The Champion Hurdle

evillive

i reckon paul carberry should have got some sort of ban or fine i dont think he rode to get the best possible finish position

i was on back in front and rooster booster e/w so my goose was cooked a fair bit out
even though carberry reckoned the horse would empty out when pushed he waved the whip at the horse once and hit it once as far as i could see thats hardly going to get a reaction anyhow

he was just too smart for his own good wanting to look as cool as ice IMO and he had us all believing him until the last 100 yards

something big is going to have to give tomorrow

moscow unbeaten if he stays up
azertyuiop never beaten at 2 miles on a left handed track

i think the dispute as to who is best could be settled once and for all if both jumped the last together and went on from there - now that would be a great finish

Crumbs

I remember about 6 months ago, there was a guy on the Betfair forums saying how confident he was about Harchibald winning the Champion Hurdle and how he had backed it at huge prices including 100/1. This was all before Harchibald started beating class horses in a canter and was brought into favouritism.

The guy was totally lambasted by others and had the p1ss taken out of him but he stood firm and said he was putting a further €20 on it every week until the Festival. I really felt sorry for him after the race. He's said tonight that he stood to profit around €85,000. :eek:

As for Carberry's ride, I thought it was absolutely fantastic! But as for her brother's, hmmm, I dunno. He should have kept Harchibald up Hardy's backside until 100 yards out, then eased him out to go past. When he got into all that daylight too soon, there wasn't much else he could do. Pushing the horse out and giving him a slap right after landing over the final flight would have given him a half-length lead or so but he would probably have been overhauled before the line then anyway.

It's wrong to say that he lacks the stamina to get up the hill at Cheltenham. Some people point to last year's County Hurdle as evidence but he's improved a lot from aged 5 to 6 and yesterday he covered the hill in practically the same time as Hardy Eustace and Brave Inca without hardly coming off the bridle. He's a speed horse alright and would prefer a flat track but I don't think that means he's unsuited to Cheltenham.

Imho, Harchibald is a serious machine of a horse who can never be opposed in any hurdle race in the future, and that includes at the Festival.