Watched th'uppin th'anti earlier on. Dineen is absolutely convinced he is a Gold Cup horse. He probably is but has plenty of time. The British trainers don't seem to have the patience of the Irish trainers though and would rather just throw them in rather than let them develop first.
I was thinking something similar today at work. I know it's a different discipline but we know in the past few years, Willie has kept his better bumper horses away from Cheltenham and they thrive. I haven't checked the past results but i think it's since Facile Vega and American Mike slogged the guts out of each other in that bog. Neither horse lived up to their expectations afterwards. Facile Vega's breeding should have seen him winning a lot more. I know he sadly died early on and breeding doesn't always guarantee success but the stable must have been bitterly disappointed, same applies to American Mike who is now a handicapper and has been for some time. Robcour won't send one to the Bumper for that reason. The fear of breaking their horses before they get going and by and large, you look at their horses and they continue at graded level into their veteran years. There are many things the British could be doing to stem the flow of the Irish dominance but a bit of patience would go a long way. You obviously need the ammunition to go to war with too but there are 5 or 6 British trainers making great strides in the game and are starting to get backed with very expensive horses. Harry Derham is one that seems to be going the softly softly approach and i bet it reaps rewards in a couple of years.
