Posts tagged Punjabi
Qozak can be king for a day
Feb 19th
Binocular injured, Zaynar beaten at Kelso; can it get any worse for Nicky Henderson? It’s all down to Punjabi in the Bathwick Tyres Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton. However, the reigning champion hurdler was beaten on testing ground at Haydock last month and Starluck met the same fate there on similar ground in November. Wincanton will [...]
Absence makes the case grow stronger
Jan 25th
The more things change the more they stay the same. The market for the Champion Hurdle was given a mighty shake-up over the weekend but there were some mixed signals. Given that the market leader, Zaynar, is not due to run until Kelso in the middle of next month, this weekend’s races were always likely [...]
Irish trainers play numbers game
Jan 20th
The days when Irish-trained runners dominated the major prizes at the Cheltenham Festival may be receding into the more distant memory now but they will not lack for numbers in this year’s Champion Hurdle. Having failed to even make the frame in the past two renewals of the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle, Irish trainers appear [...]
Champion contenders avoiding obstacles
Jan 19th
Like a game of hide-and-seek, trainers on both sides of the Irish Sea are trying to find the right races for their Champion Hurdle contenders, without finding the wrong level of opposition that would bring too hard a race. Nicky Henderson’s juggling act with his three possibles – Zaynar, Binocular and Punjabi – has left [...]
Championing the Welsh cause
Jan 6th
While jump racing is waiting to come out of the deep freeze, one track is preparing to bring a race out of cold storage. Decimal odds may be the talking point this week but, back in the days when shillings still ruled, the Welsh Champion Hurdle was run for the first time, at Chepstow, in [...]
Punjabi heads Ffos Las entries
Jan 4th
Some may be writing him off already but Punjabi, the reigning champion hurdler, will be the main draw card for the SIS Live Welsh Champion Hurdle on Saturday. Punjabi heads a field of 12 for the race at Ffos Las which marks the next phase for a racecourse which only opened its gates to the [...]
Henderson hooked on the winning line
Dec 18th
At the time it could be dismissed as nothing more than one of the quirks of superstition that run through sport. Caracciola had just become the oldest horse in modern times to win a Royal Ascot race in the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the longest race in the Flat calendar. However, there was no sign of [...]
Trials and tribulations at Cheltenham
Dec 14th
The premise was for a race that might throw some light on the current pecking order for next year’s Champion Hurdle. The end result of Saturday’s meeting at Cheltenham did produce a new ante-post favourite for the race, but by a somewhat circuitous route. The boylesports.com International Hurdle brought together Nicky Henderson’s Champion Hurdle winner, [...]
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