• HELP US - Become a Patron - Fat Jockey is a horse racing community focused on all the big races in the UK and Ireland. We don't charge users but if you have found the site useful then any support towards the running costs is appreciated ... a small donation each month would be a huge contribution. Become a Patron!

General Chat

Wonder if the English trainers (not all, but enough) will carry on being dismissive and aloof or finally start doing some proper reflection. Henderson condescendingly calling DRF the Willie Mullins festival annoyed me more than it probably should. Take him on or stfu.
 
  • Like
Reactions: robith, Glasgow Ronnie and Zachx02
He's plenty entered in the Scottish Grand National and the Gold Cup at Sandown. I wonder if he will send others over for weekend pots to keep up with it and not just rely on the big two festivals?

Would be terrible to have the farce for a few years ago when he withdrew Vroum Vroum on the day after it was out of reach.


Side note, being offered 20pt cash out for a 30pt win on the bet. Will have a think tonight but likely will cash this out
 
Last edited:
With the state of UK racing, Willie could send his 3rd strings over and canter home with the title
 
All the talk is what Willie will do. Can't see either Nicholls or Skelton throwing in the towel so quickly
 
Was just looking at Mullins Scottish National entries.

Mr Incredible may run again after unseating early enough yesterday?

Spanish Harlem the other that caught my eye. Would be breaking a hell of a lot of trends, but he's very unexposed and has been quite highly regarded in the past. Doubt he'd get in the 365?
​​​​​
There's a few towards the top of the market that I'd have as likely non runners.
 
Atlantic Viking said:
Wonder if the English trainers (not all, but enough) will carry on being dismissive and aloof or finally start doing some proper reflection. Henderson condescendingly calling DRF the Willie Mullins festival annoyed me more than it probably should. Take him on or stfu.
Click to expand...

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.
 
robith said:
With the state of UK racing, Willie could send his 3rd strings over and canter home with the title
Click to expand...

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.
 
Last edited:
I think I'm right in saying in 2 days on Thursday and Friday with basically second strings at Aintree, Willie won as many G1's in England as Dan & Paul combined all season
Pretty mad
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eggs
He's got no need to send Gaelic. Dinoblue doesn't have a real option at Punchestown unless they take on El Fabiolo, so I'd think she's 1/10 to come over along with Gentleman de Mee who should get his ground. Paul and Dan aren't winning that race regardless.

Sir Gerhard can run in the Select which looks just about perfect for him and he could throw Appreciate It, Asterion and maybe Saint Sam at the Oaksey.
 
How much should we expect Paul and/or Dan to win between now and Sandown?
I assume they need to win the Scottish National for any chance to get a buffer?
 
Hurricane fly said:
How much should we expect Paul and/or Dan to win between now and Sandown?
I assume they need to win the Scottish National for any chance to get a buffer?
Click to expand...

A quick check of this week's entries up to Friday. Both Skelton and Nicholls look like being mob handed.

Going to liven up the normal midweek fare, and next Saturday's to be fun. Ayr must be cock a hoop, with expectation.
 
https://www.britishhorseracing.com/racing/participants/trainers/

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.
 
Ile Atlantinque is currently greyed out in the Arkle market on 365, and not in the Turners.

Something happened?
 
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.
 
Redbridge said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Exar Essay
Carnage at Taunton said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Irish Rugby, Hurricane fly, Fouroverthrutwo and 4 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom