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2026 Gold Cup

Still very much wishing FTF goes Ryanair as have so.much on him!
Although he has beaten the best in Ireland over 3 miles, i'm hoping JP is put off by the 3 strong English at the top of the market and the doubt of 2 more furlongs up a hill.
 
YoungHustler said:
Still very much wishing FTF goes Ryanair as have so.much on him!
Although he has beaten the best in Ireland over 3 miles, i'm hoping JP is put off by the 3 strong English at the top of the market and the doubt of 2 more furlongs up a hill.
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I would feel for you if he’s supplemented for GC.
It’s not done and dusted, still hope.
 
Thankfully JP will make the call on fact to file and he’ll run in the gold cup. The Willie Mullins mindset of picking the easiest race is infuriating. If Mullins had the jukebox man or jango baie the Ryanair would still be heavily considered.
 
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My JP guess would be ...

Jonbon & Jagwar. Ryanair

F2F & Spillane Tower .Gold Cup
 
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Carnage at Taunton said:
I would feel for you if he’s supplemented for GC.
It’s not done and dusted, still hope.
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Thanks Carnage. Taken me a while to accept he will likely go GC but that's part of antepost betting! Was sitting really pretty with my Ryanair and GC books but now might end up with huge losses if Gaelic and FTF switch.
 
Lobos said:
My JP guess would be ...

Jonbon & Jagwar. Ryanair

F2F & Spillane Tower .Gold Cup
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If so it’s just another example of how the Ryanair has become an irrelevance and needs to go. It’s such a shame that Cue Card fell that time because that was setting up to be an absolute classic Gold Cup. The same year as the horse he beat by a whisker was beating up way inferior horses in a Ryanair.
 
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Rooster Booster said:
If so it’s just another example of how the Ryanair has become an irrelevance and needs to go. It’s such a shame that Cue Card fell that time because that was setting up to be an absolute classic Gold Cup. The same year as the horse he beat by a whisker was beating up way inferior horses in a Ryanair.
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Interestingly for years (after its introduction) it was pretty much ignored by Irish trainers. Nowadays it’s so different with leading GC fancies being diverted. How times change
 
Killiney said:
Interestingly for years (after its introduction) it was pretty much ignored by Irish trainers. Nowadays it’s so different with leading GC fancies being diverted. How times change
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That might be true but when that race was created there was a huge UK domination of the festival, Ireland would often walk away with 3 or 4 winners, in the last 15/20 years there's been mass migration of UK (based) owners investing in horses and basing them in Ireland, plus a swathe of new owners such as Giggs, Robcur, Bective, Ricci, Cheveley Park, more recently Tony Bloom has entered the world of racing and has all his NH horses with Mullins, and today's reality is Ireland are dominant....
 
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If they are serious on F2F going Gold Cup, could they also supplement Spillane's Tower for the Ryanair? His John Durkan 2nd of last season is obviously decent form and could provide good backup for Jonbon in Ryanair or even go no. 1 if they decide to skip Cheltenham.
 
Istabraq said:
That might be true but when that race was created there was a huge UK domination of the festival, Ireland would often walk away with 3 or 4 winners, in the last 15/20 years there's been mass migration of UK (based) owners investing in horses and basing them in Ireland, plus a swathe of new owners such as Giggs, Robcur, Bective, Ricci, Cheveley Park, more recently Tony Bloom has entered the world of racing and has all his NH horses with Mullins, and today's reality is Ireland are dominant....
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In danger here of moving into the wrong thread but so far as I know as a G1 (G2 previously) 2008 was the first year and the Irish trained horses won 17 races that year! The Irish have won it 8 times I think and they have all been since 2016 ie 8/10. In the years 2008 to 2016 they did not target it like they have done in last 10 years. That’s my reading of the stats anyway.
 
Killiney said:
In danger here of moving into the wrong thread but so far as I know as a G1 (G2 previously) 2008 was the first year and the Irish trained horses won 17 races that year! The Irish have won it 8 times I think and they have all been since 2016 ie 8/10. In the years 2008 to 2016 they did not target it like they have done in last 10 years. That’s my reading of the stats anyway.
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Do they target the race?
Seems to me they use it nearer the time to suit their own agenda.
 
Carnage at Taunton said:
Do they target the race?
Seems to me they use it nearer the time to suit their own agenda.
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It is often said that the interim trip requires a specialist and that if there is one in the field … one that was targeted at the race was of course Alloha and he was a specialist. Not many of those about which is probably why it is an in between race for many. Mullins of course has loads of potential for using it as you suggest.
 
Patrick Mullins had an emphatic answer when he was asked who he would pick to ride from all the Closutton stars heading to next month's Cheltenham Festival.

"Gaelic Warrior in the Gold Cup," said the perennial champion amateur.

In this evening's RP. 🤣 If only it was his choice.! I'm hoping his dad listens to give his boy his best ever chance of a GC winner. 😁
 
Fact to File going Ryanair is probably what Mullins wants to happen isn't it... And the above
 
YoungHustler said:
Patrick Mullins had an emphatic answer when he was asked who he would pick to ride from all the Closutton stars heading to next month's Cheltenham Festival.

"Gaelic Warrior in the Gold Cup," said the perennial champion amateur.

In this evening's RP. 🤣 If only it was his choice.! I'm hoping his dad listens to give his boy his best ever chance of a GC winner. 😁
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Problem with that is it doesn’t help GW winning the gold cup based on the jockey’s inability to control him last time.
 
Carnage at Taunton said:
Problem with that is it doesn’t help GW winning the gold cup based on the jockey’s inability to control him last time.
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I mean he ran away with paul even worse in the durkan

Gaelic seems to have split personality disorder.

He picks which quirk to show each year

This year its being way keener than he has before
 
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Carnage at Taunton said:
Yeah, fair points, still I think a big race, a big jockey
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Yeah I agree, though I do think (not backed up by anything other than my gut) that I’d rather have Patrick on board in a big race with lots of runners than have him on a short priced fav in a small field….thibk I’ve been burned by him more times in those type of races 😂
 
What's Cobden likely to ride in a Gold Cup? You would imagine Sean Bowen would be booked for something but if Willie wanted a top jock on, Cobden would be the man provided JP doesn't hire him for Spillane's Tower

If Gaelic went down the Gold Cup route, I think it would be Patrick on him. This might sound crazy but I actually like that. Patrick doesn't get enough credit for me on how he rides over fences. It's night and day to his hurdling ability. He seems to struggle to see a stride over hurdles. Gaelic also seems to get on reasonably well with young paddy
 
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