News that Binocular is back in training has seen him re-instated in the ante post market for the Champion Hurdle - at a miserly 8-1.
My personal view is that the price is a total joke given the fact that the horse was an 8-1 shot before suffering muscle problems and virtually being ruled out for the season by trainer Nicky Henderson.
Extensive blood tests were carried out by connections after Binocular failed to fire in the Fighting Fifth and Christmas Hurdle before wining a mickey mouse race at Sandown, and they have all come back negative.
As a result the six-year-old is now back in training, but there are only 11 days to go until the Champion Hurdle and he won't even school over a hurdle until next week.
So how on earth can Paddy Power offer jhust 8-1, and most other bookmakers 10s, about a horse with such huge questions to answer and facing a massive race aginst time to even be in the line-up?
Even Henderson himself will not commit to a tilt at the Champion until next week, and such a lkast minute descision is not what you want when backing a horse for such an ultra-ccompetitive race.
He told the Racing Post: "Binocular is looking and moving extremely well, but we'll wait until he schools over hurdles for AP (McCoy) next week before we formulate a plan."
"He is still entered for the Champion Hurdle and if there was a realistic chance of him running at Cheltenham to the best of his ability, then who knows?"
He added: “After he’s worked and schooled next week we’ll have a far clearer idea of where we are."
In my book Binocular should be at least a 16-1 shot for the Champion on what he has showed this season, so it's hats off to Sky Bet who are the only bookmaker who have gone out on a limb to form a view and offer a standout 14s.
On the exchanges - Betfair, Betdaq and WBX - Binocular can still be backed at 16-1 and bigger, a true reflection of his chance
So Paddy's who go just 8s and the general masses who offer 10s should be ashamed of themselves, even if they are non-runner/no bet.
