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You have to have a horse that you think can potential be a G1 horse before you even consider maybe entering against Mullins and Co and that particular pool of horses are likely very thin on the ground once you discount the ones housed in the Mullins/Elliott/DeBromhead Irish stables and the Nicholls/Henderson English stables.
Then if you add in the fact of just how mad keen the English trainers are (not) in travelling their horses over to run in Ireland, where the prize money is much better then the problem is greatly amplified.
Yes,it is IS boring .
The same trainer or owner having 4 and 5 runners in a race is boring and very unhealthy for the sport.
Very hard to explain away to casual observers or potential followers and totally detracts from the competitive aspect of the sport .
Absolutely nothing to recommend it .
Kevin Blake’s thoughts on the matter:
https://www.attheraces.com/blogs/kevin-blake/12-February-2024/mullins’-domination-to-continue
I don’t find the domination boring, but I do find the pre-Cheltenham palaver around his running plans about as boring as it gets. It does the sport and the meeting no good whatsoever. This year is worse because it seems like more than ever, many others are just waiting on what he is going to do. He could clear much of that up tomorrow if he just told people what he was going to do with Ballyburn and Fact To File. You would think that answering that question is akin to climbling Mount Everest.
As previously stated, while it’s not good for the game to have one yard so dominant, at least he runs his good horses against each other so I don’t have that much of an issue with it.
But I agree with Stilvi the annual “where will they run?” from the media (their fault, not Mullins’s) is tedious beyond belief.
I’ve got 16/1 Ballyburn for Wednesday’s opener and zero on him for the Supreme, but I’m happy to wait until the 48-hour decs are made to find out my fate.
He frequently changes his mind at the last minute anyway.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"It has a similar feel at Meydan.
Find a Group race and the biggest challenge sometimes is working out which Godolphin owned, Appleby trained, horse will win.
Outside the races like the sheema classic where the big overseas trainers join in seems the most pointless of meetings with the guys putting up the prizemoney win it back.
You can ask this question every year, but this year could be the pinnacle of short priced winners and Mullins domination.
But, still well done to his team and the horses’ connections for being that competitive when it matters most.
He didn’t completely dominate today. He had two beaten favourites but has three odds on chances tomorrow.
I can’t blame connections for taking the easy option with Lossiemouth but it was not good for the sport. She should have been in the Champion Hurdle and might have won it.
Cheltenham do have to look at putting a rating limit on the Mares Hurdle. The festival should be the best taking on the best. Today it wasn’t.
I agree with CAS that the Champion Hurdle would have been enhanced by the presence of Lossiemouth today.
The idea of having a mares’ championship race is something I support, but why does it have to be at the Festival?
I was behind Lossiemouth going for the Mares Hurdle this year and trying the Champion Hurdle next year. Today’s win still puts her a stone behind State Man. She has age on the side, so has a chance of finding the necessary improvement next season and the season after as she matures. State Man didn’t dominate today but Lossiemouth team had already told everyone the target was the mares and Mullins has ended up with both races in the bag.
“why does it have to be at the Festival?”
To encourage millionaires like Rich Ricci and Kenny Alexander to keep pouring their millions into racing instead of getting bored and wandering off to buy football clubs.
…and then send said mares to Galileo (RIP), thus proving that having grade 1s for mares does nothing for the breed.
There are quite a few entires in France who race even in G1s. Why do you have to geld them before jumping a hurdle in public or before racing at all?
I really don’t get it being boring. Does it matter as long as the best horses turn up and Willie is willing to do that unlike others.
I have nothing against Willie Mullins. I do however regret the transformation of the Cheltenham Festival into Irish racing. Look at the small fields in the non-handicaps of day 1 and 2 and contrast with what was happening 10 or twenty years ago. The number of runners in NH racing so far this month show it is in serious decline. I used to prefer NH racing to the flat, but that has changed – Contrast how many trainers have won a Champion Hurdle in the past ten years with earlier decades, its getting more like Formula One!
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