Champion Hurdle Latest
1.12.2009
Five horses are now fighting it out for pole position in the Champion Hurdle market, after the two favourites for Saturday's Fighting Fifth were both comfortably beaten.
Newcastle's Grade 1 race served up a shock for those followingthe popular racing tips, as outsider Go Native beat off stiff competition from odds on favourite, who could only manage fifth, and second favourite Solwhit, who finished third.
A slow pace got the better of both horses and played into the plans of many lay betting tips, as Davy Condon and Go Native out-sped the field from the final flight, to take the £56,000 first prize. Trainer Noel Meade said after the race, that he knew the six year old had it in him; even if the horse racing betting odds told a different story.
"I fancied him and couldn't believe the price he was. I was too easy on him after he won at Tipperary and before he got beaten at Down Royal where the ground didn't help him" said Meade.
"The better ground was a big help today. He has to go chasing that million bonus now and the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton will be his next race."
In order to win the bonus, Go Native would have to emerge triumphant in both the Christmas Hurdle and the Champion Hurdle and the gelding is now available at 15.0 for the latter race.
Meanwhile, the beaten favourite Binocular was left "deflated and dejected" after a below par performance. The five year old still heads the ante-post market at odds of 6.6 but trainer, Nicky Henderson, was left scratching his head as to what went wrong.
Having had a night to reflect, Henderson said on Sunday: "Binocular looks this morning a bit like I feel - deflated and dejected - and that's not like him."
"It was a slowly run race, but it was the same for everyone in that respect, and you might have expected a crawl would play to his strengths, so we can't use that as an explanation.
"All I can say is that, of the horses we sent to Newcastle, he was the only one who wasn't bouncing and kicking when he pulled out this morning."
Elsewhere in the betting, third placed Solwhit is 8.4 for Champion Hurdle glory, while runner up Sublimity, is still a big outsider at 65.0. The other main contenders are Hurricane Fly at 7.0, Celestial Halo at 8.2 and Binocular's stablemate, Zaynar, who can currently be backed at 6.8.
Please Email Us with your suggestions for future betting articles.
