Cheltenham Festival
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Champion Hurdle
Champion Hurdle
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Mullins is rather dismissive of the punter
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Ive said before if connections think UDS can beat HF than imo he will line up. If they don't I can see him not, as they may well be concerned his style of running may well help the threats to HF.
Problem they may well have is if UDS wins his next race which could well be a recognised CH trial type race, then his owner will surely want him in the race. And he will have earned the right to line up. Whatever happens, I really hope he lines up, not only cos I have him at nice prices but hes a bl00dy exciting horse that will play catch me if you can, which to me is mouth watering. |
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Tony - Pretty sure he never won the scottish national. In fact me and my mate had a big bet on him for the race but he was struggling right from the start. It was so ludicrous we saw the funny side and hence the name stuck.
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think he may have won an eider chase !
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Has Willie Mullins said anything about Un De Sceaux running? It looks to me more like Mullins is aiming him at Punchestown, both (a) in running at right-handed tracks and (b) that only now are they talking about tackling Graded company, in the Red Mills at (again, right-handed) Gowran.
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Red Mills another school round in Heavy ground,most of these graded races in Ireland are a joke. Why dont any Brits travel over, as our trainers especially Henderson moaning about suitable races etc.
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Henderson was talking about novice chases,not hurdle races.Who should travel across? Plenty of novice hurdles in England.
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Henderson previous seasons moaning re Binocular etc,generally these graded races in Ireland are a Mullins benefit. Nicholls has good record but he exception to the rule.
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Why aren't they aiming UDS at the Irish Champion if they think he is the real deal. Don't see the point of picking up all these tin pot hurdles myself. Get plenty more prize money even if they finished 2nd and it would at least allow them to know where UDS is in relation to the other big two in Ireland.
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Agreed. Instead of fannying around against rubbish have some balls and run him against proper horses
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I see he is still entered, plea to Willie Muggins........ let him take his chance and run him
 , although maybe the owners take some perverse pleasure in winning 56L going away |
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Stanjames.com Champion Hurdle entries (18):
ACT OF KALANISI. Trainer: Dr Richard Newland ANNIE POWER. Trainer: Willie Mullins CINDERS AND ASHES. Trainer: Donald McCain COTTON MILL. Trainer: John Ferguson GRANDOUET. Trainer: Nicky Henderson GRUMETI. Trainer: Alan King HURRICANE FLY. Trainer: Willie Mullins JEZKI. Trainer: Jessica Harrington MELODIC RENDEZVOUS. Trainer: Jeremy Scott MONTBAZON. Trainer: Alan King MY TENT OR YOURS. Trainer: Nicky Henderson OUR CONOR. Trainer: Dessie Hughes PTIT ZIG. Trainer: Paul Nicholls ROCK ON RUBY. Trainer: Harry Fry ROLLING STAR. Trainer: Nicky Henderson THE NEW ONE. Trainer: Nigel Twiston-Davies THOUSAND STARS. Trainer: Willie Mullins UN DE SCEAUX. Trainer: Willie Mullins |
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I reckon there will be less than 10 runners
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Annie Power looks groomed to be the biggest Willie tease yet. Three ante-post camps will be shown just enough to keep them excited right up to final declarations. After much heated debate and loss of temper in the build up, one lot will have it off and the other two brigades will be sticking pins in wax effigies. This is just a guess based on previous forum form.
Wrote that on 30th November. Simmering nicely. |
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Un De Sceaux is very weak on here over the last few days,his route is certainly not a champion hurdle prep and the truth is Willie Mullins runs all his horses as if he owns them.
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Surely Willie Mullins should have done something to find out whether Un De Sceaux was good enough to go the Champion Hurdle route by now? Now he appears to using his own failure to do so as a reason to bypass the Champion Hurdle. That's my reading from his column in today's Post. He spouts so much claptrap about targets you would almost think he throws a dice a week before the Festival. Forget what suits Hurricane Fly if Un De Sceaux wins the Red Mills he should be heading for the Champion.
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I'm pretty sure Mullins knows how futile running Annie Power or Un De Sceaux is against Hurricane Fly. So given he knows a fair bit more about the horses he trains than pretty much everyone else on the planet. He's rightly thinking he might be best saving UDS for the Aintree Hurdle with Annie Power going for Liverpool Hurdle on same card as Quevega will be going for World Series Hurdle at Punchestown.
He is out to win top prizes with the horses he has and always wants to keep his best horses apart which is the right thing to do for him and his owners. |
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Was it right to run Felix Yonger at Limerick over Christmas for 15k while horses he had hammered fought out a 50k pot at leopardstown??
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With HF heading the market and seemingly in very good form, Mullins has little or no incentive in getting UDS and AP to the race as well....perhaps he sees their real big days as yet to come.
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The owners could always step in though to change things, but with the way that the two horses, and in particularly UDS has been campaigned this year so far, it suggests that they to date have subscribed to Mullins way of thinking.
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Mate of mine thinks they know UDS is better than Hfly!!!
 ...maybe that's why they are reluctant to have them race each other,and don't want to ruin the Fly's chances of winning another CH. Find that hard to believe myself,and we would never know if it were true anyway.Reckon it does no harm at all for UDS to run in the CH,none at all. He will be out in front running his own race,wont matter whats behind him,it aint gonna affect his future. Horse is a machine that could literally be anything, if I owned him he would be in the CH,or taken somewhere where their are no agendas. Im afraid that Mullins has now become too big and imo its affecting the quality of races with him having too many of the best horses. His interviews are a nonsense,gives us absolutely nothing,and he and his jockey are pretty much treating us punters with contempt.Hes constantly changing his mind.enters horses in every race possible with 2milers entered in 3m races,3milers entered in 2m races,its become a joke, and all because he likes to play a game,and I actually think he gets off on it. Sorry for the rant, but it has to be said imo. |
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dj876
18 Jan 14 13:52 Was it right to run Felix Yonger at Limerick over Christmas for 15k while horses he had hammered fought out a 50k pot at leopardstown?? No,course it weren't.....absolute joke of a decision. I'm afraid its becoming typical!! |
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Wonder what Mullins would be thinking should Jezki or Our Conor(or both) beat the Fly next week??
Reckon all of a sudden UDS might be good enough after all!! |
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in wp mullins column in the post today..un de sceaux if he goes to chelt the champion hurdle is the really the only race for him ,however there are options elsewhere including Aintree and punchestown ,and ill discuss it with the owner before a decision is made about the festival ,he is a very exciting young horse with a huge talent but we will have to consider wether pitching him into the champion hurdle at this stage of his career is the wisest thing to do.he might have another rub in the red mills at gowran although that isn't certain .
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^^I reckon you're not far off the mark here Budd.
If Quevega wasn't around,there wouldn't be any doubt as to which race Annie Power would run in.It's her ideal trip at this stage against her own sex.The reason she won't run is because of Quevega (or Willie Mullins's)legacy. Annie doesn't hurdle quick enough for the champion and the stayers will be a very tough race if Big Bucks is back (Mullins waiting to see Bucks next week). UDS won't run in the champion-another egg and spoon race on another right hand track is not a champion hurdle prep. Fair enough Willie Mullins is right not to let his own horses compete against each other in prep races perhaps (unnecessarily hard races etc)but at the festival they should be running in the race that best suits the horse and not the races that best suit Willie and Ruby. |
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"he likes to play a game,and I actually think he gets off on it."
Completely agree Bud but I also think it provides an opportunity for low paid stable staff to milk a few quid from punters in the stronger festival ante-post markets. I remember a few years ago Mullins said Quevega would run against the Fly at Punchestown right up to the day before, then waddayaknow... Hence my post about the latest Willie tease. His press interviews are worth zip imo and I don't read them. |
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I said this on another thread (or maybe this one, a few days ago). Totally agree with you Bud, but what I don't understand is why the owners put up with it. I can't see Rich Ricci continuing to take whatever Mullins throws at him. Mullins is a great trainer but there are plenty other good ones too. If I owned a horse as good as AP or UDS, I sure as heck know I'd rather have them with another top-class trainer who would put my interests ahead of his.
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Ricci puts up with nothing that he doesn't already agree with IMO, whatever route his horses have taken/will take are with his full knowledge and endorsement.....if he sees a somewhat digression to what he thinks then he'll step right in and put Mullins straight.....you can't put Wylie and Ricci into the same category....what Ricci says goes with his horses.
If it was up to Mullins, CF would have been running in the AB last year, Ricci told them to run him in the supreme. |
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Duffy,
How you know Ricci told him that mate? End of the day, I am pretty sure you are right that Mullins could be swayed by Ricci, I mean he would not want to fall out with him,thats for sure!! The main problem this season is involving non Ricci horses though, namely Felix Yonger and UDS. Its as plain as day what FY optimum trip is, why is he running him in a tin pot race over 2 and a halfm when on the same day their is a big 2m race with horses he beat contesting it?? answer...Ch Fever. And it backfired,bad decision. Wanted to win both races,sacrificied one of his horses(possibly both cos CH might well have won the longer race)and ended up losing both races, and all to accommodate Cfever and Ricci. Now we have a situation looming where the whole world will know exactly what hes doing when his decs are revealed for next weekends Irish Arkle.If FY is not his number 1 horse for that race its an absolute joke, and if he aint then Wylie really needs to have a serious word as to why his horse that's beaten up proper 2 milers over 2m is not running in Irelands top 2m race!! Its a bit different with UDS,and of course they may well think hes not up to Churdle class, but do I believe that?not in a million years!!even the jockey has said he don't know how good he is!! That tells me none of then know,so WHY are they not trying to find out on the racetrack against horses that will tell them?? - Answer H Fly. More I think about it the more im convincing mself that my mate has a point...they are scared he will beat Fly!! Best thing we can hope for is for Fly to get beat next weekend, then they surely have to run the horse that could be anything and one of the most exciting hurdlers that I have seen for years. As I have said before, I can see the reasoning of not running him if they feel his presence will help the Fly's main threats and they feel he cannot beat Fly, but the problem with that is they DONT KNOW how good he is!! and in that case how do they convince his owner?? They will though,Wylie seems a soft touch to me. I have a feeling if UDS were Ricci's he would be in the CHurdle. If only Gigginstown owned FY and UDS, or they were trained by someone else. OR BOTH!!! |
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The UDS campaign -- softly-softly pot-hunting mainly at right-handed tracks -- suggests the Punchestown Festival was originally the aim. Whether this will change now he has shown himself better than expected is not certain. He has still not faced anything like Champion Hurdle class opposition, or even run in any Graded race, for all that he has looked magnificent winning both his races this season -- both three-runner affairs, so he has beaten four horses in total.
If Un De Sceaux is to be taken seriously as a Champion Hurdle contender, he needs to get some miles in against good horses, and he is running out of time. Ruby suggested the Red Mills but even that has not been confirmed. |
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Absolutely right,but his trainer has to ENTER him in a race against decent horses, the horse cant just trot along the road and turn up at a racecourse!!
Plenty of races over next few weeks that would suit that exercise. Bet he don't run in any of them. Heres my short and longer term predictions He will run at Aintree and/or Punchestown this season. Next season he will run in and p!ss the Churdle. |
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The obvious solution for U de S would be for WM to enter him in one of the remaining trials over here. Would surely bump into a couple of CH contenders possibly not the front 3 in the betting but better than he has beat. Would ensure he travels over well enough and would surely give all connected a better idea where they stand. All this assumes the owners are actually interested in running at the festival I have never seen that confurmed either way.
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Nor have I,dont really know much of the owner, and cant recall an interview with him that ive seen.
Be surprised if the owner don't want him to run at Cheltenham though, its the pinnacle and injuries are always lurking. Hes a front runner, so will be away from the field avoiding any trouble his inexperience might bring. As an owner, I imagine having a front runner playing catch me if you can in a Churdle would be rather exciting and something that may never happen again in his lifetime, especially one that nobody knows how good he is. |
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I think UDS is quality and said that he was easily the best of the long shots way back on this thread but since then he has not had a CH campaign and that is obviously by design, for them to turn around now and think "let's chance it" when they've handicapped him by way of the campaign they've given him, seems a bit back to front to me.....it would be a massive shock to his system to go from what he's been running against to the very best 2 milers....if he were mine I'd wait now and do it correctly next season....yes there's always injuries but you can't think like that.
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It would be fantastic to have a front runner with a live chance. Remember Make A Stand? The winner would be a true champion.
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But why is it by design?, that's the question I would like answered.
All they need to do is put him in a race against a horse or horses that have form with the good ones.Its not too late.They have admitted they don't know how good he is, so lets find out. As I say,hes out in front,so if that horse or horses get to him with ease or show him up,fair enough. If they struggle to get to him and get beat or get nowhere near him,hes a serious CH candidate. Simple stuff imo |
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buddeliea 19 Jan 14 17:39
But why is it by design?, that's the question I would like answered. Yes Budd, you're right that is the question, this whole situation is all about a single stable being totally dominant, it'll just get worse until one day we get an owner/owners who decide that they'll put faith in other stables. |
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yes mate, the situation in Ireland cant be healthy for the game, and its filtered down to the Cheltenham Festival.
Every year that goes by the build up to the festival is getting more and more about Mullins horses,where is so and so gonna run etc etc.It used to be ok,fun even, trying to 2nd guess trainers mullins inc,but now its just getting ridiculous. Biggest shame for me is that big races are and will continue to get affected in quality when a trainer gets top heavy with class horses,and don't want to run them against each other, and others don't have anywhere near enough to compete. Funny thing is its not as if their aint other darn good trainers in Ireland....Dessie Hughes and Mouse Morris are 2 that spring to mind that imo are just as good at training a horse. Maybe if this carries on, owners will catch on that their superstar could get held up in his/her career if trained by Mullins. |
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Would go along with my original point, if they really think UDS is a potential superstar why not run him in the Irish Champion. If I owned him that's what I would do. If he gets beat so be it.
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Yes indeed,why not run him? I don't know the answer either.
What I do know,is that his jockey has said he don't know how good he is,which means nor does his trainer or owner. So back to the question.......why don't they enter him in a suitable race to find out?? |