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Cheltenham Festival
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These 92 comments are related to the topic:
Mullins STILL no championship chase wins
Mullins STILL no championship chase wins
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On the other hand 2015 stands out for me as one of the best Festivals ever because there were so many superb performances. Had they all run in the CH, Mullins would have had the first seven home and some would have been beaten out of sight. Then we would just shrug our shoulders and move on to the next race but the rest of the meeting wouldn't have been quite the same.
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Guess today's Al Boum Photo is a picture perfect ending for this thread
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Domt think hes won a selling plate at ludlow either
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Well not really Catch as hes yet to win the Champion Chase!!
Funny how he finally wins a Gold Cup, and his number 1 jockey throughout most of the years trying to win the race,rides a different horse  Pleased for Townend though,hes been there a long time as well. Guess it was a surprise winner for them, although their was money for him on the day. As for the jumping,well the rest of his all suffered at the fences,and even the winner was not brilliant at them. |
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Absolute cr4p on here
The O'Leary's buy chaser types Willie buys speedsters as well Willie wins Irish gold cup , champion chase etc etc Last year ...... ....but they don't count because Henderson Won't bring the altiors bdm over here to Punchestown Even though they are far above in class Than anything at Cheltenham So far up your own backsides |
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If the roll call in the paper is correct, he actually only had a total of 17 Gold Cup runners in the 19 renewals between 1999 and 2017 - and then 4 runners in each of the last two renewals.
Of those, Djakadam ran in the race four times, Florida Pearl three times and Alexander Banquet and On His Own twice. Just shows how difficult it is to have a realistic Gold Cup contender, let alone the winner. All things being equal, Al Boum Photo and Kemboy should be back next year, every chance he'll add to his tally in the next 2-3 years (though these things are notoriously difficult to predict as we all know). |
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"Just shows how difficult it is to have a realistic Gold Cup contender, let alone the winner."
Makes you wonder how Dickenson did it for the 1st 5 home. Never is a very long time but THAT WILL never been seen again |
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Never won a handicap chase at the festival either
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Irish Racing - Al Boum Photo gave trainer Willie Mullins his first victory in the Gold Cup following a dramatic race. Leading at the second-last fence, Al Boum Photo (12-1) dug deep for jockey Paul Townend, who was also winning the Gold Cup for the first time. Anibale Fly stayed on strongly to finish second, two and a half lengths away, with Bristol De Mai another three and three-quarter lengths back in third. After six second places, Mullins finally broke his Gold Cup hoodoo. His three other runners — Kemboy, Bellshill and Invitation Only — failed to finish. It was later reported Invitation Only had suffered a fatal injury.
Mullins said: “I’ve got used to the disappointment of finishing second. “I thought Bellshill would take a lot of beating, but Ruby (Walsh) wasn’t happy with him and pulled him up early. To have three of the four runners out of the race before they came to the second-last first time round — I was depending on one. “Every time I looked at Paul, his body language told me was very happy and the horse was relaxed. “When he came over the last, I just looked at the winning post and thought nothing would come and get him unless he stops or runs out or something like that. “I was here when my dad (Paddy Mullins) won with Dawn Run and I didn’t get home for two days. “I sort of resigned myself to never winning a Gold Cup. Certain jockeys may never win the feature race of their lives, like the Grand National or the Champion Hurdle. I thought maybe I’m not going to be lucky.” He added: “It was Paul’s plan to jump out and get a position and just keep jumping and getting balanced. From an early stage he got him jumping in a rhythm. Every time he needed a squeeze, the horse responded. “Paul started off with us when he was 17. He was riding as a claimer for me and he won the Galway Hurdle for John Kiely and that really put him on the scene. “He has just been unlucky he has been alongside Ruby. Hopefully he might be champion jockey for the second time and he is out in front. I’m sure like any jockey this will be a lifetime achievement for him.” An emotional Townend — who hit the headlines for the wrong reason with Al Boum Photo at Punchestown last season, dramatically running out when in the lead — said: “I can’t believe it. It’s the Gold Cup, there’s only one a year and I never dreamt I’d win it. “Like any race, when you’re going well it’s so simple. “It’s unbelievable and I’m privileged to be riding for Willie Mullins.” Anibale Fly ran a huge race to better this third place from 12 months ago. His trainer Tony Martin said: “He’s run a blinder, but this was the one time I didn’t want Willie to win the Gold Cup! “He is in the National again and obviously he was placed in it last year after running so well in the Gold Cup before, but he’s had a hard race there. “We’ll just have to see how he is, it’s only three weeks away.” Nigel Twiston-Davies had a word for those who might have written off the chance of Bristol De Mai. He said: “The experts are the experts and I haven’t got a clue why they are experts. He was the joint top-rated in the race and he got beat, so maybe they are right! “He’s been very sound this year. When he ran in this two years ago he’d had problems, but he’s been fine this year. “He’s just top class, not just at Haydock, anywhere — he’s just finished third in the Gold Cup.” Defending champion Native River was fourth, with Presenting Percy, the 100-30 favourite, in eighth. |
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NTD had a word for those who might have written off the chance of Bristol De Mai. He said: "The experts are the experts and I haven't got a clue why they are experts. He was the joint top-rated in the race and he got beat, so maybe they are right. He's just finished 3rd in the Gold Cup. Defending champion Native River was fourth, with Presenting Percy, the 100/30 fav, in eight."
Indeed, a select few were even tipping Presenting Percy (conveniently ignoring his absurd and unorthodox prep) for success in the Gold Cup - if only they were punting with their own money, and not feeding from the same trough as the bookies. |
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The experts are the experts and I haven’t got a clue why they are the experts
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Conveniently ignoring his absurd and unorthodox prep
Which you know nothing about !  |
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gREAT TO LOOK BACK AT FESTIVAL RACES AND FESTIVAL THREADS ...... I wonder where eric and budd are nowdays .....
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