oh I think he showed in France that he is far from a bridle horse Chief.

Whatever your view, I don't see how anyone could not have wanted him in the CHurdle.......I mean why ever not??

Faugheen is not the same style of front runner though,but yes he's enjoyable to watch.
Sunday was electric.

Fair enough, all anyone has is an opinion. But when a horse goes flat to the boards and there's nothing a jockey can do to settle him then the horse is doing too much on the bridle and therefore is not going to find much off the bridle because there is nothing more to give. Sure he was mighty impressive in those mickey mouse races but when he met a decent horse for the first time( getting 8lbs), once he came off the bridle there was zilch under the bonnet.

Watch the race in France and then come back on here and tell me he did not find off the bridle.
The race over 3 furlongs more than his ideal.

John,
No disrespect meant.......but how old are you?

certainly past his bed time i reckon

i am truly sorry for mentioning the lie detector - i hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me - i so want us to be friends -  you sound like such a balanced and well adjusted person and i feel i could learn so much from you - please say we are still friends

Oh really thank you that would be marvellous, I very much doubt I could teach you anything as you seem to know everything. Apart from not calling someone a liar, which is very disrespectful.

Unless I agree with you, I'm not balanced or well adjusted? Thank God for that!

Any time

slower - seriously - i have tried to shake hands and move on more than once in earlier posts - once again i wish you good luck - i am sure you know a hell of a lot about racing and like every other punter i hope you beat the bookies in march.

But the point is even if RR wasn't allowed to have all his horses with WM it still wouldn't mean they would race against each other! RR would rather have 2 winners at Cheltenham than a 1st and 2nd.


There would be a far greater chance of the kind of races people are clamouring for if Ricci had his horses spread about slower. As it is Mullins will have a very good handle on which one is likely to emerge on top and/or which may eke out their stamina so they get an extra half mile so he can have two bites at the cherry. If Ricci had two outstanding candidates for a championship race in different stables then it is quite feasible that each stable would make the case for their horse being the better equipped for the race and he may be more inclined to allow the issue to be settled on the track.

Hopefully, the bottle neck that Mullins is going to begin to see year on year will sort the problem out all by itself as more and more horses will be needing races to run in, he'll have a taste of this next year with Douvan for starters

We don't want to start to hear things like such and such, although winning his festival race by 10 lengths hard on the snaff last year, actually didn't enjoy himself so I'm keeping him back for Punchestown this year.

I think they will step Douvan up in trip with a view to the CGC next season duffy. Even now you won't get huge odds for Douvan 2017 CGC though admittedly i don't know what they are, there is nothing on oddschecker yet that i can see but there is a Douvan to win the 2017 QMCC and its only 3/1

They'll have to start to think about let's say if Min wins the supreme to keeping him hurdling for another season to back up Faugheen rather than adding to the stock pile of chasers they'd have. I know we're getting ahead of ourselves but all these things will happen with the Mullins bandwagon only gaining more and more momentum.

There was an intersting article in the RP today talking about how irish racing is being dominated by so few (giggi,RR, JP) much more than has ever been the case in racings history and the negative impact they think this is already starting to have. Attendance sunday for the CH/Arkle was down 10% on previous year despite the weather (according to rp) being ok and despite two superstars running. Bookmaker turnover is down despite positive economic indicators, overall (flat + jumps) number of entries is down 7% in just one year, number of runners down 4%,horses in training down, number of owners down and number of new owners down - what is even more worrying about the last 3 stats (#horses in training, owners and new owners) on the flat is actually increasing so the numbers for jumps are declining significantly. All these things are happening despite an almost 10% increase in prize money. Bottom line all the prize money is going to a select few more than in any time in jump racing history. Personally i think some of these numbers would be dramatically worse if Gggi didnt chose to run their horses against each other. If we hadnt sussed it already the future of jumps racing, particularly in ireland is in the hands of a very small number of people so it should come as no surprise to anyone if the decisions those few make become the subject of peoples interest and scrutiny. I am not criticising anyone, just pointing out that there are always unintended consequences when so much power is in the hands of so few and that every decision those few make can have either a positive or negative decision on racing as a whole.

On the plus side we have lots of great horses, so i imagine the ratio of high rated to low rated horses is going more in the favour of quality over quantity but this HAS to drive increase in attendances particularly at the showcase meetings. It didnt on sunday - i have my own guess as to why but that would be conjecture on my part - others may know for sure  - but i think it is important to recognise that the more the people in power in irish racing focus on quality the more essential competitiveness will become.

This for me is why the best running against the best irrespective of who they are owned by (and however understandable it may be when they dont) is one of the few topics that really resonates with me and why my feelings are not remotely personal to any individual but more thinking of the sport in general.

duffy - do i have an identical twin i didnt know about

I know it's not the popular group-think, but outside of the two mares, what match ups are we missing this year?
Indeed, there are plenty on here who think Vautour should be in the Ryanair, rather than taking on the same owners Djakadam in the CGC. Some even argue both sides of the debate.
I accept that UDS and even AP should've run in that CHurdle and agree that they were desperate to get a third victory for the Fly - given his dominance over Jezki and OC throughout that season they had every reason to think it likely. I'd've also preferred to have seen Vautour in the Arkle, but that's only because I'm not yet in love with the JLT - there's little doubt in my mind he is more effective over further than the minimum.
But they're considering giving us the potentially the best CGC since Denman and Kauto locked horns, rather than taking the penalty kick that the Ryanair would be. Credit where credit is due?

I agree @Desmond I think they're trying to find reasons to leave both Djak and Vautour in the GC which is a mistake because the latter is best suited to 2 and half and seemed to have nothing left over 3 in the KG. It would create a temporary suspense but I think Vautour fans will be disappointed if and when he'll drop out around 3 mile mark and with hindsight they might not really appreciate RR's / WPM move instead of waiting for another year to put him in the big one. Cue Card, Don Cossack they followed this Ryanair route and its nothing wrong with it. Stamina becomes more prominent in horses over time and in another year the GC trip might be his best.

apologies timtin - it was just a different way to say i agree - appreciate the ridicule

This is what RR apparently told Lydia Hislop just recently after the majestic performance of Faugheen: "I keep noting that my trainer keeps saying I'm very keen to run. I'm always keen to run. I was keen to run last year against other horses," he said, meaning against Hurricane Fly.