Our Connor

Not that long ago a horse for sale like Our Conor would be getting used to his new stable in Lambourn or the west country by now.
 
baldeagle said:
This has to be good for all concerned and its nice to see good horses staying staying this side of the Irish sea
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I think those who backed him for the CH weren't planning on Danny Mullins being aboard and might not agree with it being good for all concerned .
 
Ardross said:
I think those who backed him for the CH weren't planning on Danny Mullins being aboard and might not agree with it being good for all concerned .
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Indeed. If Mullins had been aboard he may only have won the Triumph by 14.5 Lengths and he has about 4L in hand in the CH.
 
I didn't know Barry Connel's back-story.

He might have more money than sense, but he sounds like a top man to me!
 
an capall said:
Indeed. If Mullins had been aboard he may only have won the Triumph by 14.5 Lengths and he has about 4L in hand in the CH.
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Seriously, you think there is a half length between Cooper and Mullins?

Doesn't take much to go from progression to regression. I think he will be very lucky to even make the Champion Hurdle. Even the initial 10/1 wouldn't look value.
 
If it were a million he paid for the horse it's just as well they sold it. If they hadn't we'd have two fools the one that offered the money and the one that didn't take it.

Crazy money for a novice hurdler who might never put up a similar performance again
 
granger said:
Very true hence me wondering will Willie be off to France with Richie Rich's chequebook
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He very well could be.

On "Austerity Budget Day" in the UK designed to pay for an economic crisis caused by bankers ( that's spelt with a b by the way) Barclays did their bit by announcing Mr Rich had received an £18 million windfall.
 
Given Ricci's recent record of buying bloodstock I'd let him invest my money.

Doesn't buy many bad horses.
 
The WPM modus operandi these days is to let others develop the young horses, an activity that requires a lot of patience and is subject to plenty of setbacks.

He prefers to buy made horses, and finds it cheaper to buy them in France than in Ireland. Here is how he explained it to an ITBA seminar (Irish Field, Feb 23):

"I don't mind where the horses come from, but it's such a competitive market, the last ptp winner I got I had it bought before it left the winner's enclosure. Horses we were buying off the flat three or four years ago for €100k are now going to Australia for three times that.

"When you go to France, the pedigree means less and the stallion is unimportant. The French go for quality in the mare. They breed to race and sell form horses, not store horses. The National Hunt sales in Ireland area obviously going down, if Gigginstown was to pull out of the stores market, it will collapse. We used to like buying store horses and bringing them on the way we like but it's too hard to sell them. People haven't got the money to buy the €20k or €30k horses. We were less successful buying unproven horses in France but we go there to buy a form horse."

So he likes to buy in France, and he's made a great success of it. I wonder how many of the less useful purchases get weeded out before they reach the track, but he is an outstanding trainer.
 
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Whilst it's true that Ricci doesn't buy many bad horses, some of them do flatter to deceive a bit. I'm not sure why - maybe his buyer has a good eye for an early-maturing type - but not many of them go on to operate at the very top. He is paying through the nose for horses who do well over a season or two, but who start to look exposed quite soon thereafter.

It's a good job he cleans-up early in their careers - he'd be wanting to win a lot of top-class novice events, to try and cover his outlay. I'd rather buy a maiden hurdler out of a back-end race at Enghien, and spend 5% of what Ricci does in the process.
 
The Mullins quote is just a small part of a lengthy enough report on a seminar offering advice to breeders.

PM me your address, Suny, and I'll post it to you if you like.
 
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