The World Hurdle had been looking a bit of a dull betting heat with double champion Inglis Drever dominating the market but the Steel Plate and Sections Hurdle at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day has certainly given things a bit of a kick.

The race had been billed as mainly concerning Afsoun, Black Jack Ketchum and Witchita Lineman but Alan King’s Blazing Bailey proved much too strong for them all and recorded a convincing victory.

I’m not too happy with the result though as I had marked Blazing Bailey down as the stayer to follow for this season after his honourable third in the World Hurdle. I’d been primed and ready to back him this season as I was convinced he would impriove with another year on his back but he has turned in two abject performances and I was beginning to wonder if something was amiss.

Now, of course, after demolishing the Steel Plate field Blazing Bailey is down to around the 6/1 mark for the 2008 World Hurdle and whilst there is still some appeal in that price, it’s not what it should have been.

Pundits on Attheraces were not overly impressed with the standard of opposition put up against Blazing Bailey stating that the bookmakers have overreacted by cutting him to single figures for the staying crown. I have to disagree. I appreciate that the Jonjo O’Neill horses might not have been at their best but this looked a race full of quality and Alan King’s young horse has more scope than most at the top of the betting in this market and warrants very close inspection.

Give us your thoughts on the World Hurdle – Do you think Blazing Bailey is the horse to beat or is there an outsider way down in the betting that could give us a better run for our money?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 5:54 pm and is filed under Cheltenham Festival. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.