Peddlers Cross

Not wholly original, but it was mildly surprising that the bookmakers did not react even more harshly to Peddlers Cross’s defeat of Binocular in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newbury on Saturday. We knew how good Peddlers Cross was against novices last season, and we knew how much Donald McCain thought of him, but we didn’t know for sure how he would fare against the top hurdlers around. There is little doubt that Binocular will progress, he will be trained to the minute for March, but the winner’s performance in beating Starluck, who was probably primed for this, with the pair of them pulling clear of Binocular in the end, was a high class performance. He has never been beaten, he has won a point-to-point, a bumper and now all five of his races over hurdles, he is only five and he is almost certain to progress again as the season goes on. He is proven at Cheltenham and odds of 6/1 about him for the Champion Hurdle still look big.

27th November 2010

© The Irish Field, 4th December 2010