The Well Worn Road To The Champion Hurdle (2016)

Well said Granger. The clocks have turned, and it won't be long before the Morlocks head back to their caves underground.

Roll on the Kerry Nash!!
 
You only have to take a look at the Curragh thread to see that. 9 posts in 2 days and a third of those refer to the Eclipse - which hasn't even warranted it's own thread yet - as opposed to the hugely underwhelming Irish Derby.
 
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I love both codes equally-although betting wise I prefer the flat, But apart from a handful of excellent posters on a few threads this summer there just isn't the enough forum-wide interest in the flat, Which is a shame.
 
granger said:
NC is the one i was referencing Euro
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I see what you mean, would they run two? However there are alternatives for NC, mainly staying at home and waiting for Aintree. With Shaneshill he isn't a very efficient jumper of a fence so will always be found out in top company. He loves the track, he stays, surely it's the only logical race for him.
 
A couple of horses mentioned have been Yorkhill and Bellshill who both had decent seasons.

I know Davy Russell who I admire as a judge spoke very highly of Yorkhill last season and he to a degree was proved right.

My worry with him is he could be a bit soft.

Certainly couldn't say that about Bellshill who's as tough as the place he's named after.

I got the impression from him last season early doors that anything he might do would be a bonus and we won't see the best of him until 2016/17.

He definitely wants every bit 3 miles so the RSA or the 4 miler could be on the cards and he looks one to follow over fences
 
I will be mightily cheesed off if Apple's Jade isn't aimed at the Champion Hurdle.

The sooner owners tell Mullins which races their horses are to run in, rather than vice-versa, the better.
 
The day the owners start dictating to owners where horse are going to run is the day people stop training Gus.

The owner hasn't been born that could tell WPM where to run his horses. One may think he has but that's what makes trainers like WPM and Nicky Henderson so good.

It has been said PN will not be told by anyone and it's his way or the highway which is the way it should be.

You don't buy a dog and bark yourself. You employ a trainer to make the right decisions if he is not doing that then you move but you don't try and do his job for him
 
Tanlic said:
The day the owners start dictating to owners where horse are going to run is the day people stop training Gus.
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To be clear, I'm not talking about owners micro-managing a horse's season and interfering in the trainer's placing of a horse. But an owner is perfectly entitled to nominate the race at which he wants his horse aimed as the centrepiece of his campaign. O'Leary should make it quite clear that he wants Apple's Jade, as a viable Champion Hurdle contender, to go for that race and not for something that by comparison pales into insignificance.
 
WPM was comparatively late in taking horses from Giggi and has never had many JP horses either mainly, I suspect, because WPM expects to call the shots and those owners employ racing managers.
 
Grey said:
WPM was comparatively late in taking horses from Giggi and has never had many JP horses either mainly, I suspect, because WPM expects to call the shots and those owners employ racing managers.
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My understanding from the de Bromhead yard is that racing managers effectively reduce the trainer to the role of conditioner.
 
The issue with Mullins is that he has so many good horses and you would assume he wants to keep them apart as much as possible, which would call into question whether or not he is running every horse in the right race.

Let me be clear though, if i was lucky enough to have a horse in training with WP Mullins I would be leaving it all up to him.
 
What on earth would his training of UDS do to lead you to that decision? He won 12 from 14 races with him which would most likely have been 14 from 14 had he not fallen.

He lost nothing in defeat when beaten by Sprinter Sacre and you could even argue ran up to his best at Cheltenham on a line through God's Own.

Any talk of him ever being a Champion Hurdle horse is complete nonsense he wouldn't be within 10lbs of the likes of Faugheen and would have no chance against Annie Power conceding her weight.

Mullin took a chance sending the horse to France and stepping him up to 2m5f but pulled it off and picked up 65k in the process.

He then stepped him up again to find out if he gets 3 miles, obviously thinking ahead of where he can send him next season.

He knows he is out of his league against Sprinter Sacre or his stable companion Douvan so he will be considering the Ryanair I imagine.

He would be a joy to own for any owner and with a record of 15 from 20 where exactly has WPM gone wrong?

I ask because for the life of me I can't see what he could have done differently
 
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