Should British Racing Be Worried?

barjon

barjon

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Here we are, two days in and there have been eight Grade 1 races with British trainers successful in just one. Not only are the best Irish horses markedly superior, but there seems to be a depth of talent there that leaves ours (from my perspective) paper thin. It was brought home to me more starkly by trying to find credible home team opposition in the daily tipping competition - damn difficult and pretty fruitless it was.

How is this happening? Is it to do with training methods? How horses are sourced? Or what?
 
Better prize money in Ireland?

If i was ever fortunate enough to own horses, I’d send them Ireland an all. Rather see my horse run in competitive races than have a stroll round at 1/4. Personal preference I guess.

Nicholls is the only one here I’d trust to run them in genuine races against genuine opposition. He doesn’t seem to have the horses anymore though.
 
LUKE said:
I'm Irish.
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You think you’ll be sending the good ones to Aintree? Id say most will he saved for Punchestown.

I remember Willie sending loads one year, was he not going for the British trainers title as well though
 
you'd tend to think these things are cyclical but ireland have been becoming more and more dominant for the last 5 or so years, and the big owners are definitely favouring the training stables there

tony keenan on one of the previews i watched was very clear his strategy was heavily favouring the irish runners as he thinks they are so far clear at the moment

james knight made a fair point on twitter tonight that british trainers should start becoming more bold with their runners outside of cheltenham and not necessarily saving them for a meeting where their chances of winning are diminished, at least for the time being
 
There has never been a cycle when Irish racing had been this dominant. Don't think it is viewed as a failing of the British national character in the same way it was in Ireland. Everyone of a certain age in Ireland understands Galmoys importance. Not sure if it's even seen as something that needs fixing.
 
It'll change one day. Nicholls doesn't prioritise Cheltenham as much as other trainers and Hendo is coming to the end I would think. Skelton is getting closer to be fair. He'd have won the QM today but for the excessive sex allowance.
 
Think it's that Nicholls isn't getting the horses to target Cheltenham as he was doing 10 years ago, and had adjusted accordingly.
 
Where are these horses coming from? Are they still mainly French bred or Irish?
 
Euronymous said:
It'll change one day. Nicholls doesn't prioritise Cheltenham as much as other trainers and Hendo is coming to the end I would think. Skelton is getting closer to be fair. He'd have won the QM today but for the excessive sex allowance.
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Dan Skelton and excessive sex have no place in the same sentence!!
 
Racing styles between the two countries are very different

Our style suits the long term progression of the horse whereas British racing is balls to the wall with too many options for horses to miss each other.

And yes, to be very blunt, ireland has many better trainers than the UK currently has.

Ireland also has a more professional P2P scene
 
Has there ever been a clean sweep of Irish winners on a single day? There were 6 on the Thursday in 2017 and 6 again today (a short head away from all 7). Currently on 11 winners for the festival and on pace to break the record of 19 from 2017.
 
Interesting comments from NJH after Shishkins race, " May run him again if we can find something at Aintree or Sandown."

£30K vs E100K at Punchestown. What am I missing??
 
I'd love to read this thread but it's hard when the preface is that it's a surprise that the British NH horses are ****.
 
JamesRB said:
you'd tend to think these things are cyclical but ireland have been becoming more and more dominant for the last 5 or so years, and the big owners are definitely favouring the training stables there

tony keenan on one of the previews i watched was very clear his strategy was heavily favouring the irish runners as he thinks they are so far clear at the moment

james knight made a fair point on twitter tonight that british trainers should start becoming more bold with their runners outside of cheltenham and not necessarily saving them for a meeting where their chances of winning are diminished, at least for the time being
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James Knight has never made a good point in his life.
 
It definitely goes in cycles.....but prize money here is crap compared to Ireland.
That needs to change.
From a punters point of view I don't care where they come from, a good horse is a good horse and I don't see the point in being tribal about it.
What has changed is the type of horse Nicholls seems to get these days, almost all of them seem to prefer flatter tracks.
Regarding Skelton , by Cheltenham they have zero improvement left in them as they've generally been to the well too many times. (In graded races). Watch Shan Blue spoil the party now I've said that!
 
The bigger British owners moving to Ireland and Giggi keeping everything at home.
Imagine if Cheveley Park, Ricci ,Munir/Suede to name three had their horses with UK trainers, we would have a different story.
Add in the face that Mullins/De Bromhead/ Cullentra must have access to 1200 plus horses between them and you see the difference.
 
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