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2016 Champion Hurdle

The Bazza quootes regarding MTOY

"If you're looking for something to take on Faugheen then he definitely has the ability. He was only beaten a neck by Jezki [in the 2014 Champion Hurdle] and he pulled desperately hard that day. With age, if he learns to settle a bit that will be key for him."
"We won't know until he runs but he seems in good shape. I popped a few hurdles with him a few weeks ago and he seemed well."

Havent seen the interview but that sounds a lot less bullish than "the main threat to faugheen" and "retains all his ability" that got inserted in RP report.
 
To be fair the champion hurdle is normally my favourite race of the meet, however although i love all the build up and different views on it but as a betting aspect it is all over for me, bar an injury to Faugheen he has already won the race as far as I'm concerned, although i will be keeping an eye on his return in the morigana next month
 
It's certainly difficult to see anything getting near Faugheen, but it's still a horse race, and he's not the best jumper, but I wouldn't think of backing anything to beat him, if he stands up, and he's never fallen, then I think he wins. He's probably a bit stronger too this season so even more required to get near him
 
Not sure what plan they have for the horse but Arctic Fire has to come into the equation.
He was only 1.5l behind Faugheen in last seasons Champion Hurdle, he reached for the last a bit and was staying on stronger than anything at the line.
I know Faugheen confirmed superiority at Punchestown but AF was having his seventh run of the season and coming off the back of a horrible fall at Aintree with the race as good as in the bag, it's possible he was over the top by then or still sore, we'll never know, but if they're planning keeping him at the minimum distance he would be a huge runner for me.....
 
Surprised to see no comments on this section yet, so what was everyone's reaction to Faugheen going down, will nichols canyon even be a contender for the champion, they've always said they'll go further with him but that display shows he certainly has the pace for 2 miles, but I can't help but look at how close wicklow brave was in 3rd and puts some doubt into the credentials of the race, personally for me i'd be steaming into the 2/1 bookies are now offering on Faugheen for the festival, i believe that has to be a one off and surely he hasn't lost his form after just one season
 
My worry is that something could be amiss with Faugheen. He never seemed to be travelling to my eye and I can't believe even a race fit WB would get within 1 1/2 lengths of him if he ran his race.

I'm absolutely gutted though - Had a bad weekend punting and his defeat has just rounded it off :(
 
After all he is just an animal, not the machine we have come to know him as, he's a horse just like we're humans and I suppose he is open to have an off day and i'm sure there is nothing more to it than that, i could be completely wrong and tomorrow morning we see in the racing post that Faugheen needs some form of minor op to correct what is wrong, but i just hope and i'm sure it was just an off day on his frist day back
 
Was a very strange race. It has posed so many questions - was lack of fitness the cause despite recent reports to the contrary? What was with the head carriage and hanging? Proximity of Wicklow Brave, although race fit, has to detract from the form? Where next?

Ruby seemed genuinely shocked and Chapman on ATR stated Ricci was "devastated".
 
Saddly I watched the race on channel 4 and i was just waiting for them to go back to ireland to get the immediate aftermath and reactions from ruby and willie to see how they truly felt about it but it never came so now i can only go off written articles, it is true in the last two weeks all they have said is how good he looked in tbe yard and on the gallops, apparently far better than he looked last year, is it possible he conditioned too soon and perhaps he was ready to tace two weeks ago and was just too keen today hence thebad head carriage and no finishing turn of foot, it was from what i and everyone else was expecting, really has thrown a spanner in the works but hopefully something will come to light over the next 24 hours, hey even hurricane fly had his off days and look how great he was and how his grade one record stands
 
Just been over everything for the last week and it's just article after article of ruby walsh saying he's better than ever and still improving, some interesting insight just now thought that head carriage today was due to some form of discomfort/injury which also led to him not having his turn of foot to kick on for home when ruby literally threw the kitchen sink at him to get up, I personally would have thought ruby would have known if something wasn't right and would have pulled him up rather than risking further injury to the horse just to maintain his unbeaten record
 
No not a quote from ruby, just an opinion from a reporter in ireland
 
Disappointing I guess, we all love a superstar.
I thought he was fortunate to get as close as he did, NC got the last all wrong and lost a couple of lengths, you have to say there didn't appear any obvious excuses and the better horse on the day won.
I'm surprised NC was tried over 2m today, I assumed he would be stepped up to 3m, is he a live champion hurdle horse ?
Don't forget the yard also have Arctic Fire....
 
a few quotes below. Agree Wicklow Brave too close


Willie Mullins, who was recording his third winner of the day, said afterwards: "That worked out completely different from the way they worked on Tuesday. Faugheen left Nichols for dead - maybe he left his race behind, I don't know.

"Nichols won four Grade 1's last year and he's no back number by any means. He looks like a Champion Hurdle horse now, rather than the stayers.

"Faugheen was a little disappointing. Ruby said he hung but horses hang when they get tired. Maybe he just met a good horse.

"They went a good gallop and Nichols did it the hard way, out in front, and jumped fantastic. Maybe he has improved more.

"Until he tells me something wasn't right I'm not making any excuses for Faugheen.

"We'll see how they come out of the race and they'll be entered in all those races that Champion Hurdle horses should be in.

"They'll probably have to take on each other but if we can keep them apart we will.

"Nichols Canyon was under the radar last year. He was a second string but did win four Grade 1's.

"We used the wrong tactics with him at Cheltenham and that took the gloss off him a bit. It was out fault. He put in a huge performance today.

"The other horse (Wicklow Brave) ran very well. We rode him to come home but Patrick said we should have made more use of him.

"I'll talk to the owner and see if we keep him in training. We were going to put him away but ran him in this race as he was so well.

"We'll probably put him away now as he was as fit as he could be today and couldn't beat them first time out."

David Mullins, who was recording the biggest win of the his career, added: "I never rode anything like that before anyway. He was just alive underneath me the whole way.

"I'd say he was a lot more professional this year, I just remember riding him out last year.

"He settled well enough, every time I gave him a squeeze to come up at a hurdle he was there for me the whole time."
 
Anyone there who could confirm how big faugheen was? Seen a lot of posts on Twitter stating he was very fat but difficult to see from replays etc.
 
TheRowebot said:
Anyone there who could confirm how big faugheen was? Seen a lot of posts on Twitter stating he was very fat but difficult to see from replays etc.
Click to expand...

a few pics..always a muscular type so hard to tell

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Faugheen <a href="https://t.co/DKjJfu5qOt">pic.twitter.com/DKjJfu5qOt</a></p>— Dan Heap (@Ohdannyboy77) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ohdannyboy77/status/665890941073534976">November 15, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Faugheen and Hurricane fly <a href="https://t.co/Z5lHTK267y">pic.twitter.com/Z5lHTK267y</a></p>— Dan Heap (@Ohdannyboy77) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ohdannyboy77/status/665891018143875072">November 15, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Mullins & Co sound genuinely perplexed. Dont think that can have been Faugheens true running.
 
The ground looked very soft and he just didn't come up out of it like he usually does, I wouldn't be reading too much into the race, it's given us an opportunity to hoover up some prices that would have been unthinkable last week. Remember Vautour last season being soundly beaten by Clarcam, that was the opportunity to back him at big prices, the ground was heavy and he got tired, same as Faugheen, these are championship horses and are being prepared primarily for one day in March.
 
time for brave men to back Faugheen

The Old Guard franked the Triumph form again though :devilish:
 
All three have come out of the race fine, according to Willie - is still surprised on recent homework how Faugheen got beat..

Also says that next race will determine if everybody has under estimated Nicholls Canyon..
 
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