Well that will be interesting.
The experimenting continues.

It seems the most obvious race but I still I think I'd have waited CCM as it isn't nrnb.

So much will depend on the other Mullins horses as there will be some pretty big clashes and hard choices for Ruby. If we assume Douvan doesn't make it then do they take on Min in the QM or take on UDS in the Ryanair? Or do they reroute UDS to the QM leaving the Ryanair for Yorkhill.

And if Faugheen flops again do they aim at the CH? Or do they plot him up for the Lincoln.

Experimenting? He ought to have run in the Champion Hurdle post the scratching of Faugheen and Annie Power; 2m or 2m 4f is just up his street.

Actually to be fair,he has won a chase over 2m , so experimenting is not really the right word.
It is a bit of a change for the horse though.
Cant wait to see the race to be honest, hope he has some decent opposition.

They do have Min for the shorter trip, but is Min any good???, Yorkhill is and they want to win it not just run in it.!!

Mullins will have at least 2, perhaps 3, runners in both the QM and Ryanair if they all make it there. Douvan could turn up still. Great Field is potentially top class. I would think he'll settle for deciding who runs where on the weekend before the festival starts when they they are all safely stabled in Cheltenham. My guess at this stage is Yorkhill will run in the QM.

Duffy. I personally think both Yorkhill and Min are superior animals to UDS and will be split up as Mullins best and second best chasers (in the absence of Douvan).

I think it was a pretty poor Ryanair last year and think either Min or Yorkhill could beat UDS this year. So it will be a case of which distance suits those two best and Mullins has said a couple of times Min is all speed... and we know Yorkhill can win over the intermediate distance at the Festival.

Yorkhill will run in the 2 mile race at the newly formed Dublin racing festival in early Feb IMO, if he's impressive there it will be hard to run him in anything other than the CC.

By running him in that race they'll basically giving him the chance to prove he's a CC horse.

They've got to run in it but if the alleged Wylie comment that he's 2 miles next time, that tells me which way they are thinking.

i know some will feel yorkhill is a bet wherever he runs at the festival but does it not bother anyone that he ran like a drain the other day folding quicker than a cheap argos tent?

he has always been quirky horse, it is quite possible he hasn't gone on, we will see i suppose but i don't understand anyone entertaining a bet at this stage, just an opinion

Duffy. They will only run in him that as per Willie's quote that all the 2m4f options are right handed and that won't suit him.

I thought his quote suggested they would run him over 2m4f if they could, but they can't.

CCM,

That may well be correct, but for whatever reason, it is going to be the 2 mile race and if he is impressive in it then talk will naturally be geared I think toward the CC.

If he's less than impressive and win or lose he's sort of a staying on performance then obviously the Ryanair comes more into it.

If you're a Ryanair backer, him running over 2 miles is going to be twitchy for you, as a bold front running demolition job would be curtains I'd have thought.....I'm sure he's capable of such a performance.

Seriously though, if I were talking up UDS for the QM(Which has been known!!!)I could use much the same comments.
Big difference though is that the formbook tells me that UDS is definitely capable of a Demolition job.

FWIW I too am pretty sure Yorkhill could as well, but at the same time I could see him not do it.

I dunno, hes definitely got a lot of talent, we have seen it, guess its all down to the price, and whether I am willing to take a risk and part with my cash....cos for me he is a risky bet, whenever he runs.
.

Im probably worse mate.....UDS and all that.

I hope for your sake you get your wish,and to be fair, if he runs well in his next race over 2m,then his presence in the QM would be exciting for us.

Duffy. So you not think the fact they chose two and a half miles as a novice hurdler, and again as a novice chaser is telling though?

CCM,

Back then it would have been telling because then they were hopefully building toward a GC attempt, his breeding gave them every hope that he'd be a GC horse. They've now exhausted that so what happened before they had hindsight is now redundant.

There's a few notable things that have happened I think, firstly, his run in the Lexus where I think he would have been as fit as possible and was ridden extremely positively in order to give them the answer they needed regarding his stamina. Townend was easy on him when his chance was gone and I think that he was told that he wouldn't be beat for fitness so if you feel the stamina giving out then take it easy.

The non entry for the GC backs the above up as it proves that they are confident from that last run that he won't stay and that he would have been fit enough on that day to give them the answer.

I also think that through Lexus he jumped better than I've seen from him before, notably from the front, he looked straight forward and settled pretty much perfectly, could it be that racing from the front might eradicate a lot of his quirkiness, perhaps he doesn't want to see other horses around him. On this note it would seem better to adopt that approach in a 2 mile race rather than the 2.5 of the Ryanair where that approach might just tax him at that trip in open company. Also I noticed that for the majority of the Lexus he jumped straight up until when his stamina started to ebb and Balko took the lead off of him.

Lastly, I just wonder if they might just start to think of the Vautour situation where although a festival winner, they never really stuck or twisted with him with regards the two "better" races did they and now won't get another chance, with regards to that I just think the non GC entry is an unusual but refreshingly welcome act from the stable. The only thing that they need to decide on with him is whether he has the speed for the CC and to me that's an easy yes.

I think he'll run over 2 miles at Leopardstown next where he'll be gunned from the front with the encouragement he gave from that race style last time where they can utilize his speed knowing that he stays further, if it goes well it will be hard to not run in the CC next IMO.

Agree unclepuncle. His JLT run last year showed him to best effect i.e. running left-handed and held up off a fast pace. I think his quirks are most evident when he jumps right-handed or hits the front too soon. To me he definitely needs to be held on to as long as possible. If you look at his Cheltenham wins he is idling going to the line.

Would be great to see him in the QMCC against Altior.

According to Mullins, Yorkhill will be running in the 2m 1f Dublin Chase on 3rd Feb, and if this does not work he'll go back to hurdling.

So, no Ryanair for him either, and do not throw away your Champion Hurdle voucher for this quirky beast (yet)...you could be pleasantly surprised.

There wasn't anything wrong with him though was there, for most of the race he was leading them a merry dance I thought, subsequent events are that he hasn't even got a GC entry which for this stable is a remarkable course of action who would normally leave every possible door open but instead it was announced he'll drop back in trip!!

Hell of a prep for the Champion Hurdle,quite laughable from a top yard imo.

Whose he gonna be up against though in this 2m chase?