How time flies. It is now only 8 weeks to the Cheltenham Festival which commences on Tuesday 10th March and runs through to Friday 13th March 2009. These 4 days are to many of us the best 4 days racing in the calender year. The banker bet of the meeting for a lot of punters already is Binocular (pictured) in the Champion Hurdle. He is trained by Nicky Henderson for J.P.McManus. Nicky Henderson’s first ever Cheltenham winner was See You Then who won the Champion Hurdle in 1985 and signalled the start of a three year dominance for See You Then. In 1985 Brown’s Gazette was an odds on favourite for the Champion Hurdle but swerved violently at the start losing twenty lengths of ground. These circumstances were found to be a little bit “iffy” in later years as the jockey was Dermot Browne who was banned from racecourses in 1992 for 10 years and then a 20 year extension to his ban was added in 2002. Browne’s Gazette was antepost favourite for the 1986 Champion Hurdle but unfortunately died on the racecourse in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle. However See You Then was a very good winner in 1985 as proved in the next two years.
Of course J.P.McManus has won the Champion Hurdle before with Istabraq who won for him in 1998,1999 and 2000. Istabraq might well have made it 4 wins in 2001 but the Cheltenham Festival was lost entirely to the devastating foot and mouth disease.
Binocular is still only five. He might well be something special and go on and emulate Istabraq. Lets hope he keeps fit and well. He is in very good hands.
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