

The CoC entry interests me a lot.

A horse I love. Up until Spring 2014 he was a very consistent horse running big races throughout the year and one i'd always be interested in in the big handicaps. Then from the 14/15 season he suddenly dropped all form throughout the season dropping his handicap mark and saving himself for Cheltenham. This culminated in winning the 4 miler the the Kim Muir in each of the last 2 years. Each of these seasons i've avoided him in any entry until the Cheltenham/Aintree as Elliott is clearly he's not asked for anything in a bid to keep his mark down.

On that basis i'll avoid him at this time of year, even if he had what is THE PERFECT jockey for the horse in Jamie Codd onboard.

However i'm unsure what this entry (if he took it up) would indicate. (Like many on here) i'm very interested in him for another handicap tilt this year at the Festival. In the past couple of seasons he's taken in all sorts of races to keep his mark down (16F chase before his Cheltenham win last year). Is this just another? Seems an odd choice to go down though.

Unless they are looking at these races now for the horse? Despite seemingly being around for years and years he's only 9 years old.

I probably shouldn't look too far into an initial declaration but it has me confused with the horse.

As this is a handicap, do they run off their official BHA rating or is there some sort of fiddle factor the XC ratings? I'm curious to see if GE is trying to find out what kind of mark the handicapper is going to give CoC.

[Faugheen_Machine]

Cause of Causes given a rating of 153. That seems fair enough to me. Just hope GE doesn't run him at the weekend.

[Istabraq]

FM - the festival XC is a level weights race now.

I can't stress enough how different this sphere is to regulation racing, ratings provide an indication of ability over standard fences at racing speed, neither are part of this code until the final 3f.
Debutants have an horrific record in the race so unless the potential newcomers get some course experience in this Sat or in the PP Hogan I'd be opposing them at Cheltenham, regardless of their quality

[Faugheen_Machine]

Sorry Ista - I'm all over CoC for the Ultima on day 1 so hoping GE was just using the entry to see what mark he'd get. I think running CoC here would be a horrendous call

[Istabraq]

OK understood FM.
Just seems strange paying an entry fee for a race they appear to have no intention running in, struggling to see what the upside is ?
CoC is all stamina and should never be seen in a XC race...

[Faugheen_Machine]

If you look at the entries for this weekend GE must have entered 15 horses in the handicaps, some which I'm fairly sure he has no intention of running. I think he'll use the mark to see if he needs to have another run with some horses to knock a lb or two off.

[Faugheen_Machine]

If my thinking is right, GE will hopefully give CoC one more run in Ireland, where he'll finish down the field in the hope Phil Smith will knock him down slightly in the ratings. That's my hope anyway.

[Istabraq]

You need good owner backing for that strategy, entry fees £150 or more for decent races....

[jono]

Elliott has been doing that (running the horse in races happy for him to finish down the field) for 2 years now hasn't he?

Good point regarding Elliott entering to gauge their handicap marks. Did the same with Diamond King last year too. Though Phil Smith will be well aware!

[Faugheen_Machine]

Diamond King is one of the horses entered this weekend