Lawlors of Naas.

Depth of stable quality is remarkable 

Should be referred to the Monopolies Commission if they have one in Ireland.

4 to 6 shot beat yesterday by stable buddy
1 to 2 shot beat today
6 to 4 fav in grade 1 beat today by outsider of field 
and still a great 2 days for stable,more chance backing  MKJ horses

Different level over there though Sage with so much depth quality , couldn't have a field like that in England as insufficiently good horses which is why you'll always get more 2nd , 3rd and even 4th strings winning good races in Ireland.

More of previous years to come at Cheltenham as well i think.

I don't dispute that they have the best horses. I am sorry but I just don't trust Aiden O'Brien, Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliott when they have multiple runners in a race. To be fair, all of the Mullins and Elliott runners there had won last time out but either they don't have a clue which is the best or they are misleading the public.

I honestly believe they run on their merits but like every other stable have longer term targets built in plus wanting to learn more to determine the best future target.

Good to have opinions though Sage and boring if we all thought the same.


Good punting 

not disputing what you say sage and tbf townend has picked the right one plenty of times but all were unexposed and i dont think they put the gun to their heads at home so they only have a fair idea of the pecking order of lightly raced types imo. also townend wouldnt have the choice of riding the winner either . i got luckyb with the winner as i thought it may be one that just did enough ,wether it would be good enough was the question !

The betting would suggest the stable never had much idea.

Sageform

The winner had won his last 3 races ridden by the owners jockey

How made the prices it wasn’t Willie Mullins

So if Willie thought that the winner was a big price, who thought it was the worst horse in the field? Who tells who what? It was not even as if it was jockey preference as the winner was Daryl's ride while Townend would probably have had the choice of the rest.

Sorry, 3 posts appeared while I was writing my last one!

Winner 2nd in 3 miles point front two in the market stepping up in trip a very competitive grade one get over it

Throw in Ballyburn and who could pick the best one of Mullins if they turn up at Cheltenham? I thought that Becky Watson would win a minute 2 out but it didn't get home so could he still be the best of them with a different ride?

His 3 outsiders were priced 11/1 , 14/1 and 16/1 Sage so negligible difference between 2nd vs 4th string tbh.

Townend has 1st pick on all WPM horses

Hayden, that suggests that who ever influences the prices of the yard runners thought that the runner up was a lot better than the other 3. Could it be Ruby? That result in isolation is no big deal but it happens regularly.

As for selection criteria in races like that Sage i'm virtually in the Foyleswar thinking mode so i'll always see things a bit differently to the norm i guess.

As for happening with regularity i welcome that , long may it continue as it suits my selection criteria   

Of course he does bentring hence el fablio silly mistake.

for me it all boils down to price as said all lightly raced potential improvers , townends ridemay have shown more at home but the winner or the ricci horse may just be the type that dont do a lot on the gallops the 3rd was a bit more exposed , its easy to say in hindsight of course .

Usually the festival novice races have a lot more shape about them by now, this result just highlights the much more open look to them this year with the pecking order within, certainly in the Mullins stable, a lot more unsure than normal.

Always thought it's virtually impossible even for top class connections to be anywhere near certain regarding the level of improvement from one race to the next in lightly raced horses , horses can make fools of trainers as well as punters.

You see it on the flat with babies frequently , rank outsiders win after showing massive improvement from inside first few races , crazy to be surprised in my view whatever price the winner.

Then the surprise is the price of the second who was very strong in the market. He did run well but not as well as the winner.

agree hayden and one of the reasons  is  in  i play these kind of races full of unexposed types .

Patrick is fuming. Told the other jocks he was going to kick the first two hurdles out of the ground and they shouldn't go past him, but they just jumped right on by.