I’m on lulamba… I’ve tried my best to be as open as possible to alternatives but continue to land on Lulamba for the arkle
However, I am very aware that my ante post position could be driving a bais towards hom
when I look at the opposition, his main one appears to be Kopek - who has a bunch of negatives which I don’t think are being mentioned as much as Lulamba’s - especially on social media platform (
)
- Kopeks chase debut looked good but was ran at a crawl
- he’s been off the track since
- he’s had a mid season op, yeah it was small but still… not best prep is it
- has only had 1 run, Final Demand looked unstoppable on his beginners chase, who knows whether kopek will progress
- although Kopek won the Supreme, I was slightly underwhelmed he didn’t pull away. The race was ran to suit
- it appears that Kopek’s last hurdle run was at the festival, as no one wants to talk about him bombing out at punch, it’s been wiped from the records lol
- Willie’s reasoning for that was “he was too fresh”, well, what’s to be expected of Kopek on his second run, in a festival, after months off
Maybe neither of them win the Arkle, but the one thing I’m confident in is that Lulamba is a very good prospect and one to keep on side for the future. My gut is telling me
1) I’m hungry, and need breakfast
2) Lulamba will have more grade 1’s to his name than Kopek when all is said and done
Lulamba is a huge winner for me if he wins the Arkle. I did back him on the Tuesday after Kopek won the Supreme, so on a decent price.
However, I can’t ignore others opinions about him. Particularly some on FJ.
I know X are on Kopek so hearing a lot of “lulamba is a stayer, he needs further”, “Kopek is a beast, he’ll just turn up and win”….
I do think Lulamba will go up in trip sooner rather than later (unlike Shiskhin, Jonbon etc who stepped up at the end of their careers)
So, I’m going to hedge by bet / position
If Lulamba loses today (due to a lack of speed), or in the Arkle for the same reason. I believe Henderson will take the same route as he did with Jango Baie and aim Lulamba towards the King George. I’ve back him a few times now at the bigger prices for the KG. It’s a shame Sir Gino got injured as he would have went the QMCC leaving Lulamba more and more likely to step up despite winning the Arkle. Aware they may have Jango again for the KG but I do think Lulamba will turn out better than Jango - and will be primary choice.
I believe I’m on the right horse for the Arkle, but I can’t ignore the volume of comments (from a mixture of sources that he needs a trip), I could be massively wrong, so will try and take advantage where I can…… just in case I’m wrong.
note: this could be fairly costly if Lulamba turns out to be a donkey lol
note: decided to write this post as a reference point, something to look back on after the result to see what I thought at the time and close or far out I was
