• HELP US - Become a Patron - Fat Jockey is a horse racing community focused on all the big races in the UK and Ireland. We don't charge users but if you have found the site useful then any support towards the running costs is appreciated ... a small donation each month would be a huge contribution. Become a Patron!

Cross Country Chase 2018

I'd be more worried about the ground for CoC , gone are the days when they'd hack round for 3miles then sprint finish, a proper soft ground slog would be a leveller for these horses.
 
Causes is a certainty (with a saver on tiger roll :p)
 
I'm on TR and bullishly confident. Most COC fans seem to have covered a while back with TR which was wise.
 
I'm on TR and bullishly confident. Most COC fans seem to have covered a while back with TR which was wise.

I covered on tiger roll at 10/1 but still more if causes did win. Ground could be a big factor but I think w
Wednesday on the cross country course will be good to soft
 
I’ll be at the bar for this race

Terrible race, get rid of it

A 7/1 winner in the XC pays as much as a 7/1 winner in the gold cup
 
I’ll be at the bar for this race

Terrible race, get rid of it

Terrible race? CoCs won last year then went on to run 2nd in the best steeple chases in the world last year.. I would not call that terrible.. IMO one of the most entertaining races to watch at the festival...
 
I’ll be at the bar for this race

Terrible race, get rid of it

As Davy Russell says this is racing in its' purist form, they were jumping hedges and ditches long before fences.
Personally I love the race, and it's been a strong trends race over the years giving me some pretty returns...
 
CoCs won last year then went on to run 2nd in the best steeple chases in the world last year

Behave chap!
He beat Bless The Wings last year, what the hell has that horse done?!
Yeah, he finished second in the National. I'm sitting here thinking whether I should get a frame picture on my wall. Maybe I slot him inbetween Sprinter Sacre and Big Bucks... or maybe next to Faugheen? What you think?


IMO one of the most entertaining races to watch at the festival...

it's a joke of a race. Yeah I said it. Full of horses who have shown absolutely jack **** all season only to have been prep'ed for this race. Hey, why dont we just throw in a veterans race whilst we're at it.

It's Christmas next week, and this is nothing but a stocking filler. I'm not waking up on Tuesday morning at 04:00 full of excitement because of the Cross Country. That track is used ONCE during that week, and maybe 4-5 times if you're lucky during the entire season. It's nothing but a side show

I'll be getting the beers in, I expect there to be no queues, everyone will be out watching 'the most entertaining' races of the week

More than happy for the Cross Country to exist as a race.... but dont muddy the best national jumps festival in the world with a bunch of donkeys.
 
I'm on TR and bullishly confident. Most COC fans seem to have covered a while back with TR which was wise.

Genuine question .... WHAT makes you bullishly confident on TigerRoll?

WITHOUT using his 'prep bring the same as COC last year '

I still don't think I've seen a decent case made :devilish:
 
Game of opinions opatcho. Anyway, we will all be rolling around in gravy when COC is one of the winning legs of our main Yankee!
 
Behave chap!
He beat Bless The Wings last year, what the hell has that horse done?!
Yeah, he finished second in the National. I'm sitting here thinking whether I should get a frame picture on my wall. Maybe I slot him inbetween Sprinter Sacre and Big Bucks... or maybe next to Faugheen? What you think?




it's a joke of a race. Yeah I said it. Full of horses who have shown absolutely jack **** all season only to have been prep'ed for this race. Hey, why dont we just throw in a veterans race whilst we're at it.

It's Christmas next week, and this is nothing but a stocking filler. I'm not waking up on Tuesday morning at 04:00 full of excitement because of the Cross Country. That track is used ONCE during that week, and maybe 4-5 times if you're lucky during the entire season. It's nothing but a side show

I'll be getting the beers in, I expect there to be no queues, everyone will be out watching 'the most entertaining' races of the week

More than happy for the Cross Country to exist as a race.... but dont muddy the best national jumps festival in the world with a bunch of donkeys.

Hardly a bunch of donkeys. Most of those running in the race would slot into any of the handicaps.

Tiger Roll and Cause of Causes are both graded winners at the festival.
 
Behave chap!
He beat Bless The Wings last year, what the hell has that horse done?!
Yeah, he finished second in the National. I'm sitting here thinking whether I should get a frame picture on my wall. Maybe I slot him inbetween Sprinter Sacre and Big Bucks... or maybe next to Faugheen? What you think?




it's a joke of a race. Yeah I said it. Full of horses who have shown absolutely jack **** all season only to have been prep'ed for this race. Hey, why dont we just throw in a veterans race whilst we're at it.

It's Christmas next week, and this is nothing but a stocking filler. I'm not waking up on Tuesday morning at 04:00 full of excitement because of the Cross Country. That track is used ONCE during that week, and maybe 4-5 times if you're lucky during the entire season. It's nothing but a side show

I'll be getting the beers in, I expect there to be no queues, everyone will be out watching 'the most entertaining' races of the week

More than happy for the Cross Country to exist as a race.... but dont muddy the best national jumps festival in the world with a bunch of donkeys.

Jesus, this escalated :highly_amused::highly_amused:

IMO, and it is only my opinion, so please don't crucify me ;) There is a reason the horses that contest this do f*** all all season, and that's because they are trained specifically with this race in mind, it's not a race you can chuck a 2m hurdler at, and hope for the best.

It is one for the purests, that is for sure.

Also, some of these poor standard horses have also won different races at the festival, so I'd suggest knocking them on the head too as clearly the races they won are poor entertainment?
 
Genuine question .... WHAT makes you bullishly confident on TigerRoll?

WITHOUT using his 'prep bring the same as COC last year '

I still don't think I've seen a decent case made :devilish:

Other than same prep, super festival form, trip no issue, still only 8, bullish trainer, raced and schooled well so yeh, I’m as bullish as GE!
 
as you can see, I dislike this race

to save causing a fuss, and deviation from the thread, I wont read or post anything else in here

I'm off to the bar :very_drunk:
Good luck all

Each to their own Opatcho. It's not a bad tactic going to the bar when a race is on, you might even be able to order a second before the race had finished:devilish:
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this race contain runners with the most (previous years) festival wins ? 6 ?
 
... and? A 7/1 at Fakenham pays as much as a 7/1 winner in the gold cup. What's you're point?

The festival in my eyes is National Jumps Blue Ripon event. I've got 51 weeks of the year to back donkeys, I dont want to see them next week

I agree with you but there are those who get very upset whenever anyone criticises this race or veteran's races. The fences are not even that exciting. It should form part of a hunter chase card. Suspect turnover on the race is very poor.