So you thought I'd gone.

Wassup people.
As you may have guessed, I was more tan happy to let this blog die a slow and painful death by neglect but event have conspired against my mistreatment and words have been fed to a hungry page.
At the moment I do a weekly blog for geegeez.com and I sent the editor this article before the Champion Hurdle. It reads pretty forth telling in light of recent events...

We all know JP McManus loves a bet at Cheltenham during the third week of March. His rivalry with the late bookie Freddie ‘Fearless’ Williams has gone down in Festival folk law and Barry Dennis recently recalled how he was facing an £800,000 paid out to the Irishman had Barracuda got past Ingles Drever up the Prestbury Park hill in the 2005 Stayers’ Hurdle.
Last year, we saw a heavily gambled on Wichita Lineman scrape home in front in McManus’ green and gold silks to land the William Hill Trophy and some hefty bets to boot.
Most of the Irishman’s festival punts are a strongly held secret - only a few insiders know when the money’s down. Even his trainer, Jonjo O’Neill, isn’t really sure himself when JP’s ‘having it big’.
But could this year’s gamble have been his most exposed one yet? Is the news that this horse is going to be carrying more than his jockey right under our nose?
I’m talking about Binocular.
So marginally denied in last year’s Champion Hurdle, it was made no secret that Nicky Henderson’s steed would be a stronger, much tougher animal in 12 months time.
Since then, we have seen quite the opposite: comfortably beaten twice by Go Native before landing the odds in a poor three-runner affair at Sandown, the progress we were promised from Binocular has failed to materialise.
Despite these disappointments, dreams of going two places better in the Champion Hurdle were kept alive and the son of Enrique was available at odds of 6-1 for the championship event.
Now, this is where my thinking kicks in. Was JP McManus sitting in his mansion back in Ireland thinking: ‘Sixes! That’s far too short for a good ol’ gamble!’?
So what does he do?
BINOCULAR OUT OF CHAMPION WITH MUSCULAR PROBLEM read the next day’s headlines.
Boom. There’s no better way to get larger odds on a horse than to put their participation in doubt. Some bookies even took him out of their markets.
His chances had been written off.
A ‘muscular problem’ is a very good excuse. Unlike, say, a bone fracture or tendon injury, the period of recuperation varies upon the extent. With this, they can keep the horse out of the Champion Hurdle picture for as long or as little as they want.
So, surprise, surprise, last week we hear that Binocular is back on track for Cheltenham and he is immediately re-instigated in the betting markets. At 8-1.
Now, McManus takes a sip of his 25-year old malt, reclines in his armchair and thinks: ‘Eights! Pile in lads!’.