Despite speculation surrounding Faugheen's involvement in the Champion Hurdle on March 13th at the Cheltenham Festival, the market looks determined to keep him close, and you'll find the gifted nine-year-old near the head of the betting.
Respected trainer Willie Mullins, speaking to interested ears recently, gave an insight into his chances, as well as how things have been going in the run-up. Last seen pulling up in the Ryanair Hurdle at Leopardstown at the tail-end of 2017, he's been handled with kid gloves since, Mullins giving his star, what he called, a little rest. That'll be music to the ears of backers, who will want to see him primed for Prestbury Park.
That mishap in the Ryanair Hurdle, filed under ‘unexplained', ended a three-race winning streak, including a victory in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, Leopardstown's Irish Champion Hurdle, and the Morgiana Hurdle on the soft ground of Punchestown in November. He claimed the latter by a whopping 16 lengths, leaving Jezki trailing in his wake, going off a 4/11 jolly. That performance alone made the Ryanair Hurdle effort all the more puzzling.
A look at the early betting shows traders at williamhill.com to be in a forgiving mood, Faugheen found as a 7/2 second-favourite at the time of asking. Short, but he certainly deserves to be, and there's enough there to ensure he'll be as popular as ever with ante-post backers.
If the 2018 renewal of the Champion Hurdle goes as expected, however, Mullins won't get anywhere near the winner's enclosure, despite claiming two of the last three. Buveur D'air is the preferred option, an odds-on favourite at William Hill.
Nicky Henderson has a fearsome festival record and banked the prize money last year, his six-year-old gelding Buveur D'air doing the business, finishing ahead of My Tent Or Yours by a convincing 4 ½ lengths, despite going off a 5/1 poke. Two-in-a-row? There's plenty who think so.
The market leader went into 2018 with a CV showing 10 wins and two placed efforts from 13 starts. That included victory in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day over the two-mile trip.
Again the shortest price of the lot, he justified favouritism when putting The New One in his place, jockey Barry Geraghty delighting backers with a 2 ¼ length triumph. Timed to perfection, he needed only a gentle reminder from his pilot going towards the business end of the contest, before opening-up, reminding us just what he's capable of.
Early birds hoping to catch a juicy worm, intent on looking for value further down the list, may find joy in Yorkhill, available at a market best price 16/1 (William Hill) in the early part of the year. Another Mullins rep, the eight-year-old finished down the pecking order in a Leopardstown Christmas Chase won by Road to Respect over the festive period. Excuses can be made for the bare result, however, a mistake five from home the obvious, but the team will waste no time getting over that.
The reason for those bulky odds though may have a lot to do with Mullins' admission that Yorkhill will be treated like a Champion Chase horse until he shows his handlers any different. At the price, we'd keep a keen eye on his form in the early part of 2018, and won't be quick to write him off.
