The final two weekends of the NH season (Ayr and Sandown) look very different to last year. With Mullins having stepped back from attacking the trainers’ championship, those two cards offer much better opportunities for local trainers (especially referring to the Scottish event).
What do we think about that?
Take the Whitbread at Sandown on final day. That’s a very different race to last year, where Mullins had ten of the 19 runners in his bid to win the trainers’ championship.
He only has one entered this time, a low ley entrant too compared to last year’s squad that included Grangeclare West, just three weeks after nearly winning the Grand National. (*Interesting to see that Lombron, a 5yo in just his fourth chase, came second and hasn’t been seen since.)
Does it mean the quality of down? Sure. But it makes it competitive and there is a big prize to be won. Obviously Mullins/Casey doesn’t think it is worth trying to win this year.