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I honestly don’t see what the fuss is.
Even when “Britain” dominated, it was principally Nicky Henderson (64 Festivsls winners) and Paul Nicholls (45).
Most British yards never got a look in or had anything good enough to run at the meeting.
The North has sunk without trace since the halcyon days of Peter Easterby, Michael Dickinson, Gordon Richards and Arthur Stephenson.
Yet now there is a post mortem into a supposed crisis to help Nicky and Paul (plus a mere handful of others) get back on top again?
The real crisis is where it has always been – at the bottom of British racing.
Once again what happens over four days in mid-March is being made the be all and end all of a whole season and industry.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"All fair suggestions but it could be too little too late. NH racing in Britain is now a second rate product when compared to Ireland.
The Irish authorities have been imaginative in establishing a good race programme before Cheltenham, culminating in the Dublin Racing Festival. Just like they were imaginative in creating Champions weekend in an ideal slot in September. Whereas Britain has to make do with a slot that is after the Arc, too close to the Breeders Cup, is invariably run on heavy ground and does not work.
BRING BACK THE BOLD IN THE LAND OF THE FREE
I love to see a plan come together and Ian is right as rain to let that marvellous foursome join him in an inflated pension party hosting the banner ‘ Every which way but lose ‘. A pound is a pound whether you rob a tramp or get something back from the IRS ( Irish racing personalities ).
Cheekily is equally damn right to shout out
” ever get the feeling you’ve. been cheated and mugged at the same time and What the Hella is a going Ona ?”Maddy’s article, kindly reproduced by Golden who’s had excellent form on the terraces and writes up a mean Ol’ National, was going great balls of fire for
me right up until the two words Cotton Wool came up… Then thoughts of cream pieces dotting the geeen fields, meadows and valleys, invaded my reality, with some dots sublime in sleep others dreaming of it, safe in their havens of tranquil touching tails.We need to bring back the Wolf to wake up and shake up the countryside stables and put some real stick back into English Jump racing. Could also pray for some autumn and spring rain. The going stick holds a distinct Irish advantage. Yielding to soft and soft is a the winning pair that beats Good, Good to Soft on a poor straight.
Answer is to do summat !
Apart from the Dublin Festival being extremely competitive there is one other fact that has to be considered. Many of the ex-top trainers who used to train Festival winners, like Jonjo, King, Venetia, Sue Smith, Hobbs, Tizzard and a few others are chronically out of form. They’ve had the virus or whatever for about a decade. The last two proper NH trainers in Britain apart from Nicholls and Hendo were MCP and Howard Johnson. That is over a decade ago…
I don’t care how much people rate Olly Murphy, Dan Skelton, Harry Fry, Ben Pauling, Fergal O’Brien, Kim Bailey….. they surely are very decent trainers, but good for doubles or trebles on the card mostly at minor tracks like Stratford, Southwell, Hereford, Market Rasen and so on.
They’re all good at racing horses rated between 100-140, but they lack real top class performers like the Irish have.
Agree Ruby – although to be fair to Jonjo and to Sue Smith they did have festival winners!
Trainers who were hailed as up and coming like Fry, Longsdon and Snowden have not made any progress and if anything seem to be going backwards, training average horses. Even Skelton has quantity over quality.
Ruby, I don’t honestly think those stables you mentioned have had the virus for 10 years! They and the next generation also mentioned are equally as capable as Irish trainers in training Festival winners – it is all about why the top class performers are staying in Ireland and what should be done to address this. As Cork says, British NH racing has become a second rate product and, Ian, it is for this reason a fuss should be made because as the British paying spectators & terrestrial TV viewers increasingly realise they are watching substandard fare their interest will wane and the sport will decline further and irreversibly in this country.
Hi Gamble. Have you stumbled across my (unfinished) website then? I haven’t got much done with it for six months due to the availability of so much football – but I have kicked & bricked my way through about a dozen tellies and laptops LOL
Not convinced by Maddy Playle’s handicap stats, even if British horses won every one, it would still mean they only had a strike rate of about 7% and 120 losers.
With Irish winners of 80/1 and a couple at 33/1 need a lot more evidence there’s a problem with handicaps. The results could easily be reversed next year.
Ireland have the best horses and a better run sport.
British racing is driven by the bookmakers for the bookmakers and the prize money is pathetic. Far too many fixtures, being drowned by low grade all weather racing, 2 meetings just of that most days of the festival.
British racing needs a complete overhaul but can’t see an inept BHA doing much.Cork, I’m glad Sue Smith had her winner on Day 1 in the Ultima as I backed him at 20s and 25s, though Vintage Clouds even returned 28/1. But looking at her or Jonjo’s (even Hendersons’ and Nicholls’ as well) stats about their number of runners in Ireland in the past five years, you’ll find out that they have very poor strike rates: Hendo 3 winners from 15 runners, Nicholls 0/7, Jonjo 0/14, Sue Smith 0/0, Harry Fry 3/26, Dan Skelton 0/8, Alan King 0/1 and so on…..
Two things come to mind:
1. Why do they have so few runners in Ireland where racing is so competitive and prize money quite decent?
2. Why are their strike rates rather poor compared to the overall percentages?GM, I agree with you about substandard Racing in Britain, which is still pretty tough to express.
I don’t think that all above mentioned trainers have deteriorated over the past five years, but I’d like to know what can be done in order to have more expensive purchases running and being trained over here rather than in Ireland? And how can Graded races or former Festival Trials become more competitive?Well Golden Miller, presumably your opus if it ever gets to print, in whatever form, will be a specialist’s joy. I suppose every horse has its story and good luck with winkleing them out..Golden Miller deserves a book in his own right. I think it was Don Butler who had the gypsy curse story. He may still be on Linkedin.
On the subject of handicaps even the great Arkle had trouble with them.This is Alan King’s view on the matter:
I thought King was starting to concentrate more on the Flat. Interesting to see him confirm it.
Can’t blame him, he’ll win more prize money on the flat with the horses he has than he would over the jumps – he’s also got some decent staying handicappers, and races like the Plate, Ebor & Cesarewitch have prize money only a few top jumps races come near.
Which is one possible reason we’re not seeing decent horses going hurdling like we once did; go A/W in the winter and get some decent prizes instead of going jumping for a pittance.And as one of the above post mentions, the very few runners in Ireland – also, what about France? Great prize money, and soft/heavy-ish ground….
There’s been an upsurge in overseas buyers for horses that might previously have gone on to a NH career too – I’ve had a couple through syndicates that I thought would be NH types but they’ve either gone privately or at auction to continue a flat career in places like Italy.
I’d really love Cheveley Park to explain why they do the opposite with their NH horses then flat horses, and send them all to Ireland. Not that they owe an explanation, but it would shed some light.
BUY THE SUN
Paddy Power offering a £100k bonus to any British horse that can win the Punchestown Grade 1 Hurdle they sponsor. Goshen entered up. The cheeky sods, got to admit I think its brilliant.
A good old urine extraction shoved over the Irish Sea, some decent marketing for them, and Honeysuckle likely to dot up anyway!
BUY THE SUN
Another Irish raider making a mockery of a supposedly competitive British graded handicap. Getting a bit boring, this. Bit embarrassing for us as punters letting them go off at odds against never mind 22/1
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