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Connections CommentsAshkazar"I was impressed but I couldn't be that confident after he finished nearly last on his last start. My worry was the ground and he wasn't in love with it. He was a bit lazy but he kept picking up all the time and when Jason (Maguire, on Whiteoak) got to me, he picked up again. It was a big step forward on the last day - that was what we were expecting last time. He jumped well today but at the start he went to sleep really and I had to give him a couple of slaps to get him started. I think he is just older and wiser and more relaxed now. On that ground we went a very good gallop and that is what makes it pretty impressive because he was up there most of the way. You couldn't say that was a Champion Hurdle performance on that ground, it was whatever handled it best on the day." Timmy Murphy 14th February 2009 Binocular"You can't teach a horse to do what he can do. You can teach them to jump and you can improve a bad jumper, but what he does comes from him. He is just very, very quick. Quick in the air, quick over the ground, very exciting. You don't feel that too often and this was a top-class effort." Tony McCoy 20th December 2008 Blue Bajan"All being well he'll go for the Champion Hurdle and he may go for the Kingwell at Wincanton on the way. The handicapper must think he's improving as he keeps putting him up. He's up to 160 now. He got beat at Kempton, but only just. If he keeps progressing a shade he'd be a lively outsider."
Andy Turnell 6th January 2009 Brave Inca"This is a proper fairytale. He's just pure guts. They were queueing up behind him, but fair play to Ruby, the man has a clock in his head. I was worried turning in but when I saw him pricking his ears going down to the last I knew there was still plenty in the tank. He's a horse that only does enough. Muirhead might have got to him but it would have been another job to get past him. If you'd told me a couple of years ago [when Brave Inca suffered an injury] that we'd get him back to another Champion Hurdle, I'd have been laughing. We'll have to see how he comes out of today and he's got other options, there's the 2½-miler at Aintree and there's Punchestown, but we'll hope for a bit of rain over there, I suppose." Colm Murphy 25th January 2009 Celestial Halo"It's a mountain to climb (reversing form with Binocular), but Cheltenham is a totally different track. We won the Triumph there last year and there's lots of improvement in him but there would need to be. We've got to cling on to the hope that it's a different day and it will suit us better. I'm saying there's a chance, but not a big chance of beating Binocular. (Front running) was just a one off tactic for that day (Ascot). We knew there wouldn't be much pace and we knew he stayed. But that was a one-off and a truer-run race would suit him. I am very, very pleased with him. He goes to Ascot on the 31st for a conditions hurdle and then it'll be straight to Cheltenham. He's in great form." Paul Nicholls 9th January 2009 Crack Away Jack"He's fine and is having a break at the moment. He had three relatively quick runs for him and was probably just going over the top a little bit after after Ascot. The plan has really been just to get him freshened up for Cheltenham and so at the moment I think that he is just a little bit annoyed that the weather has been so rubbish because it has just curtailed his trips outs in the field! But he certainly seems in good order. He'll have a very easy January and we'll get him ready for Cheltenham in March. He'll go straight to the Champion Hurdle which is his main target. Realistically his best run so far this season was his first run at Chepstow so I think we'll do the same thing, keep him fresh and get him ready to peak at Cheltenham." Emma Lavelle 7th January 2009 Harchibald"Everyone knows why he means so much to me and if he gets good ground, he's a marvellous horse. The lad who rides him at home felt he had never worked better and Paul said he felt so well he was frightened, and nothing frightens Paul. Paul did something I have never seen - he sat back at a hurdle on the back straight. Obviously Punjabi fell, and who knows what would have happened, but it's brilliant. He'll be entered for the Irish Champion Hurdle and if the ground is good he'll go there and then Cheltenham, otherwise he'll wait until Punchestown. We thought if it didn't go well today we might try over fences, but I think we'll stick to hurdles now." Noel Meade 26th December 2008 Hardy Eustace"He hasn't been right for the last two runs as he has suffered a lung infection. We thought we had it cleared up for the last day, but obviously the way he ran it wasn't. We'll see if he is right over the next 10 days or a fortnight and, if he is, we will kick on with him and have another go in Cheltenham. He'd have to be 100% to go there as I would hate to bring him over and see him run bad. If we missed Cheltenham that would give us a bit more time and as he started the season well, there is no reason why he shouldn't come back to that." Dessie Hughes 17th February 2009 Jered"Jered is fine and we have given him a little break since his last run at Punchestown as he really needs good ground. has not had any problems at all but he hasn't handled heavy ground any time he has run on it so there is no point running him on it. I don't know if he will run in the Irish Champion Hurdle or not we will just have to see what the ground is like before deciding where we go.
If the ground is right, he is still a very good horse and I hope he can still turn into a Champion Hurdle horse." Noel Meade 4th January 2009 Katchit"Katchit will leave the yard shortly to be given a month's break at an away destination to freshen him up. I blame myself for running him at Wincanton. I wanted to give him some match practice but in hindsight it wasn't the greatest move. However, I do think he's still in the mix for the Champion. He's just not firing at the moment, but that can change." Alan King 1st January 2009 Muirhead"He has run well and is getting better as time goes on. He is only a shell of a horse and is difficult to train and to do much work with. He is growing up and isn't far away from the top now. I’m convinced that he will improve from that run, he’s a young horse, he’s not easy to train. He doesn’t give himself a great chance because he’s not a great horse to eat up. For that reason we have to be very careful, that we don’t do too much with him. We have to monitor his weight, watch that he doesn’t lose too much weight, we weigh him everyday and work him accordingly. It’s something that will probably improve as he gets older and we probably have to see the best of him yet." Noel Meade 25th January 2009 Osana"I thought that was a great run back (at Sandown). He had a long time off and will only get better. He was fine this morning, came out of the race well, so it's all systems go and he'll go straight to the Champion. He's had no problems, he just came back in late and it took him a while to come to hand, but he'd been really pleasing us for the past couple of weeks. Obviously Binocular looks the one to beat, but there are 37 days to go and they've all got to get there." David Pipe 1st Febuary 2009 Othermix"I've had him for about four months and he is a very, very exciting horse. We were hoping to get a prep run into him (for the Champion Hurdle) over hurdles or over fences but we couldn't because of all the hold-ups. He's rated 151 so we've got very few options. He has schooled over fences and I must say that I can't wait until next season because he is electric over them, but we've decided to stick to hurdles for the rest of this season. We haven't really got any other option but to run him at Cheltenham and then go on to Aintree or Punchestown. Othermix was giving Hurricane Fly weight the last day and I believe he wasn't right then either as it was his only poor run of the season. He's very big, he's matured enormously. Whether he's good enough for Cheltenham I don't know, but he's very exciting for the future and he's something to look forward to. Paddy Brennan has ridden him in two pieces of work, the latest at Newbury last weekend, and he went very well with horses who were rated in the 80s on the Flat." Tom George 26th February 2009 Punjabi"He's come out of the race fine and we tried to tell everyone as much as we possibly could beforehand that things have been difficult with him. He got a cut on a hind leg when he had that fall at Kempton over Christmas and he had to have three weeks in his box following that. We have been stuck in the indoor school for the last two and a half weeks and that was his preparation really, but I had to get a run into him. He did not like the ground and, for Wincanton, it was as bad as it gets. He travelled and jumped well, but he just blew up turning into the straight and that is what I feared might happen. He has always been a notoriously stuffy horse and hopefully that should put him right for Cheltenham." Nicky Henderson 16th February 2009 River Liane"For a baby I was very happy with him (in the Irish Champion Hurdle). He's a horse for the future. He might just not be a Champion Hurdle contender this year, but next year without a doubt. He won't run before Cheltenham, but whether he goes there or not I don't know. If it came up soft we might think about it. If not we'll have a look at Aintree and we'll have a look at France in June for their Champion Hurdle. The Aintree Hurdle over two and a half miles on a flat track would be fine for him as he has a very high cruising speed. We'll keep the options open." Tom Cooper 26th January 2009 Sizing Europe"He seems OK. He was sore the morning before the race but I'm not going to make excuses for him anymore, I'm going to let him do the talking. I know he loves a fast pace and when you have eight horses bunched up at the second-last it was set up for the speed horses so he needs a faster gallop. When he won the AIG Conor O'Dwyer said he had never been as fast on Hardy Eustace and our lad was lobbing along, he doesn't quicken he's just a relentless galloper. Everyone has their own opinion about the horse and I have mine and hopefully it will come right with him in time. I love the horse, I'm his biggest fan but sometimes you can have a subjective opinion of something and be proved wrong." Henry de Bromhead 1st January 2009 Sublimity"The ground really played it's part, he wants good ground and he just cruised there and did it easy in the end. I thought for a moment that he might have got there too soon but Philip gave him a great ride. If he is alright he will run in the Toshiba (Irish) Champion Hurdle but soft ground would probably put me off -- but all roads lead back to Cheltenham. At 10-1 or better, I think he is a serious price for the Champion Hurdle. Binocular didn't come up the Cheltenham hill that well last season (when second in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle) and Sublimity has been there and done it. He has a serious cruising speed." Robbie Hennessy 29th December 2008 Whiteoak"We have decided to let Whiteoak take her chance in the Champion Hurdle. We have talked about it long and hard but she is a very good mare and we think the world of her. To this day we genuinely don't know how good she is, but we'll find out on Tuesday. She showed in the Kingwell that she can travel at speed and jump at speed with some of the best two-milers around. She was always going to come on a bundle for that race as it was quite a rushed job getting her there. Since then she has been working tremendously and she is in the best form we have ever had her. It's very hard to turn your back on a race you are a short-priced favourite for at the Cheltenham Festival, and it was a very difficult decision. It's a very competitive Champion Hurdle but I think it is very open. I think she goes there with the same chance as the main contenders. She did her last piece of serious work on Wednesday morning and she is very fit. She'll have a school or two but we will just try and keep her healthy now." Donald McCain 5th March 2009 Won In The Dark"He's come out of the (December Hurdle) fine and he's been out in the field bucking and kicking. We were delighted with the run. It would have suited him had they gone a proper gallop from the start as he stays really well and he has a bit of toe as well. All things considered we were over the moon. Hopefully he'll go for the Irish Champion Hurdle, but it depends on the going. We don't want to run him on heavy ground as he can't handle it. If it came up half-decent I suppose we'd probably go there. If he didn't, we'd give him racecourse gallop or something like that to try to get him to Cheltenham in one piece. That's the target. The longer trip and a stronger gallop should suit him. He handles the track well over there and he's a good traveller." 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