Cheltenham Festival
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there is only one gold cup after all.
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Mullins best shot at a gold cup winner is Limini, the ascot gold cup
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More 2nds in the gold cup than Jimmy White at the snooker now for Mullins.
Publically he'll not admit it but it's bound to nag at him that he has yet to win the blue riband. |
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I don't think he'll have too many regrets. He did win a good renewal of the Ryanair, and what happened to Cue Card shows anything can happen in a Gold Cup, so to get a winner, I don't think he'll be too downhearted.
If Djakadam had won, I think Giggi would have had big regrets over running Road to Riches and Valseur Lido in the Ryanair. Worked out well for them in the end. The only thing with Vautour is that if he was ever going to get 3m2f, he wouldn't have had better ground than what he had today. |
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I'd have thought so, even the sponsor, a Mr O'Leary, said the Ryanair is not the Gold Cup - maybe as a dig to WPM/RR; the conditions were ideal for Vautour, and given the proximity of Djakadam to DC there must be more than a tinge of regret especially RR. Next year perhaps.
I wonder if there was any more to it other than RW thinking Footpad represented a better chance of winning the Triumph than Let's Dance - he rode Munir's Footpad instead of Ricci's Let's Dance. |
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Mullins would have won the Ryanair anyway if Vautour had stuck to the plan and gone for gold (Valseur Lido was second). If Cue Card had stood up and if Vautour had lined up, the big three would have fought out the finish. Instead Don Cossacks success comes with an asterix (that's not the horses fault).
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He said live on air "We probably need to look for something else now" after Djakadam finished 2nd again. I think he knows now that Vautour was probably his best chance and he hasn't got anything else in the yard at present. Thistlecrack is probably set to dominate and Vautour won't beat him, but he would have had a good chance against Don Cossack.
The Ryanair win was great, but the Gold Cup is the one they want and now it looks like they'll have to wait a while. |
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Only seeing Cue Card coming up that hill in front today would have given me greater pleasure than Ricci and Mullins getting it stuck on them in the Gold Cup. I hope neither of them ever win the big one and I don't care how churlish that makes me seem. They were instrumental in leaving a sour taste in the mouths of many punters who lost money on both races and even punters like myself who didn't have a bet in either race.
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in effect they
1. Took away from what would have been a great Gold cup. 2, Ran a horse whose form was on soft and did not run Vatour who would have loved the ground. 3. Ruined any prospect of Antepost betting in future. 4. Treated Paul Townend disgracefully who should have rode Vatour in Gold cup. 5. The rubbish excuse they came up with 90% fit should leave him at home, taking the punters as pure idiots. 6. Treated punters overall disgracefully, should hang their heads in shame. |
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I agree with what you say Tim, but I think Don Cossack would've beat Vautour over the 3 miles and 2 1/2 furlongs anyway
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Would agree GT but today with the good ground it rode more like 3mile than 3m2 1/2F think it would have been a cracker given the conditions I would take Vatour. Having said that I backed cue card today so heyho
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Would certainly have added to the race Tim.. but Don Cossack has for 11 months now been the best chaser in Ireland & the UK.
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Trigger, even though Valseur Lido finished in front of RTR, I'm pretty confident RTR would have comfortably won the Ryanair had Vautour not been in the field.
RTR tried to go with Vautour and beat him, so in effect cut his own throat. Valseur Lido was out the back the whole race and stayed on strongly at the end. Gold Cup was definitely his race, but outside of Vautour, RTR was a good bit better than the others imo. I'd try him in the Ryanair again next year too. |
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Vautour had everything in his favour today and only would have had to have beaten Don Cossack as I think he had the measure of all the rest. We will never know for sure (though plenty will claim otherwise) but it definitely took away from what had promised to be a classic gold cup which turned out to be a bit of a let down. If there is one valuable lesson to be learned it is never to believe some of the balderdash coming out of Mullins mouth and his explanation after Vautours facile Ryanair win only made it more embarrassing.
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Yeah, absolutely everything would have been in Vautour's favour today. Hope he takes on the Don over 3m at Punchestown.
From what was looking like an amazing Gold Cup before Christmas, we lost Vautour, Coneygree, Road to Riches, Valseur Lido, Holywell and Saphir de Rheu from the original lineup. What could have been. |
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surely must be some degree of regret given Mullins has still not won a Gold Cup and, for all his dominance, won only one of the four championship races.
But Djakadam ran an cracking race. |
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@wellchief. Perhaps, but VL may have also been ridden differently had Vautour not lined up and he looked to comfortably have RTR measure lto at Leopardstown before falling at the last. The point is that Mullins either lost his nerve over backing himself on the Vautour staying question or he simply hoodwinked the public. He has since said that he still believes Vautour to be a gold cup horse so definitively can't say he won't stay the gold cup distance. He had all the cards fall in his favour this week yet refused to fire the dart. I'd say he will have a sleepless night tonight wondering what might have been. He definitely won't have any better chance next season.
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Personally I don't think Vautour had another 7 furlongs in him at the end of the Ryanair.
I wasn't too pleased with how Davy rose Don Poli, not saying he would have won but I don't think he should have been 15-20 lengths back I imagine next year they switch Djakadam and Vautour if they are thinking Djakadam needs something else, but then you also have Horses like Black Hercules, Killstaugh Vic, to place. Next year will probably even more games for the Mullins team over both fences and hurdles in terms of who goes where. Vroom Vroom over fences to Make way for Limini? Champion hurdle conundrum Will they run Douvan vs Un de Seaux Or will they start saving some to be fresh for Aintree/Punchestown |
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Does anyone else think that Ruby has too much power on the Mullins/Ricci/Walsh decision making?
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I don't know if it's him with the power or that Mullins thinks he's so good that he wants him riding them all. Clearly Paul Townend is being disgracefully overlooked and would be a very good first jockey in almost any other stable.
The point has been made by others but a four day festival facilitates the arch ditherer Mullins. Nobody knows what would have happened with Vautour but given how well Cue Card was going and how well Don Cossack won you'd have had him very much in the mix there. |
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The only regrets they can have is simply through hindsight:
If they knew beforehand that Djak wasn't good enough, they still would have doubted Vautour's staying ability but they would have been forced to run him. Next year Vautour's chances to run in the GC would have been lessened further IMO, because he'll still tie up in the KG and on top of that will have BH and more importantly Douvan, who, as the other real stable superstar would in their minds be really hoping would stay the GC trip...both these two will be vying for Walsh's affections. Djakadam and Shaneshill look like two ready made Ryanair horses. |
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I said it in the build up but I'll say it again. If you have ten horses good enough to run in the biggest and most prestigious Grade 1 race in the world then you fire ten bullets at the target. Nobody can know which of the bullets will hit the target and if you start rationing them and fail you will always wonder. I hope Mullins and Ricci have nightmares about the one that got away. Neither have ever won the big one. GOOD
 Serves them right with a big fat cherry on top for treating the people who make racing what it is as complete mugs.Who are the mugs now boys? never a Gold Cup. Never a World Hurdle. Never a Champion Chase. EAT THAT. |
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The wonderful sub plot to all of this too is how in the space of a few days wylie's positioned has strengthened, he looks to have a potential Arkle/CH horse on his hands in Yorkhill whilst BH is a viable GC contender in the making...he's made up ground on Ricci this week, it even culminated in a rekindling of the partnership with Nicholl's which won't have hurt.
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If a real good one does emerge for Mullins in staying chases next year (Killultagh Vic, Black Hercules, Valseur Lido etc), then Vautour could win the next 3 Ryamairs quite easily.
You never know, that could be a route they go down. Try and beat Quevegas five festival wins. It's very possible and that'll be a different route into the history books. I know we don't like at all what went on, but it's not Vautour's fault. Last year after the JLT the superlatives flying round were huge and this year nothing, and I can understand that However, he was masterful in the Ryanair, and demolished the best Ryanair field there has ever been and imo still the best chaser in training. |
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* Ryanairs. Phone keyboard not playing ball this morning!
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Is Djakadam a ready-made Ryanair horse? To me he has to be trained for the Gold Cup again regardless of what goes on with the rest of the Ricci horses. He'll still only be 8 next year. Vautour looks the ready made Ryanair horse to me.
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What a load of B0ll0x, not having this sh1te that Vautour doesn't stay, just look at the two main protagonists in the GC yesterday, both have ran like blatant stayers on more than one occasion in the past and anyone who says they never doubted them as stayers are liars, just because you fail to win over a distance once or twice does not mean the horse is a non stater, as horses get older and progress they will/can stay, nothing p!sses me off more than when a horse tries a longer trip for the first time, gets beat then connections completely give up on the idea of the horse even staying that distance on the back of one run!!
Vautour would have won the GC 100% convinced of that, on that ground he'd have killed them, and if Cue Card had stayed on his feet im convinced he'd have beat Don Cossack,But in the end his jumping cost him, jumped like a crab the whole way hit every fence so in the end he done well to still be going as well as he was when he ploughed 3 out. |
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By the way when I say main protagonists I meant Don Cossack and Cue Card, obviously.
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http://www.independent.ie/sport/horse-racing/cheltenham/james-lawton-golddon-moment-34554451.html
Hits the nail on the head for me. Mullins SHOULD be waking up this morning wondering how he got it all so wrong. But the hell with it he has his Ryanair. The more you analyse it the more disappointing it is for the race that we were denied the chance to see DC, CC & Vautour fighting it out up the home straight. Don Cossack was a very good winner but there will always be an asterix beside that win imo. |
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What the Ryanair showed is that Vautour is very adaptable. Ruby didn't want him to get in to a slugging match with Road To Riches and so eased him in to the race. Had he run in the Gold Cup I suspect he would have been dropped in and put into the race coming around the final bend. All academic now but as I said neither Mullins or Ricci have ever won the big one and if that hurts:
GOOD. |
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Why good
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Excellent that Mullins will be thinking "What if?" all summer after the way they're treated punters the last few weeks.
As already stated the ground may not be so suitable for Vautour in a Gold Cup again. Providing Thistlecrack jumps OK couldn't see Vautour beating it anyway and Thistlecrack won't mind good or heavy. Add in Coneygree next season on soft going and anything beating these 2 will have to be a hell of a horse. Hopefully Vautours best chance has gone. |
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I'd love Vautour to win the Gold Cup in the future.
He's far too good a horse not to at least run in one. His connections didn't conduct themselves correctly at all, but when Vautour retires, I want to think back on he is one of the VERY BEST horses we have ever seen, and not what his connections were like. The horse is a monster and deserves his place at the top table. Annie Power has shown this year that sometimes you may take a strange route, but in the end all the cards fell into place for her. I hope we get the same with Vautour. |
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Love Vautour and he is a very very special horse but it's time to take the rose tinted specs off, he's never going to win a gold cup. He just does not travel like a stayer and another three furlongs I'd have fancied Valseur Lido to have caught him, who could well be a gold cup horse.
It's all coming back to bite Mullins on the ar.se now by avoiding Faugheen with these great horses as he now has three top 2 milers in his yard. Good. |
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Having "chickened" out of the Gold Cup Vautour should have gone for the Champion Chase this year instead of the Ryanair. And for next year unless he wins the King George very well unlikely he'll go for the Gold Cup again, certainly not the Champion Chase as Douvan shares the same ownership.
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DECALEC
If you can't see why it is good that neither Mullins or Ricci have won a Gold Cup after the way they have behaved then you need the men in white coats. It's a terrible shame that Colin Tizzard's horse didn't stand up. Decent people deserve good things to happen to them. Unfortunately life isn't often fair. |
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Tbh, ducking the Champion Hurdle twice with Annie Power is worse because that was due solely to Mullins' reluctance to let his stars take each other on. With Vautour, there was a rational case based on stamina.
If Vautour wins the 2016 King George, he should run in the Gold Cup next year but if he again fails to stay, there is no point. |
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Not forgetting he rubbed salt in that particular wound when he said before the Champion that two years ago Annie Power would have been odds on to beat the field she ran against on Tuesday. Yet instead of her running in the best race for her she not only bypassed the Champion but stepped up to a distance she'd never tried in order to also avoid a race against Quevega.
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Must congradulate Micheal O'Leary by Mullins thinking he should have put Don Poli into another race thus demeaning the Gold cup but in fairness he ran him, so fair play as you need the best horses in the gold cup FFS.
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Not only DP in the Gold Cup, the O'Learys' had their own jockey on DP as well.
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