2011 Champion Hurdle Prices and Betting Preview

Favourite: Binocular

Form Play: Peddlers Cross

Value Play: Khyber Kim

The Stan James Champion Hurdle is going to be the key fixture on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival and it boasts well over half a dozen proven contenders who can easily win the competition. While the race appears to be shaping up for a dramatic finish, one wonders whether the amount of quality jumpers lining up for this one could give lie to an outsider or at least a mid-pack selection that everybody forgot about.

That forgotten selection could very well wind up beting the talented Khyber Kim. In fact, the nine year-old son of Mujahid was played up in an interview by his conditioner Nigel Twiston-Davies. He’s beaten the respectable Celestial Halo at Cheltenham before and put in a decent shit to finish second to Binocular in last year’s iteration. He then went on to score at Aintree and opened this season with a tame fourth to the in-form Binocular in the Christmas Hurdle.

The racey bay is hitting near career-best figures and is tried-tested-and-true at the distance. Khyber Kim’s hefty price of 24.0 makes him a very appealing selection and he’s just as much in the mix as a number of the more-favoured selections.

Binocular is floating as the current betting favourite at around 4.7 in the exchanges but he punters will likely struggle to back him over 5.0 for the next week or so. Menorah justifiably commands an impressive price but one wonders whether the race is too much too soon for him. Menorah has taken both of his races this year and pulled a nice victory over Cue Card back in mid-December in the International Hurdle.

From a cynic’s perspective, Menorah is good to enough to win the Supreme Novices’ emphatically but not good enough to be sent off in the Champion Hurdle at less than 6.0.

Hurricane Fly deserves respect and has been absolutely tearing it up in Ireland this season. However, his one-dimensional campaign of beating up on Solwhit all year might wind up shooting him in the foot as he’s never been out at Cheltenham and hasn’t really run against the best of competition this year. Willy Mullins will have him ready to go, but running against Oscar Dan Dan and Voler La Vedette isn’t going to ensure that you’ll walk the Champion Hurdle.

Peddlers Cross is the really big variable here other than Binocular as he enters the race as an undefeated multiple grade 1 winner. He took the Neptune Novices’ last year, an admittedly weaker race than the Supreme Novices’, but you have to respect a contender who knows how to find the line like this one does. He hasn’t exactly won against the best of the best but he’ll certainly be poised to capitalize on any mistakes from the leading fancies.