“Not so long ago, some people were complaining about Irish horses being treated too leniently in handicaps. Has the wheel now turned and the British handicapper is treating Irish horses too harshly?”
Possibly, and the GB horses win the Cheltenham handicaps because of it- but the flip side is that they get balloted out of the Grand National.
“The fella coming out of the festival with biggest headache is Elliott”
Noticeable that de Bromhead’s two winners were for Robcour. One of Elliott’s big spending owners.
After a bit of a lull for Rich Ricci, Mullins delivered the Gold Cup into his hands, as the second half of a fabulous double with the champion hurdle. Ricci might continue to send a few horses to Venetia Williams and Nicky Henderson, but this big double has probably tied him even more tightly to Closutton for the bulk of his horse shopping money.