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Fists, the original poster asked if Nicholls was being hypocritical.
Discussions about the relative ability and ORs of Denman and Binocular seem irrelevant to me.
As it has been said above, Paul Nicholls has a short memory, he has obviously forgotten Venn Ottery.
Colin
Not really the issue under discussion, but would it not be a good idea to have some sort of qualifying heats that lead to selected entry for these so-called championship races?
Then,when all animals are there on merit and as a result of qualification, we just have to accept whatever may occur in the race.
Btw, I wouldn’t think hypocrisy and arrogance are anything out of the ordinary in upper racing circles.
Perhaps, some top trainers’ runners might not make it to Cheltenham this year – even under current rules?
What happens to the Wilson horses after they have their 5 minutes of fame?
Where are Contraband, Azulejo, Marble Garden, Turnium, Astonvile, Present Bleu etc now?
Sold on to good homes and / or sent point-to-pointing. Contraband was at Black Forest Lodge on the first day of the new amateur season last month.
gc
I think you are giving too much of an impression that the owners give a sh#t. They get sent to the sales with unrealistic reserves. I tried to buy Turnium at Donny (who I believe went pointing in Ireland), and was told £2000 or he goes to Paul Murphy’s. £2000 for a horse that is blind in one eye, broken down on both front legs is too much, however good the horse was(who was absolutely lovely and for not much trouble would have found a good happy hacking home for £1500).
That’s probably the most sensible things any ones said on here Sean.
You could add something like horses that have finished in first 3 qualifying automtically or horseswho have a current rating of X amount(quite high) The same could be done in the Champion Hurdle.
We had races like the Haig Whiskey Qualifiers and while actual Gold Cup Qualifiers may not be neccessary there are plenty Group races that could be used as qualifiers.
Would keep horses like the one in question from getting in as he couldn’t qualify if racing against untried Japanese broodmares.
I see the Racing Post’s follow up story with Paul Murphy telling Nicholls ‘to keep his nose out’. Sadly, though not unsurprisingly given the cosy relationship Nicholls has in the Post, they failed to mention his intention to run an even lower rated horse than Cerium in the Champion Hurdle.
I think you are giving too much of an impression that the owners give a sh#t. They get sent to the sales with unrealistic reserves. I tried to buy Turnium at Donny (who I believe went pointing in Ireland), and was told £2000 or he goes to Paul Murphy’s. £2000 for a horse that is blind in one eye, broken down on both front legs is too much, however good the horse was(who was absolutely lovely and for not much trouble would have found a good happy hacking home for £1500).
The minutiae of the sale or non-sale in this instance is noted with thanks; but I guess the point I was trying to reinforce above all was that – notwithstanding how realistic or not the tariff for Turnium might have been – these animals weren’t just being routinely left to rot once Fergus Wilson had no further use for them. I think there would rightly be more outrage over his modus operandi were that the case.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Would also point out that these horses Wilson runs in the race where at least at one stage good enough to win/place in open Graded races.
We have people on here are trying to say a back peddling hurdler is as much a threat to life and limb as a bad chaser in an attempt to justify them slagging of the man……….absolute garbage!!!!.
You are assuming he will be tailed off and a much as I think you are right, we don’t know that for sure..He could set of like a bat out of hell fall at the second and bring down half the field……and then what?….you and everyone else would say he should never have been allowed to run
PN is not being arrogant he’s being realistic,which is more than can be said for some on here.
I think thats pretty spot on although he should be aware that his openess and success has not endeared himself to some (who would presumably prefer tight lipped trainers with a 7% strike rate)
Aidan put it well too
Regardless of the Rippling Ring issue, sport is elitist and there is nothing endearing or worthwhile about have John Sergeant type escapades, especially in a game where there is real physical danger
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So you have a horse whose sole job is to ensure a strong pace for a stablemate, and a ‘rogue’ who won’t be sighted after the first fence; who is more likely to either get in the way or offer the potential to take another horse out of the race?
That aside, why the above has even been mentioned is beyond me. The thread was discussing the obvious hypocrisy of Nicholls’s comments and, whether the minimum rating is 130 or 160, or the top-rated in the division is 173 or 200, that can’t be argued.
and a ‘rogue’ who won’t be sighted after the first fence
There is no guarantee of that at all.
Clive,
I certainly don’t think it’s Nicholls openness and success has resulted in topics such as this; on the contrary I think many admire him for both of these.The problem with Nicholls is he is an arrogant man, who has stooped low (trainers championship with Pipe, especially Azertuyiop), who won’t tolerate (justified) criticism of (some) performances of his horses, who blames others (Sam Thomas) when things go wrong, and who is hypocritical in cases such as this.
Nationwide plunge on Cerium anybody? If we push him into favourite then PN surely can’t complain when he brings down Denman, Kauto and Neptune at the 1st?
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Paul Nicholls can’t be right all the time, and he may be off beam on this one but, as Clivex suggests, racing would be much poorer without his willingness to share his views.
His frankness has both saved and made me money on a number of occasions over the past couple of seasons, and the odd faux pas now and again is forgivable from this most open of trainers – imo, of course.
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