Solid, if uninspiring

By Alan Conway

If trials have taught us anything it is that they should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt. A horse will never be fully wound up when his main target of the year is but weeks away. That is why the performance of the Champion Hurdler Binocular should be viewed with some context.

The 1-10 favourite completed his racecourse preparations in workmanlike style last Saturday at Sandown. Yes defeating a 50-1 outsider by a length and three quarters is hardly going to set the pulse racing but as history has shown Binocular comes alive at Cheltenham. It would be

foolish to write him out of calculations just yet. He remains the one they will have to beat.

To me the performance was a case of job done. It showed us nothing other than the fact that Binocular is alive and well. It was the same case last year. After the race last year Tony McCoy all but wrote off Binocular’s chances of winning the Champion Hurdle completely.

He wasn’t saying as much this year but you could detect from the tone that McCoy was expecting a lot more. After the race McCoy said “he wasn’t impressive at all, I don’t know the reason. It was very, very similar to last year’s performance.”

I can understand why McCoy was downbeat as Binocular is, at his best, a devastating hurdler. It is becoming clear though that Binocular has one huge performance in him a season and it usually happens at Cheltenham. A quick scan through his form and it is clear that Binocular is a work in progress for most of the season and then primed to run the race of his season at the festival.

It may also be that the soft ground at Sandown wasn’t to his liking. A horse that has such cruising speed and can jump so economically is never going to be entirely happy on soft ground. Good quick ground as we saw in the Champion last year is much more to his liking.

The same can be said of the pace in the race. The Contenders Hurdle was run at a crawl. Again this would not have suited Binocular. Because like most top class horses Binocular thrives off a strong gallop which allows him to travel with ease and use his jumping to his advantage.

We all know that Binocular is vastly better than we saw at Sandown. A championship race run at championship pace will be right up his street. The only worry now for his supporters is if he is good enough to retain his crown.

The opposition is growing and looking even more dangerous. The champ will have to be right on top of his game if he is to fend off Menorah, Hurricane Fly and the rest. Oscar Whisky was the latest to stake his claims to be in the mix at Cheltenham with a visually impressive win in the Welsh Champion Hurdle. He has rightly earned his place in the field and it will be fascinating to see how he copes. If all the protagonists line up we could have the race of the festival on day one.

By Alan Conway