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Chris, I think I’ve just seen a lesser-spotted genuine British Grade 1 Novice Hurdler.
BUY THE SUN
9 out of the first 10 home in the National trained in Ireland.
Thank goodness Shishkin, Monmiral and My Drogo are trained in Britain. Otherwise British NH racing would be completely third rate.
Absolutely astonishing dominance by the Irish trained runners. Takes your breath away but we were all forewarned that it would most likely be an Irish winner. Just wow.
It’s reached the point where the British handicapper needs sacking and replaced with someone who will rate British horses correctly i.e. much lower. He cannot be defended for this relentless barrage of humiliation, can he?
12 year old Blaklion the only British one who could compete a bit. Only 2 other finishers and those 2 were never involved.
The fixed weights needs to be done away with in the National really. Those big handicaps are worth a fortune in Ireland and all the well weighted horses are running against each other in all of them. In the UK a horse wins a poxy race and goes up 10 lbs whereas a horse runs very well in Ireland getting placed in far better quality races and only go up 2 or 3 for getting placed.
It’s been happening for at least 3 or 4 years to be fair.
Just look at the Gaelic Plant Hire Leopardstown Handicap Chase (Grade A) and the Paddy Power Handicap Chase.
Both very decent handicaps represented by all big stables and owners and very decent National trials as it appears to be.
Botchy excellent point, I’ve always thought the same.
More races in UK means more winners in more diluted races, which means more horses getting steep handicap rises.
I picked a random week to check- 14th December to 20th December. In that week there were 52 National hunt handicap races in the UK. In the same time period there were 10 in Ireland.
If the average rise of a winner is 7 pounds, then that means 52 UK horses went up an average of 7 pounds, compared to only 10 irish winners rises.
That race at the Dublin racing festival is a perfect case in point.
Minella Times second, raised 4 pounds – won Grand National
Livelovelaugh third, raised 2 pounds – won Topham
Farclas fourth, raised 1 pound – 2nd @ Cheltenham, 5th Grand National
Scoir Mear fifth, left alone – won Leinster NationalNow instead of all of those running against each other and placing in the same race, lets imagine what would have happened if those 4 horses had been trained one each in the UK by Jonjo O’Neill, Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Dan Skelton. Here’s my guess…
– Jonjo would have sent his to Doncaster, beat a few rags by 10 lengths and got a 14 pound rise
– Nicholls would have sent his to Ascot, won by half the track, got a rating of 160 and run him in a grade 1
– Skelton would have sent his to Warwick, then done the same.
– Henderson would have sent his to Kempton for a 4 runner conditions race, again won by half the track and a stone rise.So now in this scenario, all would have won average races by impressive distances, got ridiculous handicap marks and blown any chance they had of winning a big handicap. Meanwhile 4 equivalent horses in ireland are racing against each other and only 1 can get the winners rise.
I know this example is hypothetical but i think it illustrates a potential reason for Irish horses dominating big festival handicaps in recent years. Its not like the successful irish horses in the grand national and topham were hiding out the back in their previously races. They have been openly campaigned in good races.
Wex, you can add in this one as well. They have been gold dust races really.
https://www.racingpost.com/results/187/leopardstown/2021-02-06/777100
Been banging the british handicapper point for years, the entire ratings system in uk NH racing is a mess, the current handicapper has inherited a disaster which is clearly getting worse.
Dropping every single uk nh horse by 6lbs from
Tomorrow would be a good start and only giving them large increases based on performing to a level twice for the time being would be a help.Yes, undoubtedly irish have the best top end animals, but the only answer for handicap utter dominence is an issue with the handicapping system.
Unfortunately
It cannot be fixed quickly and will take about 5+ years to correct, this will get worse again before it gets any better..
What about all the years when the Irish only won 4 or 5 races, now it has turned full circle. It’s a bit like a football team winning everything for a few years and then someone says they should only play with 10 men from now on. UK NH has been a joke for a good while now.
I’ve worked out their secret, but it is not confined to the Irish.
Value Is Everything
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