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Ile Atlantique fell twice in the space of nine days, Il Fabiolo the usual walk through a fence, Ballyburn proved rather talent free over fences (and he’ll go back hurdling next season if I understood Willie right), Dancing City (another novice) a fatal fall on Saturday, Klarc Kent a faller in the Bet 365, Lombron who would have won without that monumental mistake, but he likes to peck on landing.
On the other hand he’s had the 1-2-3-5-7 in the GN, the 1st two in the Scottish National, 2-3-4-5 in the Bet 365 and he trains Galopin Des Champs….
Maybe they’re sent novice chasing too early or maybe the owners aren’t realistic enough about their ability.
Willie wouldn’t send them chasing, if there weren’t any potential.26% strike rate over fences the last 5 season
27% over hurdlesNichols 22%
Henderson 21%
Elliott 13%
Cromwell 11%The end?
I forgot to add Kopek Des Bordes, but he’s just a hurdler and was still quite pathetic today given the reputation.
It’s not about the overall stats, rather more about novice chasers at G1 level.Not sure where they go with El Fabiolo , a gpod horse like that on deck 3 out 4 runs after a big run of wins is off the rails big style . Jockey would want extra fee next time for risking it .
They say he doesn’t school them much. I’ve never understood this. How can you not school chasers and hurdlers?
Hes the greatest novice trainer of both codes though ruby? Whats the point here bar a week of anomalies?
I know ham, that’s what I’ve also mentioned in my thread with the top drawer performances in those top three staying chases. No wonder I’m so intrigued by the (recent) sequence of poor jumping.
And it is poor jumping and not only bad luck. Ballyburn wasn’t unlucky, just not natural enough. Same applies to Ile Atlantique and the ill-fated Dancing City and not to mention El Fabiolo….It’s amazing to think that El Fabiolo started at odds of 2/9 in the 2024 Champion Chase. He looked like he was going to carry all before him in the division, but his jumping frailties caused their first big problems that day, and it has been a sorry tale indeed since then.
Looking back to when he was winning regularly as a novice, these performances were littered with plenty of mistakes too, and I hope for the horse’s sake they call time on his chasing career.
“Elliott 13%
Cromwell 11%”Lots of “sympathetically handled” runners from those two, with one eye on future targets.
At least you know Willie’s horses are there to try their best on the day, something you can’t guarantee with certain other trainers.
I was speaking to someone the other day who said that the Skelton chasers all arch their backs when jumping as, with the Skeltons having a show jumping background they teach them to jump well. Not knowing much about the subject I could be misinterpreting what he told me, though.
The arched back is called “bascule”. Traditionally you’d want a more rounded jump over the big fences and a flat jump over hurdles. It can be hard to train a horse out of one or the other, and jumping round requires the horse have more scope. To get a showjumper to jump rounder you’d likely train them over a smaller course at a slower gallop or canter, or jump them off a tighter turn or around a corner so they pay more attention to the fence and collect themselves beforehand, rather than just run straight over the fences. I’m not sure how racehorse trainers do it (if they even do it now with how soft some of the courses have gotten) but Skelton being a former showjumper he’s probably picked up some tricks of the trade.
The grey horse in the background is making a decent bascule as MissWoodford describes. Douvan in the middle isn’t- he’s flat backed with dangling legs. Mullins’ horses often don’t have a great topline and I look at photos of his string with their heads tied to their chests with some arrangement of draw rein Market Harborough strappy martingaley type things and think, what’s the point, just school your horses. A few trotting poles, place poles and tiny related distance combinations wouldn’t go amiss. Though I’m not a champion trainer so
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