Paul Nicholls

[Gearoid]

I dont see why Willie Mullins needs to send horses to the UK before the festival when there is a more than adaquate programme at home. We got plenty of clashes last year with Catch Me contesting every suitable race, Nicholls raiders were never ducked and two potentially oustanding novice in Pandorama and Mikael took eack other on at the first opportunity.

 

[Hamm]

Nurse? Nurse!!??

Hamm, you refer to Flat racing, and how "in many cases they have no alternative but to take each other on".

If that is the case, can you please explain why there were three pacemakers in a field of nine for the Irish Champion Stakes? With two no-hopers also running, there were effectively four who went to post with a chance - a de-facto 4 runner race, for one of the richest Flat prizes in Europe?

And what of the Juddmonte? A four-runner, two-horse race?

What of the nine rivals STS faced in the Eclipse? Where were they on Sunday? My apologies, I forgot all about Set Sail - beaten 30+ lengths at both Sandown and Leopardstown.

What happened to all those other Flat mutts who had nowhere else to run other than in the three events mentioned above?

We can all use selective arguments to prop-up a theory, no?


Could the Jumps Pattern be improved? Yes it could. There have been too many instances of decent handicaps (Chandler being the most recent) being 'upgraded' to wfa events, which is to the overall detriment of the game. So I do have a certain sympathy for the position which suggests there are too many prizes which don't 'exercise' the top horses sufficently.

But the suggestion that National Hunt racing needs to look to the Flat for lessons on how to improve, is a joke, quite frankly.

GH,

I agree about that the number of runners was disappointing, but otherwise you have made my point for me. For example, the four top horses this season are Sea the Stars, Rip, Fame and Mastercraftsman.

Sea the Stars has faced at least 1 of these on 5 occasions (2 of them in 3 races) - in other words, he has faced at least one of the other top 3 horses in every race.
Rip has faced at least 1 of these in 3 of his 4 races
Fame and Glory has faced 1 of these in 2 of his 5 races
Mastercraftsman has faced at least 1 of these in 3 of his 5 races

I couldn't care less if the field in the top races is subidised by horses who have little chance of winning, and I would add pacemakers who do just that and favour no other horse are a positive thing and ensure the best horse wins. The fact is the best horses take each other on consistently in the flat, and the only retort you have to this is the size of the field, which i believe is irrelevant (although always nice to see) as long as the best horses are present.

 

[Hamm]

Where are they now? Both retired in their prime. No wonder they take on all comers for their year in the spotlight

Retired, yes, but how fantastic it is that they are replaced by the likes of Sea the Stars, Rip, Mastercraftsman, Delegator, Fame and Glory and so on. I'd rather the constant influx of new talent with the disappointment of those who retire, as opposed to seeing the same horses for 4/5 years that we knew weren't good enough come their second year, which leads to predictably uncompetitive races.