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As it stands, Dan is about 62k behind and Paul a further 77k back.
There are about 25 race meetings left in the season so a maximum of 175 races with the majority worth less than 10k to the winner. Willie is threatening to send over runners for more than just the big races but, even picking up place money in the feature races at Ayr and Sandown will make a difference. Meetingofthewaters picked up 20k for finishing 7th yesterday.
The BHA figure for Skelton has been out by about 10k for a few weeks now compared to the RP records - not sure what's happened there. I can't find the anomaly, but it seems the RP have him with an additional winner somewhere.
I'm feeling slightly underwhelmed with the recent festivals, it's now a case of do you watch Irish racing in Ireland or Irish racing in UK.
7 UK runners out of 34 is simply overkill, restrictions are not a solution but where does UK racing go because it's pretty well non existent and will soon decline even further.
I note that RacingTV is really suffering with numerous offers due to lack of interest caused by several reasons.
RacingTV charge too much anyway, 30quid a month is ridiculous. Gone up a fiver from last year. People can just stream races on their phones/laptop etc. A tenner a month would be fair enough for convenience but they’ve just become greedy trying to fleece the die hard fans. They won’t attract new members at those prices.
It was the Willie festival this year, even the other Irish were reluctant to take him on in some races.
You are right, it probably has annoyed you more than it should, cos right now he’s dominating pretty much completely and we just have to accept that like the uk and Irish trainers have.
Acknowledging a situation is one thing, but you have to do something about it eventually or you're accepting defeat. They should be working backwards, why is Mullins better at sourcing horses for example? What has he put in place that we can learn from? Most of it goes from there. Instead it just feels like there's a dismissive attitude, a desperate hope it'll magically turn out to be cyclical. All the while Mullins gets better at his own game and were now looking at the British trainers being handed their arse on their own turf. Calling it the Willie Mullins festival when you send nothing over to take him on is pathetic. Sir Gino probably would win the juvenile race at the DRF but NH would rather fly over to watch the opposition instead. We got that great race between Shiskin and Energumene, one for the ages. Lets pretend it was in Ireland though, we all know what wouldn't have happened. It's a massive mountain to climb and nobody would suggest otherwise, but what are they doing to try? Mullins didn't get success handed to him on a plate. Recent talk of restricting numbers or it somehow being wrong or unfair that the Irish make up most of the National field completely misses the point and is a load of bollocks. When you see some of the money spent on ptp'ers for example that head elsewhere only to underwhelm it's not a pure money issue either. It's not good for the sport but WPM isn't the problem.
The BHA figure for Skelton has been out by about 10k for a few weeks now compared to the RP records - not sure what's happened there. I can't find the anomaly, but it seems the RP have him with an additional winner somewhere.
Maybe he submitted a falsified invoice to them for a winner
Acknowledging a situation is one thing, but you have to do something about it eventually or you're accepting defeat. They should be working backwards, why is Mullins better at sourcing horses for example? What has he put in place that we can learn from? Most of it goes from there. Instead it just feels like there's a dismissive attitude, a desperate hope it'll magically turn out to be cyclical. All the while Mullins gets better at his own game and were now looking at the British trainers being handed their arse on their own turf. Calling it the Willie Mullins festival when you send nothing over to take him on is pathetic. Sir Gino probably would win the juvenile race at the DRF but NH would rather fly over to watch the opposition instead. We got that great race between Shiskin and Energumene, one for the ages. Lets pretend it was in Ireland though, we all know what wouldn't have happened. It's a massive mountain to climb and nobody would suggest otherwise, but what are they doing to try? Mullins didn't get success handed to him on a plate. Recent talk of restricting numbers or it somehow being wrong or unfair that the Irish make up most of the National field completely misses the point and is a load of bollocks. When you see some of the money spent on ptp'ers for example that head elsewhere only to underwhelm it's not a pure money issue either. It's not good for the sport but WPM isn't the problem.
Yes, absolutely agree they have to do something about it and maybe some are trying to, but not sure how to be honest. It has to start by getting the best horses shared around like JP does with his.The Donnelly’s have their best horses in the uk as well as Ireland. After that though it seems WM is getting more and more of the high quality horses, and GE is quite well supported with some big spending owners as is HDB.
So that for me is where the issue of where to start lies.
Problem is owners see how successful WM is now and probably think it’s better to have their potential best horses with the most successful trainer.
NH has support from top owners and does have success with them and I honestly believe he tries to do his best for his owners while at the same time supporting uk racecourses. There’s a few top races in the uk close to the DRF.
I don’t know in what context his DRF comment was made, maybe he was just saying what happened this year which is true.
Im pretty confident he will want to have runners at Punchestown though.
Have other uk trainers commented on the DRF?
Cos we ain’t had many runners since it was invented as far as I recall.
I just watch racing and couldn't care less if the Irish are dominating the English races or vice versa. Where the horses are trained doesn't take away my enjoyment and the discussions over the Irish winning more and Willie in particular for me are very tedious and boring. As a punter, first and foremost, it's just another element to consider when picking winners.
The quality of the Aintree races this was much higher than i can remember and i thought there were some cracking races. The Grand National is not the race it once was which saddens me as I grew up in awe of the massive fences and other factors that created the ultimate spectacle and test that drew me in from a very young age. Classy horses were rarely risked but the race has become so safe now which means it has become a classy handicap and therefore much easier to pick the winner.
I wonder if this year will put Dan Skelton into the frame for more goes at graded races instead of just being a handicap trainer (possibly harsh).
AV is right, there are a lot of very expensive horses in the UK who don't do anything so the number 1 place people need to start looking is at the people who are sourcing the horses for them. Ballyburn wouldn't all of a sudden have been a C4 horse running round Taunton if he went to Ben Pauling, yet he cost less money than Handstands
I don’t think the authorities had much option but to make changes to the National fences otherwise we risk losing it all together. I used to love going ‘coursing’ but you cannot do that anymore in UK because of the ban. You might say there is a world of difference between the National and Coursing. But the people who protested against coursing and the National are of the same mind - that it’s cruel etc etc. ironically Altcar (venue for The Waterloo Cup last held in 2005) is just 8 miles away from Aintree. 8 miles is not far and 19 years is not long so in my opinion we should not be complacent .
On the subject of Irish dominance there is some justification for the view that there is a cyclical process. I remember, like many on the forum, when an Irish winner at the festival was a rarity. But change does not happen without action. Ireland did not sit back and do nothing. Nor can the UK racing authorities.
Does it matter? I think it does. Having one trainer running 5 horses in a 7 race field at the Festival is not healthy in my opinion. Apart from anything else there is potential for manipulating the race. We have already earlier in the season seen Patrick Mullins instructing his cousin Danny Mullins not to go up his inside. Regretfully (in my opinion) the Irish racing authorities took no action but at least they thought there was a need for a hearing. There are other reasons to be worried about dominance but I will leave it there otherwise this is likely to become a book!
There aren't enough good horses in the UK to run in our own races let alone send them over to the DRF
Maybe more could be sent over to run I'm the handicaps but there's not many of those at the meetingmeeting british trainer did win one of them anyway with Madara.
Does it matter? I think it does. Having one trainer running 5 horses in a 7 race field at the Festival is not healthy in my opinion. Apart from anything else there is potential for manipulating the race. We have already earlier in the season seen Patrick Mullins instructing his cousin Danny Mullins not to go up his inside. Regretfully (in my opinion) the Irish racing authorities took no action but at least they thought there was a need for a hearing. There are other reasons to be worried about dominance but I will leave it there otherwise this is likely to become a book!
I think it may not look good to the general public that the same owner has most of the runners in a small field but I'm sure that most racing fans will recognise that the trainer has to sometimes account for all his different owners. I think your example was Willie having the first 5 home in the Ballymore but it has to be noted that these were with different owners. I try and think positively so believe that each horse was running on their own merit to achieve the best possible outcome. It's not Willie's fault that he is the best and so owners want to have their horses with him.
Just want to also mention that Michael Dickinson had the first 5 home in the 1983 Gold Cup(after having the 1, 2 the previous years) and is lauded for that feat. Just imagine if Willie or some other trainer managed to achieve that in this day and age!
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