Irish Sports
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Was there for 3 days and i can say with certainty that i will never attend this festival again. Between cross country races,banks races ,far too many bumpers and low grade handicaps ,the racing lacks very few punting opportunities. Combine these factors with atrocious ground and countless horses running stones below their best,then you are left with a whole host of lotteries. God himself couldnt figure out whats going to happen there,form goes clean out the window in alot of instances. Cheltenham and even Aintree are on a different planet to this dive,the catering is awful there,the stewarding is awful there,and you shouldnt really need wellingtons to get from your car to the front gate at any meeting,let alone a so called flagship one. Now some will say this sounds like a rant from somebody who lost his money ,and yes i did lose my dough. But that isnt the reason for being so disgruntled,it isnt the first time this meeting has dissapointed me,but it really digusted me this year.
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Is that why you went for 3days?
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Sorry to hear that Jimeen , I cant agree though , s.s.won at aint chel , punch ,s.e.finished 2nd at chelt , punch , h.fly won at chelt , punch , surely thats top class form holding up...What more do you want ..I was there most days , I left my house 25 mins before the first and was in and seated before racing began ,Never once did i encounter huge puddles , although there were some heavy spots to park in ...I'd like the catering to improve though...The police controlled the traffic fantastically ....As i said sorry you feel that way ...
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I know workrider that you can list races where form held up and there were a few of those too,of course there was. But i could name 25 horses that ran a stone or more below their best. The bad stewarding i meant was people being allowed bring glasses out of the bars and all over the track. That is simply not tolerated in England and rightly so too. The traffic management as you rightly said was very good indeed,you certainly couldnt fault that aspect of the place.
Franksaloran,i went there for 4 days originally but i went home after 3,i would have left earlier only i wasnt on my own and i didnt want to dissapoint the two guys that were with me,they seemed to enjoy the place. |
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Yes i also agree with you re the stewards allowing glasses to be taken outside , I've said it year after year , A massive waste of money the amount of stewards just simply doing nothing...
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My fav meeting in ireland, the best moment for me was the crowds appreciation for the great Sprinter sacre , my next best moment was being down at the last fence for the gold cup and the jockeys getting the very best out of there mounts, GREAT STUFF
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im sorry it was so bad for you jimeen..punchy have problems?..but to be fair i think the racing itself has been good..not as good as others i agree but it was worth it for most to see the monster s.s?
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Not sure if you mean me or the track Tony
 ,I'm 100% anyhow  |
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Jimeen i could not agree more, i see wonky say the form held up because Sprinter won, he ran was it 11 or 13 lbs below his cheltenham form but that's not either here not there to a certain degree the facts are as Ted Walsh said yesterday too many races, there is a 2 mile and 2 and a half mile and a 3 mile novice hurdle, 4 bumpers on the first 2 days, c'mon. We had a nice festival when it was a 3 day even 4 days was streching it but 5 ffs can we not do anything right in this country, more is not always better. People crib about the derby festival at the Curragh it's better than that nonsense.
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In other words COCO didn't back a winner either....
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I was there yesterday and I enjoyed the day. Helps when the winners flow of course. The organization though was poor. Took us probably 15 mins to get through the turnstiles and the catering was real slop it up stuff. Punchestown is not a patch on Cheltenham and never will be for a lot of reasons.
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agree with jimeen. its either a 25 runner bumper/poxy hunter chase or a 4 runner race with an odds on shot. like a grade one novice hurdle yesterday with 3 runners... the handicaps are the best races on the cards.
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Willie Mullins having the vast bulk of the cream doesnt help either?.
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yeah silvergreaser. you cant blame him. suppose its fair to say other trainers missed out on the meetin to avoid him as well. gordon elliott very few runners, meade and dessie hughes probably target fairyhouse more, jessie done her best but no one has the ammo. i like jimeen will be avoiding from now on. lesson learnt altho i seem to remember sayin this 3/4 years ago....
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anyone paying in , would want their heads examined.
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It was 1.01 that the parsimonious begging Irish Guy would come up with a gem like that.
This is the same poster that wanted free entry into all racecourses for anyone who owned a horse along with free cards and free food,this brought one of the funniest responses given on here " just because your outside Croke Park with a Hurley in your hand doesn't mean you are entitled to free entry for the All Ireland " At some stage it will dawn on Irish Guy that someone has to pay and this going around scrounging does him no favours. |
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i haven't been to the festival 4, 3 yrs..but i have to say i enjoyed my day there..i agree about the food but i never bought much..(i never do on racecourses)..for me its all about the horses and i have to admit some of the races this week have been poor with only a few runners..and a mullins free for all..but the weather had alot to do with that..i think the irish trainers must start to get near willie or it will put off a lot more punters ..as the competition is weak..but the festival itself is still great ..and i for one will be back soon(hoping its not a mullins feast)
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Its not Willes fault he's quite happy to laugh all the way to the bank, its impossible for the other trainers to compete when extremely rich owners keep on sending their most expensive french breds among others to Willie.
Gigginstown do spread their stock around kudos to them, but Ricci puts all his egss in one basket, would be nice if he decided to spread a few around and he'll mostly likely still have plenty of success outside of the Mullins monopoly?. |
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It's the fault of the other Irish trainers for running scared.
A three horse race for the Madra chase two for Willie Mullins and one from England Five runners in the Grade1 mares hurdle two for Willie Mullins,one from England and two Irish trained runners from small stables all for a pot of 62,000 Six runners in the Four year old Champion Hurdle,four from the Willie Mullins stable with only two other trainers willing to take him on for a pot of fifty odd grand. |
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Are they running scared wildman or have they just not got the ammuntition, its a pity Our Conor didnt turn up as I think he already has next years champion hurdle in the bag if he stays sound.
Ricci has something like 30 horses in training with Mullins, and he's spent well in excess of 5 million on them so that would work out at something in the region of €180,000 average per horse, a virtual blank cheque in National hunt terms, compete with that wildman?. |
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ammunition even!.
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Cut it back to 3 days and have proper high quality racing, the crowds will soon go and the real punters won't be going to it anymore.
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I'm surprised more is not made of the role of Harold Kirk buying the French breds for Mullins and his owners.
If this guy worked for JP or Gigginstown, the overall picture would be transformed. |
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Good point ozy, and maybe the oft used word "genius" to describe Mullins might not be used with such abandon?
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I could buy the French horses if I had Riccis money behind me.
Silvergreaser correctly points out the amount of money being spent,now if Mr Kirk was buying horses for small money that would be different. I attended three days and the whole thing was magnificent,the festival works the crowds were immense with a lot of young people,the betting appeared to be holding up. Can't agree about the catering as all I knew were impressed by the food and service,best racing caterers in the country( with the exception of Thurles ) and the traffic management was the best I have ever seen. The constant music gets to me but as I am in a minority on this its hardly fair to complain. The only problem racing wise was some of the uncompetitive fields as illustrated by today's racing. |
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Opening poster is spot on. The field sizes were shocking with many being run at 7 or less. 3 for a novice Grade 1 FFS and 6 (4 from one trainer) in the Juvenile Grade 1.
Irish racing is in a bad way when one trainer is so dominant. Mullins has as many wins this year as the next 4 put together. Many of the handicaps running at 130% + with 2 at 150%...... |
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Wildmanfromborneo,you are entitled to your opinion but even by the pathetic standards of racecourse catering Punchestown is one of the lesser lights,and thats saying something. I wonder did somebody from HRI ever go and take a look at Cheltenham and see could they possibly even go close to replicating the way they do it. I would give the catering at Cheltenham a rating of 9/10 and Punchestown would struggle to get a zero. The top tracks in this country are a disgrace compared to their counterparts across the water. You mention the betting holding up,the betting was useless there and the main factor being the recession. An other factor is that half the crowd that go in the gate never even see a bookmaker. Of course they should be scattered all over the place like they do in England,but not so here. Even the racecourse itself leaves alot to be desired,the siting of the fences is ridiculous. Tramore has a longer run in on the chase course,its almost impossible to get beaten if you jump the last in front over fences and i dont know of any racecourse anywhere with a downhill finish,let alone a so called Grade 1 track. I am open to correction but i'd like somebody to name any other track where the finish is downhill.
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u were in the cheap seats jimeen,plus losing yre bollix never helps.i for 1 enjoyed the meeting plus the local talent from naas are always entertaining.
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jimeen.not easy find the lady in punch.bent races very thin on the ground for you
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There are bent races everywhere winnings,according to you didnt Ruby give Silvianaco Conti an easy in Aintree. I assume if the races at Aintree are bent then Punchestown must be the same.
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well i enjoyed myself
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I know Prem, i heard the reports of an individual abusing himself in the men's toilet at the course alright.
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Jimeen...Wexford?
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Hardlyuseless, there are quite a few flat tracks and i would consider Wexford to be fairly level, particularly from the last bend to the line. The only two that i couldnt argue with anybody who might say they finish downhill are Cartmel and Ballinrobe.
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The best days racing I was ever at in my life was in Punchestown about 21 years ago. It was a 3 day meeting then I think and one of the days was off. Anyway there were 5 Grade 1 races that day. It was the single most enjoyable day I ever had. I went Friday this week, arriving at 16:30 and I left at 18:05 with shoes so muddy it took me an hour to clean them yesterday.
I wouldn't cross the road to go there ever again 1. As Jimeen says initially the racing is not Grade 1 racing 2. The catering is crap (I was invited to a private box and even that was crap) 3. The Betting Ring was dead. One only has to go racing to see all the lies peddled about busy betting rings is a joke. I spoke to a front-line bookie who had not laid 3 bets in the Champion hurdle race and he was betting without, betting straight and forecast betting. Finally a word on the fashion stakes for Ladies day. All I say were 13-15 year old girls tottering around. They were looking well I am sure to their 13-15 year old peers but not much use to the likes of me. Perhaps Friday was a poor example but the experience for me was a waste of time. I had no bet by the way so that was not a factor in my view |
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Went everyday, a great pity to see such small fields for some of the big races. I couldn't careless about the catering, I have never thought of a racecourse as a great place for a slap up meal. Traffic management was top class - in and out in minutes. Plus the phone coverage was good.
Went to Cheltenham Thurs and Friday, left after the Gold Cup and they were towing cars with the tractors at that stage, heard it was mayhem later that night. Plus a genius of a parking steward managed to direct me to drive over 2 of his traffic cones while he was trying to do something else. Done a nice bit of damage above the wheel. Couldn't make a phone call at the place. |
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Great post all joking aside they showed one of the private functions one day and i honestly could not believe what i seen with the food, looked bog standard, i would love to bring wildman over to some of the UK courses for their catering. All in all i think Punchestown will be on the slide from here on in unless they cut it back, family day at a national hunt festival please.
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COCO , I HEAR YOU HAVE A PRIVATE BOX IN PORTMAN PARK...
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That's right i have actually, great for watching some of those horses you claim to have bred and owned Wonks
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