No one’s died, Kevin

[IanDavies]

To listen to Kevin Blake you’d think Britain was in poverty-stricken existential crisis.

The reality is that, for various reasons, the Irish are streets ahead in the racing department.

Does it matter?

Not to me.

I’m loving this Cheltenham Festival.

I just want to bet on horses – I don’t care who trains them or where they are from.

I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"

[Nathan Hughes]

For me it doesn’t matter
I keep reading that its not good for the sport. I ask in what way?

As punters all we can do is bet on the sport or attend the race meetings
I haven’t heard of anyone boycotting the sport because the Irish are winning,

There was a attendance of about 36 or something like that at Newcastle the other night. All English winners there as far as I’m aware.

Henderson one year had about 8 or 9 grade 1 winners at Cheltenham and I can’t remember it being said it was bad for the sport
Nicholls had about 4 or a 5 a year for a few years, was that bad for the sport

What I find with this sport is that whatever happens people will find reason to see the bad in it

are we a negative nation of moaning cry babies? yes we are….

Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026

[mickeyjp]

Couldn’t agree more. No moaning when Nicholls and Henderson were dominating. I just enjoy watching top horses in action. Ballyburn and gaelic warrior were awesome.

[Gladiateur]

“There was a attendance of about 36 or something like that at Newcastle the other night. All English winners there as far as I’m aware.”

That is not the point.

The Cheltenham Festival is the showcase event of the national hunt calendar. It is supposed to be an occasion to celebrate sport at its best, and that means competition.

The fact that the competitive aspect is absent is what a lot of people find disappointing. Sure, there are reasons why the British cannot compete with the Irish, but if the product being sold to racegoers and TV audiences continues to be so uncompetitive, people will vote with their feet and, er, eyes.

Sadly, it’ll never happen but I would put the festival back to three days. More competitive racing and bigger fields lead to more surprises- remember Baron Blakeney and Ikdam, for example?

[Nathan Hughes]

Racing fans may vote with their feet but Cheltenham showcase will replace them with people that just go for the day out that like to buy a pint for £10 and wouldn’t know the back end to the front end of a horse let a lone if its Irish, English or French.
3 days is good and competitive but it shouldn’t overly matter if the winners are Irish
many on here saying Mullins dominance is bad for the sport were also saying they were happy that Constitution Hill wasn’t running as some kind of karma. Hows that good for the sport. They can’t have it both ways

Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026

[Gladiateur]

“Henderson one year had about 8 or 9 grade 1 winners at Cheltenham”

Nope. The most he had was seven, in 2012, and that included two handicaps. He won the QMCC, Ryanair, Arkle, RSA Chase and RSA Hurdle as his five grade ones.

And only one of his winners was odds-on: Sprinter Sacre in the Arkle.

[Nathan Hughes]

Was Frankel good for the sport?
because his races were uncompetitive and was odds on

Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026

[Gladiateur]

Not remotely the same thing. You’re really clutching at straws now.

[Cork All Star]

I don’t think anyone is objecting to Ireland having most of the best horses and lots of winners. The issue is British National Hunt racing is being exposed as a second rate product, year after year.

I don’t think this is just a cyclical thing. I believe it is a deep rooted problem for British National Hunt racing now.

The situation has been exacerbated this week by Henderson’s horses being so obviously out of form. But Nicholls’s big hope in the Brown Advisory ran like a drain as well.

It would be good to see British trained horses do better. Having said that, do our trainers simply have to up their game? As Jane Mangan observed on RTV today, the first two winners were sold at public auction rather than bought privately. Are British trainers buying the wrong sort of horses? Or are they not training them as well as Mullins does?

I genuinely mean no disrespect to anyone but only viewing racing through the prism of your own betting account is quite a narrow way to look at the overall situation.

We cannot assume people will keep paying rising admission fees if they think they are watching poor racing and see British graded race winners getting blown out of the water at every Cheltenham Festival. Advance ticket sales were down this year. It won’t surprise me if they are down next year as well.

Not all British racegoers watch Irish racing throughout the year. If they see the British horses they know get beaten all the time, might they start to lose interest?

[Nathan Hughes]

I’d agree that 3 days would be the way to go for more competitive races but that still wouldn’t put rocket fuel up the English horses backsides

Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026

[IanDavies]

I am first and foremost a punter, so my only allegiance is to the horse I have backed.

But as, to a much lesser extent, a racing fan, I am interested in the actual horses, not their owners, trainers or country of origin.

Gaelic Warrior is a wonderful horse, I am a complete convert, a son of Prix Du Moulin winner Maxios out of a Hernando mare.

Ballyburn is a brilliant son of Flemensfirth out of an Old Vic mare.

Two exceptional novices – who cares that the same bloke trains them in another country?

Not me.

This isn’t a “crisis” – a bunch of rich owners with horses at British yards being beaten by a bunch of rich owners with horses at Irish yards is about as much of a crisis as them temporarily running out of strawberries at Wimbledon.

And gone are the days when Irish form was shrouded in mystery – the Irish racing is all broadcast to Britain nowadays.

Great racing so far this week.

I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"

[Gladiateur]

“… but that still wouldn’t put rocket fuel up the English horses backsides”

Correct, Nathan. The UK needs to get better horses and/or better trainers.

That starts with owners willing to back them financially, but new owners aren’t going to be attracted to the game when prize money in the UK is so pitiful. And any new owner will see that Irish trainers are having all the success and obviously send their horses over there to be trained.

As usual, the problem is that racing in this country is run by the bookies, for the bookies.

[IanDavies]

I don’t remember all this fuss at the demise of the northern powerhouse stables at the Cheltenham Festival, spearheaded by Peter Easterby, and the subsequent southern domination for years.

What is the actual difference?

You just know the Racing Post is going to launch into an excruciating year-long post mortem into this fake “crisis.”

But I think the likes of me and Nathan will instead be focussed on identifying next year’s ante-post bets – no doubt mostly Irish trained.

I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"

[Tonge]

I don’t care that the best NH horses are currently trained in Ireland and are cleaning up at Cheltenham. That doesn’t mean that I don’t recognise that there is a problem with British racing and, more seriously, that the BHA is either in denial or clueless as to what to do about it, or powerless against the vested interests who really seem to be in control. 2 things put general racegoers/punters off – fatalities and small fields. First needs radical changes to breeding and training methods to reduce (but sadly never eliminate) risk. Second ought to be easier to address. We all know there is too much racing. Even the BHA admitted it but offered nothing but minor tinkering in response.

[IanDavies]

I actually think the main issue with British racing is the low minimum prize money at the bottom end – I am really not fussed whether the top British yards are winning at the big meetings or not and what prize money they and their owners are getting.

I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"

[Refuse To Bend]

I agree it shouldn’t matter who owns or trains them a good horse is just that a good horse. Whilst admittedly I am not there the atmosphere coming at me from the television seems subdued and ITV in my opinion are struggling to pick it up. It maybe that is just the way of it this year or it could be the lack of valid competition against the single stable controlling most of the Graded races with other Graded races going by way of Ireland which in the eyes of many is not entertaining. I have said in another thread this could easily turn into another Dublin Racing Festival.

The more I know the less I understand.

[Gingertipster]

If you don’t care about the quality of British racing, then there will be Donkey Derby racing at Weston-Super-Mare beach this summer, if you’re interested Chezza.

Value Is Everything

[Author]

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