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About time too, just a pity it took a recesion and economic crises to persuade a lot of trainers and owners to go over.
Amazed by the lack of British runners the past few years.
In fairness they tend to do well when they come over
Obviously cannot compete with Cheltenham but a much better festival and standard of racing than Aintree imo
Best festival of the year for laid back enjoyment.
Bit worried about how I’m going to get there. Ryanair all cancelled till Monday afternoon bodes ill for my Tuesday morning flight!
Will be driving to Holyhead at this rate…
Gosh, will the likes of Denman have to go over by ferry, as there still won’t be any planes?
Good point Gerald- looks like no flights until at least Monday so ferry looks the option- same goes for all the UK racegoers if it continues- book your ferries now!
The ferries are going to be jammers. Probably better off heading for Rosslare at this rate.
- Total Posts 17716
The Irish Sea is one dangerous place for ships, I would never go on the Irish Sea even if you paid my journey – good luck to those of you who are braving the stormy waters.
Aaarrgghhh.
0240 ferry Tuesday a.m. it is then….
Always a good old session to be had on that boat – speaking from experience!
This is going to absolutely crucify Punchestown. They are already under fire here for not dropping their prices, now the UK attendance is likely to be decimated…
Hopefully the good weather stays around for a while to boost the crowds. I thought the evening starts worked very well last year but we should have gone back to four days too. The Saturday card should never have been made part of the "Official Festival".
Hard to believe they haven’t dropped the prices alright. Limerick showed last week what can be achieved with a bit of common sense in attracting racegoers.
Their should be way more British Runner’s IMO.
Liven’s the thing up….good Banter.
Nicky Henderson is Punchestown Legend anyways. Dont think any Irish NH could ever under estimate what he has done for the races with his unwavering support to bring his best over when no one else would.
LEGEND
Hear hear.
Henderson has been a great supporter of the meeting for as long as I can remember. I find it amazing that more of the English trainers don’t send there horses over for some of our better races given how mediocre some of our divisons have been over recent years – I’m thinking staying hurdles & chases in particular.
The upgrading of a lot of the races at Aintree from Grade 2 to Grade 1 class has definitely hurt the meeting somewhat.
Aintree came and went and i found the whole thing rushed and quite boring if i am honest.
The Aintree races are a afterthought for most British Trainer unless said otherwise.
Its also very poor punting wise as you have no idea if a horse will run 2 stones below is best form which has happened
Aintree came and went and i found the whole thing rushed and quite boring if i am honest.
The Aintree races are a afterthought for most British Trainer unless said otherwise.
Its also very poor punting wise as you have no idea if a horse will run 2 stones below is best form which has happened
agreed
i think over the next 5/10 years punchy will overtake liverpool as the 2nd biggest NH meeting in GB and ireland
In fairness Phillip Hobbs, Alan King and Ferdy are not averse to having a runner either- Alan King loves the place.
I see that the going is good to firm in places on The Cross Country course which suggests that even with watering the ground on the main course will be fairly lively, locals might confirm?
If so, then surely the most intersting UK entry, Denman, won’t run which leaves the Scottish trained Quotica De Poyans as the UKs best chance of a Festival winner, this is one serious young horse who surely has a very bright futureKing hasn’t run that many in the last few years – I usually moan that I can’t understand why he doesn’t send more – he did win one with Blazing Bailey. It’s always good to see some runners from the smaller UK stables too. Emma Lavelle, Bob Buckler, Peter Bowen, Renee Robeson have all had horses run well – indeed 4-5 years ago Renee Robeson had the only UK winner of the week
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