Sport News 24/7
Cheltenham Head-to-Heads: The Champion Hurdle
/ Will Hayler / 08 March 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet
Will Hayler may not know who is going to win the Champion Hurdle but he has strong views about who isn't. Meanwhile, Graham Cunningham has come up with a prime back to lay option.
Will Hayler: As I write, I'm still reeling from the defection of Sublimity from the race, having backed him about 15 minutes before he was found to have an injury.
I might not know the winner of this year's race. In fact, at this stage I'd be struggling to choose between Go Native, Punjabi, Medermit and Celestial Halo. But I know the horse I wouldn't want on my side in the Champion Hurdle and happily he's towards the head of the betting and can be laid on the win market.
At [6.2] Solwhit has been a popular choice for this race ever since beating Punjabi at Punchestown last May, but there is a world apart between the conditions of that race and this and I don't really buy the arguments that he was more unsuited by the slow early gallop at Newcastle than the likes of Go Native and Sublimity, who he finished behind.
Noel Meade said that his confidence in Go Native's chances had increased when Donnas Palm got to within four-and-a-half lengths of Solwhit in the Irish Champion Hurdle in January and that race was run on exactly the type of testing ground which Solwhit seems to need. He won't know what's hit him when he encounters rivals of this calibre on ground they like at a track over which he lacks any experience.
Starluck is an interesting runner at [16.0] and, to me, he offers the most obvious in-running angle. I was very impressed with the speed he showed to win easily over a mile on the Polytrack at Kempton last week, but that same speed really only served to remind me that he completely failed to get home in last season's Triumph Hurdle, having gone like a dream to the second last. No matter how the race pans out this year, I'll be frantically pressing the 'lay' button if he gets down to anywhere like [3.0] in-running.
Graham Cunningham: You just can't please some people - but anyone who dismisses Solwhit as a potential Champion Hurdle winner is a very tough audience indeed.
Come on, Will, what's not to like about a horse who is 9-12 over hurdles and arrives at Cheltenham with a record of five Grade One successes from just six attempts at the highest level? Yes, he lacks course experience and it was intriguing to hear his canny trainer Charles Byrnes report that, "You saw today what you will get at Cheltenham, so people can take it or leave it," after his latest success at Leopardstown in January. However, Solwhit is a hungry galloper who looks made for that final climb and having beaten the two horses who dominated last year's race in the last 12 months he has more than earned his place at the head of the market.
In conclusion, anyone who lays Solwhit at [6.2] is opposing a horse who scores very highly indeed on reliability and appetite for the battle.
I certainly won't be keeping him a loser, but I will be seeking other angles such as backing last year's runner-up Celestial Halo at [17.5] with a view to laying off at around [6.0] in running. Betfair was made for horses like this gelding. Punters have deserted him after his dull effort behind Solwhit at Leopardstown, but he did tremendously well to finish second after helping force a punishing gallop last year and his first two runs this season indicate that he is at least as good as ever.
A shade more restraint looks probable from Ruby this time and, with most of his main rivals set to be played late, we can expect Celestial Halo to break for home coming down the hill again and give his back to lay followers plenty to shout about.
