15th Jan 2021
ADAGIO went into a lot of notebooks as a likely Triumph-type when he won the G1 Coral Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow on Jan 9th, beating Nassalam by 2½l. However, the connections have always insisted that The Boodles (Fred Winter) was the intended target; with a grudging David Pipe saying “…we’ll have to think about the Triumph now’. The reality is that if they went for the Boodles their mark is probably going to be too high and he’s not going to be good enough on likely faster ground in the big one. He’s now a best-priced 10/1 shot for the Triumph. Oh and he’s a German-bred.
15th Jan 2021
DUFFLE COAT runs at Leopardstown on Sunday, after which Gordon Elliot will have a clearer idea of Duffle Coat’s plans. The market suggests he’ll go for The Triumph Hurdle where he is around 10/1 NRNB. However, there is some tittle-tattle that, subject to Sunday, he will possibly go for The Boodles where he is 18s in a couple of places. If he goes there, he will probably be top weight, but could still cope.