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Agree HDLG. Skelton needs to have a tough conversation with his brother. He is an OK jockey but that is all. His limitations at the top level are clear.
If Skelton wants to be a top class trainer winning championships and Cheltenham races then he needs a top jockey. One who can actually ride around Cheltenham would help.
“He is clearly highly intelligent, comes across as hard working and a real gent with a great team so is as deserving of his success as any I think.”
Agree, I think it is mean spirited to begrudge his success.
On the State Man point, as someone who strongly fancied First Street because the stiff New Course and extra furlong would suit him, it was a little frustrating to see a Mullins plot job hack up! However, I cannot blame Mullins for using the system to his advantage or the handicapper for his assessment.
At least I managed to back the creature when he traded at 4.8 on Betfair despite Townend clearly knowing what he had under him.
Skelton simply doesn’t have enough owners able or willing to spend the big money needed to buy the best prospects. When you look at the list of owners that have winning horses with Mullins this season, it’s like an extract from the Times rich list – and some of them are owners that would once have had their horses trained in the UK.
There was a select sale at Cheltenham after racing on Thursday – 26 lots, all Irish point to point horses. The top three prices and buyers were £370k (De Bromhead), £350k (Elliott), £310k (Elliott). There were six figure purchases for Bailey, Nicholls, Jonjo, M Scudamore, and one for Walters and the Potters, which I assume will go to a trainer called Williams!
Skelton only has the Ferguson/Mason/Hales partnership that can match those sort of prices. What he needs is for those three to be buying horses individually – five each, rather than five between them.
Your prob right AP but you get the winners by winning what u can , no winners this festival , having a placed horse in the GC helps but he really should be nabbing a hcap or 2 like prev seasons , I’ll keep beating his drum but will someone please give Sean Bowen a decent job , look at the jockey championship , punching above his weight , In my eyes he,s a damn sight better than Skelton
“I think he has developed a good network who find the horses. ”
I reckon this is key. Harold Kirk and Pierre Boulard must be the best in the business. They don’t always spend that much either. It’s notable that the top 3 lots in the boutique Cheltenham sale didn’t go to Mullins. He occasionally buys or gets sent them, but more typically spends in the €70-90k bracket. Elliott and Henderson buy the gorgeous looking well bred horses that have been trained to the minute by the top Irish handlers to win their P2P first time out. Mullins can get 3 or 4 horses for the same money.
The other thing about Mullins is that he has the dream team of de facto assistant trainers. David Casey has been there forever, Ruby Walsh’s role seems to suit him nicely and Patrick has been bred and trained for the job for 30 years.
This is not tainted money like in Football it’s just owners freedom of choice. They want a high return on their investment and Mullins has the operation and formula to attract.
More concerning is the rules which allow seemingly untried horses to be prepared under the radar.The only man who can move Mullins currently is HDB , but as I said before the festival he’s had more runners for half the winners , I do wonder if after a great season if ricci will Williams a couple more decent horse , I wonder how she got Royal in the first place
You can find the story of Royale Pagaille and Ricci in this article:
I should have known some of my comments on page 1 of this about him not dominating would come to bite me on the backside
Hes had a great week and should have been at least another two if Gallopin had stayed up and Gaelic Warrior could jump straight. The Irish domination will grow and grow. Nicholls doesnt have anything in the yard bar maybe Bravemansgame who looks Grade 1. He didn’t even have his usual French plotjob in the Fred Winter, presumably because they get sent elsewhere now (see Gaelic Warrior). Skelton is a long way off as well. Good at targetting handicaps but not many superstars, maybe a bit unlucky with My Drogo we shall see.
I think Henderson is badly hampered by JP and being so reliant there on one owner which like Gigginstown appears to be winding down? True he won a Grand National last year (JP) but where is his next Champion Hurdle contender etc… his absence of quality contenders in the Grade 1s was notable.
Elliott had a pretty poor week I thought fwiw optimised by Galvin in the Gold Cup.
Elliott must be concerned. 64 runners and only 2 winners in minor races.
In the Grade 1s, he suffered horrendous misfortune with Ginto in the Bartlett but otherwise was not very competitive. He does not look like he has many good novices coming through either.
The effects of last year’s ….err indiscretion are putting Elliott on the back foot …he can’t complain as it was a self inflicted wound , you do worry what the Brits will do once Nicky retires , the Mullins with there set up could dominate for years , let’s face the family is there to take over , Bryony ain’t daft …..
Bryony not daft at all. If it suits all parties she could certainly end up at mullins. She’s a very good horse woman so no doubt give great feedback to Willie. Danny must be the future no 1 jockey. You need to ask why all the owners are spending big and sending them to Ireland. Great trainers but above all much better prizemoney. Simple as that.
I’ve been looking at Irish racing more closely (although I do keep an eye open for steamers in their hurdle races, many of them pay out on first 4 as well because they have so many runners). They seem to have lots of interesting races aimed at giving novices more experience. Going to pay far more attention to them in future.
Hugely competitive races in Ireland with very good prizemoney. Too many of the gb runners head to Cheltenham not have had enough experience of competitive races so not only do we not know how good they are they aren’t ready for much more streetwise irish runners. Until the UK race programme have more meaningful and competitive grade 2 and 3 races we will have moderate horses winning them and then getting blown away at Cheltenham.
There will always be good horses coming through in the UK but with the horses being bought for eye watering sums mostly going to Ireland its not changing anytime soon.
With the Irish totally dominating the bumpers and the triumph hurdle it could actually get worse in the short term.
It may well be the Irish monopolise the top races and gb bags the lower grades and handicaps for a while yet. Gb needs a flag bearer of a yard outside Henderson. Nobody jumping out at me right now.
Remember mullins was winning big races before getting the massive investments he has now.It must help as well having a huge family all of which have been brought up surrounded by horses that are riding out for you and giving you lots of feed back.
“Helped along by the fact that Mullins knows how to game the system. The County Hurdle winner yesterday had run three times, completed twice, once in France and winning a Limerick maiden hurdle. The Irish handicapper hasn’t even allocated him a mark, but our handicappers fall for it every time. Imo, he shouldn’t have been anywhere near a Grade 3 handicap, his entry should have been declined on the grounds of insufficient evidence.”
Agree. This is happening every day of the week in the UK too though, with British trainers running their chase debutants off their hurdles mark, in those ghastly basement novice handicap chases, having being punted accordingly.
More evidence required all-round before a mark is allotted imo.
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