Cheltenham Festival
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Champion Hurdle
Champion Hurdle
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Walsh doing his best to back Mullins 'decision' in his debrief with Persad on RUK. Stated horse very 'hard' on himself. Of course all we could see was the horse absolutely loving it when Walsh let the handbrake off. Far from looking a wreck it looked as if he would have liked to do another circuit. Contrast that to the end of the My Tent Or Yours race where inside the final furlong he is still being pushed out but close home appears to be curling up under McCoy.
Persad even asked Walsh whether Un De Sceaux would make the running in a Champion. Could it get any worse? |
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" Contrast that to the end of the My Tent Or Yours race where inside the final furlong he is still being pushed out but close home appears to be curling up under McCoy. "
Seek help sucka  . The tent was freakin puffin a cuban when he crossed the line. As for UDS, you don't know the condition of a horse until well after the race. It doesn't matter what they look like instantly after crossing the line. When they get up the next day or whenever, that's when they find out what state a horse is in. |
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UDS went a half-speed for 10f at Gowran. And eased off again up the straight before quickening away from Midnight Game after the last in a canter.
Thank god Willie isn't sending him to Cheltenham. The horse would probably fall over from exhaustion after running up the hill past the stands.... on the first circuit. |
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I think this is one of the reasons why there is a groundswell of anti Mullins feeling particularly on this issue. The horse had no more than a strong exercise canter on Sunday. He set a decent but not crushing pace and showed by how he quickened without really being asked how much was left but we are expected to believe he's rolling around like an exhausted sailor who's been in the crows nest for a week?
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Midnight Game btn 7 lengths by Fly, btn 16 by UDS
Fly being ridden, UDS just sat on. |
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Mullins is fast losing any credibility about this.
Best thing for him to do is start telling the truth, or at least stop lying. Needs to find a stone to stand a chance in the CHurdle  Now OR 159,2 behind Our Conor who got beat 2 lengths by HF. Not even broke sweat yet!!! |
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^Best thing for him to do is start telling the truth, or at least stop lying and don't say anything!!
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Un de Sceaux would win the County Hurdle off 159 and has an extra 3 days to get over his exertions from last weekend.
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Could UDS take in the Imperial Cup and take the bonus for winning at the Festival? No, races come too soon - Sorry all.
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The unfortunate upshot from the whole UDS, AP fiasco is that poor old HF will be the horse that suffers by way of his appreciation from the racing public, particularly in England where he is already under appreciated......there will be plenty now baying for him to get beat just so Mullins can have his nose rubbed in it....HF of course deserves none of this.
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I must have missed this but has Mullins suggested that UDS is not going for the Champion Hurdle? Interesting as the book still looks under-round on both win and place markets if so. Must be some decent value in backing either OC or MTOY given the likely number of runners. I'm sure someone else suggested there might only be 8 runners could well be right.
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Uds would not win this year anyway.
Just give it a year or so then he will be ready. |
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I think it could be same with Our Conor
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Whether its a smoke screen, I don't know, but WPM has always said UDS is very hard on himself.
26Apr13 Punchestown ( 16 Hy ,RPR155 ) It looks as if we could have another good one. He can be a bit hard on himself and I´d imagine he will stay hurdling next season. We will keep him to this sort of trip. - Willie Mullins, trainer 20Feb13 Punchestown ( 16 Sft/Hy ,RPR141 ) He´s been doing that sort of work at home. He jumped very well for a horse having his first run over hurdles and I think the time was huge considering the gallop they went. We´ll see how he comes out of it, he´s very hard on himself, but he looks like a very good addition to the novice hurdle ranks. - Willie Mullins, trainer. |
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Serious amount of bollix talked about Mullins in this thread imo.
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and it is your opinion CV....unlike many English trainers Mullins feathers his own nest rather than allowing owners to pick races. At least the trainers over here will say "well his target is this race but we are not ruling out the other race if things change"....Mullins's policy is "I am not telling you, I dont have to so I wont". Yes allow the trainer to train and map out a route to their goal but we are no fools. Mullins is target is to place horses and spread them over the festival to give himself the best chance at the trainers title rather that letting certain horses and owners realise their dreams of having a horse in a blue ribboned event.....wrong imo )but thats only my opinion,
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I bet the locals in the boozer know more than the media/punters, I bet after a few pints of the black stuff, he,d tell you all you need to know
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I know one thing, I think we'll all be glad when it's finally all over....we've done it to death.
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well said duffy.....its a mess, lets move on
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Aye shakespeare's it's common for English to dislike Mullins and his ways. I absolutely love him as a trainer, he gives me huge antepost value as I find it very easy to work out where his horses are going and back them for those races early in the season. He did try his best to trick me that Champ Fever & Felix Yonger were going to swap races but that was short lived. All his horses are going for the races I'd backed them in at the beginning of the season.
As for letting the owners pick the races, what if the onwers want Mullins to decide which races they go for. That is what he's always said, he's lucky to have owners that leave it up to him. By doing that he spreads the wealth, rather than running horses against eachother he'll target race after race with them throughout the season. If I was Wiley I'd not want Felix Yonger without Ruby Walsh running against Champagne Fever in the Arkle. I'd want him in the JLT and Ruby onboard. I'd not want Briar Hill going up against Faugheen etc.. If I owned Annie Power I'd be 100% going World Hurdle, she'd be favourite and have Ruby onboard. It's a Grade 1 race at Cheltenham. The feature race of day 3. So I think the majority of the things leveled at Mullins is - as I said - a load of bollix. He's going to have a blinding good festival because he is a fantastic trainer and he has great owners. |
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Well said CV
I have often wondered if there would be so much crap on here if he was english It will be interesting to see how much praise he gets once he cleans up at the biggest Irish festival held in england |
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CV - I agree WPM is a fantastic trainer. I do not believe that is in question. However, do you think it is right that UDS misses the Champion Hurdle, bearing in mind that the Aintree hurdle is not over the correct distance and Punchestown is months away? Just that 1 question for you?
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UDS was never going to the Champion Hurdle so he's not "missing" it. If there was any intention for him to run in the Champion he'd have had a tougher prep. He's been given kids gloves treatment this season. Not for a second this did Mullins say anything to make anyone think this horse would run in the Champion Hurdle.
With this particular horse people have either lost antepost bets or the vast majority on here being English, have backed TNO or MTOY and are annoyed that the guaranteed strong pace UDS's presence would have ensured is now gone. This leads to a lot of moaning at Mullins etc.. It's easy to trace it back to peoples pockets. |
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UDS was never going to the Champion Hurdle so he's not "missing" it.....
Are you saying that Willie's secretary made UDS's Champion Hurdle entry without him knowing about it? Who the hell is running that yard...... |
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Huuricane Fly won 16 of his last 17....
Annie Power unbeaten in 10... UDS unbeaten in 7.... All trained by Willie, all ridden by Ruby.... But Ruby has only ever not hit one of them with a stick. Ah yes. The one who is NOT going to the Champion.... |
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the post below just deserves the facepalm
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Heaven forbid anything goes wrong with HF and he misses the race but if that did happen would WM run UDS given the comments he has made. AP's race is the stayers surely so how could he justify UDS running in the CH if HF doesn't make it - going to take a pretty rapid backtrack.
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I'd imagine Annie Power would go for the Champion if Fly didn't make the race. Mullins said he target will be left to last minute.
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Read the quotes CVB Mullins is screaming stayers for AP. If he thinks the stayers is the race for her why would he put her into a race she would have less chance of winning should the unthinkable happen to HF ? Im not saying UDS should be running in the CH, the point Im making is WM shouldn't have made the remarks about UDS not being ready etc, there was no need. He could have acknowledged UDS was top class and deserved his entry in the CH and left it at that. Im certain if HF doesn't make it Ruby will ride UDS in the CH and AP in the stayers.
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UDS is definitely missing the Champion Hurdle CV no matter how you choose to shield Mullins. I am asking you if you believe it is in UDS best interest as far as his racing career is concerned to miss the CH? I am asking for your opinion, not your thoughts on WPM decision.
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don't really understand mullins talk today about fly improving at his age, not sure who hes trying to kid with that talk the man is a top trainer just hope the fly turns up an we have a real race with these new young stars
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shockster 19 Feb 14 20:41 Joined: 26 Oct 05 | Topic/replies: 1,154 | Blogger: shockster's blog
UDS is definitely missing the Champion Hurdle CV no matter how you choose to shield Mullins. I don't get what you mean by this. I know UDS is defo missing the Champion Hurdle, as I said he's never really been aimed at it this season. Is it best for UDS career to miss the Champion Hurdle, 100% yes based on his prep. But if he had had a prep then been sent over to Cheltenham in December for say the Bula we'd know how ready he is. I think Mullins has made the decision to save him for next year, because of that decision none of us know how good he is or could have been this season. Let me put it this way, if there was no Hurricane Fly in his yard things may have been very different. Mullins would likely have run him in the 2m G1's in Ireland and then seen how good he was. |
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Thanks for your response CV. We'll have to agree to differ on this one.
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I know UDS is defo missing the Champion Hurdle, as I said he's never really been aimed at it this season.
cv, I don't recall once this season very sensible commentators the likes of Gary O'Brien or Kevin Blake ever suggesting that |
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As for letting the owners pick the races, what if the onwers want Mullins to decide which races they go for. That is what he's always said, he's lucky to have owners that leave it up to him. By doing that he spreads the wealth, rather than running horses against eachother he'll target race after race with them throughout the season.
I know UDS is defo missing the Champion Hurdle, as I said he's never really been aimed at it this season. cv, if Hurriance hadn't been around, then by your earlier reasoning, Annie Power or UDS would have been competing in the 2m Grade 1's So the only reason UDS has not had a proper "Champion prep", is that he is in the same yard as Hurricane and was never going to be asked to race against him? What's going to happen next year then? If he wins the Champion, Hurricane will still be around. Does that mean Hurricane gets to compete in all the Irish Grade 1's and the owners of UDS and Annie Power are again told to wait their turn? |
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Sorry,but anyone defending Mullins on thisUDS debacle is the one talking b0ll0cks .CV I know you love the bloke,but you know as we'll as the rest of us that the only reason he has not trained the horse fo the top race is the fly and his 3rd churdle,he knows he's better ......or do you have a better more valid reason for not running this horse in a decent race here or in Ireland?
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CV, I totally see where you're coming from when you say like it or not, Mullins is easier to read than we all make out, and realistically, it has never looked as though UDS was going to run (piecing together his prep and the comments Mullins has fed us).
What I think is really getting people riled about this case is a) he's lying about the horse (he did not have a hard race, and does not have over a stone to find), and b) (my personal frustration), he has had the horse entered in the race for ages and even entered him in the Irish equivalent, thus making it seem as though the Champion always was an option. It would have cost him absolutely nothing to have come out and said: "He's not going to Cheltenham unless something happens to Hurricane Fly." He had a fricking media day today for goodness sake and still couldn't say that... It really does leave me with the only possible interpretation that he enjoys playing with punters, which is just bad form all round. And if he might still run, why won't he just talk to the press and say what is going through his head? If we knew from his mouth what the deal was, there would be infinitely less anger about all this. And I do think it's a bit silly to say you think the anger is coming from British racing fans who've lost money. I'm British but live in Ireland and have had no financial interest in this race but I'm angry about the situation. I couldn't care less whether champions are British or Irish, but I do want to see the best horses run in the best races at Cheltenham. It is my opinion that Hurricane Fly's achievement would be lessened if he wins in March without either of his hugely talented stablemates in opposition, and to be honest, I don't know how anyone could possibly argue differently. |
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If the horse was never being prepared for the Champion Hurdle why has it taken Mullins so long to confirm that he wasn't going to run and why waste the owner's money on an entry?
Plenty of people will have backed Un De Sceaux NRNB so would lose nothing. They would prefer to see him run because they think he has a good chance of winning and his front running tactics would make it a much more interesting spectacle. |
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Yep,I for one ain't going to threat over a nrfb and a bit on here, it's all about the excitement of seeing an exciting unexposed front runner in a top churdle , would be something we don't see that often and a great spectacle. I've said all along what this is about for me....... Looking forward to and watching UDS font run in this CH .
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if as expected uds don't turn up ,wonder what price bookies will offer for uds for next years champ hurdle shortly after this years churdle ?
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