National Hunt Challenge Cup Amateur Riders' Novices' Chase

[The King Pimm]

Thanks Scooby. Will Mulchays Hill have lost his novice status after winning at Cheltenham on Friday or can he keep entering and winning novice races this season because he’s retained his novice status for the new season??

[Scooby91]

Thanks Scooby. Will Mulchays Hill have lost his novice status after winning at Cheltenham on Friday or can he keep entering and winning novice races this season because he’s retained his novice status for the new season??

Still has it. Not sure if they would want to run him in it again though after last year

[Quevega]

O'Leary doing what he wants wouldn’t put me off backing CC for this when Gordon says this is the plan, even more so when someone very shrewdly (not me) pointed out a few weeks ago that CC was a bigger price in the any race market (27/1 boost) than he was for this, so change of plan covered I supposed.

He won the Martin Pipe well (albeit weak renewal) which plenty of decent staying chasers have migrated from, and in his last start over hurdles in 2017 before missing the season he beat Penhill, Al Boum Photo and Presenting Percy over 3m. Was unfortunate to miss 2018 but I thought he ran a blinder on his second start back in 2019 beating subsequent 4 miler second Discorama and Any Second Now who went on to win at the festival. That second race came 3 weeks after his reappearance after having not run for just under 2 years. All of that looks strong enough to me.

His jumping the other day was very good and he looked to have plenty left in the tank which he should do over 2m 5f with a view to this. He’s ground versatile, has won at the festival before, is being aimed at the race (for now), BF & PP go shortest 10’s (usually a good sign), even at this stage we can say he will secure the services of a top amateur and he’s trained by someone who has won 2/5 of the last running’s.

Nice case Charlie
From my point of view.
It also looks like Gordon’s been given the green light on this one.
And whilst I agree with scooby that the O’Learys can be contrary twats
They might not be as arsed as previously

[ComplyOrDie]

Not really sure how Champagne Classic's form can be crabbed, and pretty much agree with what Charlie has said.

[Humble Pie]

Scooby , class utter class :-)
I’m on at 27/1 Any Race but O’Leary ????
Won’t be holding my breathe.
O’Leary
Contemptuous , arrogant ....
Won’t be missing him If and when he gets out of the NH scene.
Thought Mullins behaved brilliantly when O’Leary thought he could bully him .

[archie]

Gigginstown have a whole bunch who might go JLT, RSA or NH. They will mostly start out in the same sort of race and no decisions will be made until Christmas or later with the Dublin Festival a decisive weekend for the Irish novices.
When a trainer says that a horse looks like an XXX type, at this stage of the season it absolutely gets filed in the Pending folder.

[charlie]

Not really sure how Champagne Classic's form can be crabbed, and pretty much agree with what Charlie has said.

Cheers COD. The form figures of 212321311321 make the case fairly straightforward. 2016/2017 was all about getting him to Cheltenham. The form of those 7 races wont blow anyone away but he came right for the festival and won, then won the 3m grade 1 novice hurdle at Punchestown beating Penhill and ABP. It's a shame he got injured but I have no reason to believe he wont continue to improve over fences. As stated, his comeback run was some effort having been off for so long and that run at Navan just 3 weeks later was excellent too. I don't think Gordon would have thrown him in at the deep end twice so quickly after such a long lay off if he wasn't quite highly regarded. Hoping for a win today, although speaking of highly regarded, I wouldn't be too disheartened if he fought out the finish today with Discorama.

[ComplyOrDie]

Barely a danger for Champagne Classic today, question is which race, as he doesn't lack pace either!

[jono]

That was a lovely performance. Discorama sets a good standard.
Very strong claims for this race for me

[SamuelP]

Good performance by CC that and happy to have him onside any race but before getting carried away he was in receipt of 5lbs and had race fitness on his side with the run beforehand. Disappointed I didn't get stuck into him for this race though

[Scooby91]

He was very good today, the best iv seen him. And I'll be surprised if he comes here personally. But if he does, very good bet.

[jono]

Good performance by CC that and happy to have him onside any race but before getting carried away he was in receipt of 5lbs and had race fitness on his side with the run beforehand. Disappointed I didn't get stuck into him for this race though

Sure Discorama connections will be delighted. A very nice prep for the Ladbroke you'd assume?
Still think that was as good as you could hope for from CC even with weight and fitness on his side.
Looks a better horse than last year and showing the promise he showed in the Spring of 2017.

As an aside - Davy looks to really have fallen out of favour with Gigginstown again perhaps? No surprise to see Keith Donoghue on Battleoverdoyen yesterday as he does a lot of the schooling but with Jack Kennedy out, it's Robbie Power that seems to be getting the other Gigginstown rides lately. Davy hasn't ridden a Gigginstown horse since Alpha des Obeaux on the 16th October despite plenty of opportunities and plenty of rides with Elliott still.

[SamuelP]

Sure Discorama connections will be delighted. A very nice prep for the Ladbroke you'd assume?
Still think that was as good as you could hope for from CC even with weight and fitness on his side.
Looks a better horse than last year and showing the promise he showed in the Spring of 2017.

As an aside - Davy looks to really have fallen out of favour with Gigginstown again perhaps? No surprise to see Keith Donoghue on Battleoverdoyen yesterday as he does a lot of the schooling but with Jack Kennedy out, it's Robbie Power that seems to be getting the other Gigginstown rides lately. Davy hasn't ridden a Gigginstown horse since Alpha des Obeaux on the 16th October despite plenty of opportunities and plenty of rides with Elliott still.

Yeah for sure Jono I'm delighted with that run from CC, and like others have touched on he could start to look too good for this race. Just trying to think of all angles and analyse in the context of this race. So yeah a good pipe opener from Discorama and like you say hopefully goes the Ladbroke. Think it would really suit. See what's hinted at post race before taking a position

[Craigy14]

Good performance again, race fit but did it well over discorama who was first time out. Like many just played the any race with hills some time ago which with the giggs runners can have its advantages at times even though no CashOut option

[Scooby91]

"They went a good gallop and that suited him. I think he's going to go for the Drinmore now after that.

“He jumped well and did everything well. He had a fitness advantage there on a few of them. Puppy was happy and said he travelled well.”