It is time once again for our annual attempt to find live longshots to finish in the money in the Supreme Novices Hurdle (G1) at Cheltenham 2018.
As ever, our approach is based on the following premises:
As ever, our approach is based on the following premises:
1. Supreme Novices Hurdle is similar to Kentucky Derby - young horses, many
attempting graded stakes, championship race for first-time with little form in book.
2. Eliminate non-contenders and whatever remains, no matter how improbable, are our selections.
Horses are only eliminated under one heading even though they may qualify for elimination under
multiple headings:
a. Pedigree mismatch to former winners [Sharjah].
b. Small fields [Slate House].
c. Poor "Late-Speed" [First Flow, Shoal Bay].
d. Poor Cheltenham Form [Golden Jeffrey].
e. Not suited by Going [Saxo Jack, Trainwreck].
f. Not suited by L-H track [Getabird].
g. Poor FPR [Khudha, Lostintranslation, Mengli Khan].
h. Over-exposed form [Claimantakinforgan, Dame Rose, Western Ryder].
i. Weak "Strength-Of-Schedule" [Simply The Betts].
8. Minimum price 10/1 [Kalashnikov, Summerville Boy].
This leaves Paloma Blue 13/1, Us And Them 33/1, and Debuchet 40/1 as our selections with Kalashnikov 4/1 and Summerville Boy 8/1 only eliminated on price!
Note: Given the limited exposure of all the runners, we are not saying that those we have eliminated are not going to win - simply that they did not meet our criteria for live longshots to run in the money. The key takeaway, as always, is using a process of elimination not selection for identifying contenders.