Underappreciated Grade 1 winner looks the value in wide-open contest

Sharjah
Unibet Champion Hurdle, March 10
1pt win at 12-1 generally

Not So Sleepy
Unibet Champion Hurdle, March 10
1pt each-way at 33-1 generally

The Unibet Champion Hurdle has an excellent ante-post shape to it with any number of short-priced contenders having serious holes in their credentials.

Epatante and Saldier find themselves at the head of the market by virtue of others falling by the wayside and while they have looked good in winning their races this season, their actual form is not as strong as others at bigger prices.

Epatante did win the Christmas Hurdle with plenty in hand and there is the possibility of more to come from her but she beat Silver Streak by five lengths and that horse was beaten more than triple that distance in the Champion Hurdle last season.

If she was a double-figure price then she would be of interest but at 3-1 ten weeks before the race she looks too short, especially as she bombed out at the festival last season.

Saldier has a similar profile. He is unexposed and has a huge reputation but on form he can't be entertained at the prices, especially as he's clearly a difficult horse to keep sound.

Envoi Allen and Honeysuckle are off the list at this stage with their connections suggesting they are likely to run in different races at Cheltenham, while Klassical Dream's temperament seems to have got the better of him for the time being.

Of those nearer the head of the market I do think that last year's Triumph Hurdle winner Pentland Hills is dangerous. He shaped like the best horse in the International Hurdle and stayed on strongly up the Cheltenham hill last year.

The problem with backing him is that last year's four-year-old form has not worked out well in open company and he's far too short a price on what he's actually achieved.

Meanwhile Sharjah has won three Grade 1s, yet is 12-1.

At Leopardstown over Christmas, he beat Petit Mouchoir far easier than Saldier did the time before and on his day he's just about the best two-mile hurdler in training. On form I think Sharjah should be favourite and the reason he isn't is because he has twice run at the festival and failed to be in the mix on both occasions.

However the ground was heavy when he ran in the Supreme and he was brought down in last year's Champion Hurdle so that could be a red herring.

Ideally he would like good ground and while that is unlikely on the first day of the festival, Sharjah did win the Galway Hurdle off top weight on soft ground. All in all he looks a good bet at this stage.

Those with long memories, or are simply old like me, will be on Not So Sleepy each-way as well because everything he does is so reminiscent of the 1997 winner Make A Stand. Not many horses as good as him on the Flat go hurdling these days and if they do, they don't tend to jump as well as he does.

Not So Sleepy won the Dee Stakes in 2015 and has loads of top-class handicap form on the Flat in recent seasons but he was always held back by pulling too hard.

However, he settled much better when allowed to bowl along at Ascot last time and came away from a good field without any fuss at all. Hughie Morrison trained Marble Arch to finish second in the 2002 Champion Hurdle having won the same Ascot race and Not So Sleepy could provide a shock in a year lacking a star.

Champion Hurdle, card and betting

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