Noel Meade

H

harry

At the Start
Joined
Apr 16, 2005
Messages
5,694
Is he just going through a five year bad patch or is he just hopeless nowadays?

His Cheltenham form was a standing joke back in the day when he used to be Champion in Ireland but now he's carried that form to his domestic runners.

Time to pack it in maybe?
 
Apache Stronghold looks a horse of enormous potential. And I like Monksland a lot.

So a lot will depend on those two.

But I dont know what happened with Realt Dubh, that horse has been a big disappointment. And he should never have run Pandorama in Long Run's Gold Cup.
 
Euronymous said:
Apache Stronghold looks a horse of enormous potential. And I like Monksland a lot.

So a lot will depend on those two.

But I dont know what happened with Realt Dubh, that horse has been a big disappointment. And he should never have run Pandorama in Long Run's Gold Cup.
Click to expand...

Pando was a terrible call

Wounded Warrior entered my notebook today, let's see what NM does with this one
 
He has pointed to the rise of the Mullins yard saying he cant compete in the sales ring with him....When asked can he ever be Champion trainer again.

"He has all the big owners and he is continually topping the sales, buying point-to-point winners and filling his boxes with new ones. No, I don’t think anyone is going to topple Willie for quite some time".

Though he still gets Gigginstown & JP Mc horses which he can be judged on.
 
The Pandorama call still sits in my gut like rat poison. I never knew it was the owners call, and if so, while I don't wish bad on any horse, the owner deserves what's happened the horse since. Momentously stupid call.
 
granger said:
possibly, cant quite remember.

Meade seems to have a problem with keeping some of his better horses healthy
Click to expand...

Nicanor
Aran Concerto
Go Native
Pandorama
Sword Of Destiny
Iktitaf
Casey Jones

Has had some bad luck with these hasn't he, probably more that's just off the top of my head!

The likes of Jered and Muirhead never really went on either.
 
Last edited:
It's interesting to compare his record from hurdles to fences. His record with his chasers doesn't come close to his hurdles or Bumper record. In the last 5 years his win ratio in Bumpers is 22%, Hurdles is 17%, and Chases 12%. I suspect that may have been even more pronounced previously.

Anybody have any theories other than he burns horses, or can't teach them to jump a fence?! I suspect he has always looked for smaller speedier types through the sales ring, and maybe hasn't really changed. It's not all about being able to compete with Mullins, but also about what he sets out to buy.
 
He used to be very good at getting horses fitter than those of his rivals very early into the season. Maintaining this level of fitness over the course of a season would be very hard to maintain over the course of a season.
 
He's on record as saying that he ruined too many good horses in winners bumpers. So we may not have seen a lot of his decent horses.

I also think that over the years Paul Carberry made his horses look better than they sometimes are. They were all machines after winning a maiden hurdle as they won on the bridle but Carberry is all legs and most of them are flat out when winning on the bridle.

I could never understand the head carriage of a lot of his horses like Harchibald and Iktitaf etc. It was like they had a wind problem and were gasping for air but a lot of them had the same problem.

He's still a top class trainer but I think the recession took its toll on him. He is like Martin, lots of builder owners keeping the yard going. Now he is down to Gigginstown, McManus, Sloan, Hunt. He will never get too many from the first two, as they need to spread it around, and Sloan seems to be using Elliott more. Hunt is providing him with some point to point ammunition.

I presume Nina and Paul are going to take over the yard in a few years time?
 
Maruco said:
It's interesting to compare his record from hurdles to fences. His record with his chasers doesn't come close to his hurdles or Bumper record. In the last 5 years his win ratio in Bumpers is 22%, Hurdles is 17%, and Chases 12%. I suspect that may have been even more pronounced previously.

Anybody have any theories other than he burns horses, or can't teach them to jump a fence?! I suspect he has always looked for smaller speedier types through the sales ring, and maybe hasn't really changed. It's not all about being able to compete with Mullins, but also about what he sets out to buy.
Click to expand...

Anyone can train a bumper winner, and its not much harder to get them to hop a hurdle. A fence is a different story and requires and different type of horse and trainer.....i couldnt imagine Harvey Smith having much in the way of decent Hurdlers!
 
Jakers said:
He has pointed to the rise of the Mullins yard saying he cant compete in the sales ring with him....When asked can he ever be Champion trainer again.

"He has all the big owners and he is continually topping the sales, buying point-to-point winners and filling his boxes with new ones. No, I don’t think anyone is going to topple Willie for quite some time".

Though he still gets Gigginstown & JP Mc horses which he can be judged on.
Click to expand...

Good result for him today
 
Back
Top