Willie Mullins

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Been a long time since a National Hunt trainer has churned out this number of promising horses (bumpers, hurdles and fences) in Ireland. Hard to remember the last meeting where Mullins did not have a double or a treble!

Meade goes through these spells at the start of each season, but you always have the impression that his are just very fit and ready early on and the stable form will tale off as the season goes on.

But the Mullins horses seem to be improving for racing. Forget about his novice hurdlers, how is he going to sort out his Cheltenham bumper team. With nearly all of them in different ownership he could be going there with 5 or 6 runs in the event at least.

Martin - you have mentioned before that Nicholls spends fortunes on his French imports. How expensive or highly regarded were the likes of Mikael, Hurricane Fly, Shakervilz, etc
 
Unbelievable amount of ammunition alright.

Wouldn't necessarily agree with the assessment of Meade's horses though.
 
Galileo said:
I thought you might!! Either way he struggles to keep the momentum going all season.
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True. Early on in the season Meade's horses do seem to come through quicker than them of his rivals. Come the business end of the season, i often find Meade's horses lacking

On a sidenote, I hope Mullins hasn't peaked too early with his animals. He cant put a foot wrong at possible. I hope for his sake they can maintain that momentum until season end
 
He needs to be careful with them and maybe give one or two a few weeks off. Still not convinced by that Shakervilz. As I said after that race in Navan, Give It Time was the moral winner.

I believe Mikhael was very very expensive.
 
Cantoris said:
He needs to be careful with them and maybe give one or two a few weeks off. Still not convinced by that Shakervilz. As I said after that race in Navan, Give It Time was the moral winner.

I believe Mikhael was very very expensive.
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Mikael cost 440k as far as I know.
 
I believe he was left with a lot of horses when the shit hit the economy fan. I wonder is this the reason they're all earning their keep so early.

Quel esprit cost 250k.
 
DistantView said:
Mikael cost 440k as far as I know.
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I didnt want to steal your thunder DV!!

Yeah Mullins had an awful lot of horses recently in his own name. It's an interesting position as I think that there will be some "distressed" sales of horses this year. I'll be keeping my eye out.
 
Cantoris said:
I didnt want to steal your thunder DV!!

Yeah Mullins had an awful lot of horses recently in his own name. It's an interesting position as I think that there will be some "distressed" sales of horses this year. I'll be keeping my eye out.
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That's an amazing price that was paid for Quel Esprit! I would not pay that after his Leopardstown win never mind before it!
 
One thing that I am surprised about with Willie's bumper horses is how he can let his son ride them all out to the line like he does. Take Ruby today on Jayo. hits the front before the lads, pushes him clear and then has a look around to see everything beaten and lets him coast in. The horse hasn't had too hard a race. Now Patrick takes the ride in the last and the horse goes clear with the race won, yet Patrick keeps pushing and shoving him along right out to the line. He did the same yesterday and as far as I can see he has done it with all Willies. Now I only have a few explanations:
(1) They are for sale and he wants to win as far as possible
(2) Patrick is incapable of looking behind him and keeping his balance so he pushes them right out to the line in case something is coming behind
(3) The old man has said "look son this horse is going to win easy so you might as well give him a decent workout and ride him right out to the line"
(4) Patrick just doesn't have a clue what to do at the end of a race and wants to win as far as possible and his father does not wish to put down the young lads enthusiasm.

Can someone tell me? I think it's mad on soft ground to push out a horse right to the line when he has the race won. Look at how Matt rode Kimberlite king at Navan. A very sympathetic ride. Wasn't interested in winning by very far,just winning and getting him back as soon as possible.
 
Alot of their bumper horses are ridden from the front, they learn very little from the actual race (seeing as they do not see a horse in the race) if they are not asked a serious question. I think it is very much a tactic.
 
Galileo said:
Alot of their bumper horses are ridden from the front, they learn very little from the actual race (seeing as they do not see a horse in the race) if they are not asked a serious question. I think it is very much a tactic.
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Strange - I would have thought the opposite tbh..
 
A horse is hardly having a hard time if it's ridden out under vigorous hands and heels is it? It's hardly as though he's beating them up with a stick.
 
davidjohnson said:
A horse is hardly having a hard time if it's ridden out under vigorous hands and heels is it? It's hardly as though he's beating them up with a stick.
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But you would agree that it must use more energy. And this is needless. Furthermore, once it passes the line it is going as fast as it has gone in the race so takes another few hundred yards to pull up. Again, needless energy wasted. On soft ground, a horse that is not fully wound up will take more time to recover afterwards. Seems natural and is my experience. So I just don't see why he has to do it on soft ground. If it means that the horse comes out of the race 0.01% worse than if given an easier ride, then it is needless. If it is educational, I can kinda understand it but still not needed. I don't know of any other jockey that rides them out like him.
 
quel esprit did not cost 250, willie paid less than half that price, what he passed it on for, i cannot say.

personally i would prefer a horse to be ridden right out to the line than an eased down job. a large percentage of eased down winners have far less in hand than can appear to the observers, whereas those pushed out to the line, their winning margin is an accurate reflection of their supremacy and it teachs the horses the habit of racing right to the line, rather than pretending the game can be easy.
 
happyaslarry said:
quel esprit did not cost 250, willie paid less than half that price, what he passed it on for, i cannot say.
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I think that says a lot about what he must think of the horse with that kind of mark up. Personally , even if I had it i wouldn't pay that amount of money for a horse that can't go to stud.
 
trackside528 said:
Strange - I would have thought the opposite tbh..
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What does a horse learn leading early on from the front and burning off his rivals without being asked a question. He does not learn to settle amongst horses, travel in between, deal with the hussle and bustle etc. Out in front they have not horses to contend with, get into their own rhythm and half the time they are looking around them not concentrating...they do not know they are even in a race.

Patrick is certainly asking them questions but nothing too demanding. Most of them are big strong horses that can take that sort of introduction.
 
Galileo said:
What does a horse learn leading early on from the front and burning off his rivals without being asked a question. He does not learn to settle amongst horses, travel in between, deal with the hussle and bustle etc. Out in front they have not horses to contend with, get into their own rhythm and half the time they are looking around them not concentrating...they do not know they are even in a race.

Patrick is certainly asking them questions but nothing too demanding. Most of them are big strong horses that can take that sort of introduction.
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Totally agree with that, Gal. What I was trying to say (sorry for lack of clarity) was that wouldn't have thought that most Mullins bumper horses are ridden from the front (though I can't see every one of them and obviously some will be!).

Surely most of his bumper winners over the Christmas period have been ridden from mid-div (unless I've gone mad!) and I thought the one at Mallow yesterday led on sufferance really.

On another note, Paddy Mullins has improved at a rate of knots over the past year. Fair play to him.
 
trackside528 said:
Totally agree with that, Gal. What I was trying to say (sorry for lack of clarity) was that wouldn't have thought that most Mullins bumper horses are ridden from the front (though I can't see every one of them and obviously some will be!).

Surely most of his bumper winners over the Christmas period have been ridden from mid-div (unless I've gone mad!) and I thought the one at Mallow yesterday led on sufferance really.

On another note, Paddy Mullins has improved at a rate of knots over the past year. Fair play to him.
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Young Mullins has improved to be fair..He did kick on again at the furlong marker(roughly) yesterday & again on Saturday(Quinola Des Obeaux) if I'm not mistaken. Nothing too strenuous imo..As lads have previously said- these are expensive horses..Willie Mullins is surely too much of a pro to allow anybody-(son's included) to overexert these animals at this stage of the season??
 
PRICEWISE2008 said:
Young Mullins has improved to be fair..He did kick on again at the furlong marker(roughly) yesterday & again on Saturday(Quinola Des Obeaux) if I'm not mistaken. Nothing too strenuous imo..As lads have previously said- these are expensive horses..Willie Mullins is surely too much of a pro to allow anybody-(son's included) to overexert these animals at this stage of the season??
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Recent winners including Gagewell Flyer, Cranky Corner, Quel Esprit were all held up in their races. I suspect that they simply have different tactics for each one depending on the stage of development the horse is at.

They probably learn plenty from their schooling bumpers ahead of their track debuts anyway.
 
It is the way that these horses are finishing in the last furlong that I think is amazing. How often do you see leg weary horses just last home in this sticky ground whereas Willies seem to take off at this stage, and not just the bumper horses - Hurricane, CV, Kempes, Midnight club, etc
 
Cousin Vinny to get an entry over 2m4f at Punchestown at the weekend.

Hurricane Fly is surely the Supreme Novices horse for the yard (now just shading favouritism on BF).
 
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