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Someone’s having a laugh down at The Irish Field. Please tell me nobody fell for that.
According to sources on twitter the Irish Examiner wll run a story tomorrow (Monday) featuring a Ruby Walsh interview on why he is parting company with Paul Nicholls to concentrate on the Mullins operation.
Good news for Daryl Jacob, bit of a slap in the face for Nicholls and probably a lifestyle choice for Walsh.
Anyone interested in a long term bet, Boylesports have Ruby their 8/11 favourite for the Irish NH jockey’s championship. I’d say that will be chopped as soon as they take a few euros!
And Walsh ‘putting his family first’ just happens to coincide with a significant decline in the quality of the Nicholl’s stable? I suspect as ever this is about putting Ruby Walsh first.
I agree with Stilvi to an extent.
With Mullins’ quality of horse increasing yearly, and with Paul Nicholls not having the fire power within his yard as in previous years, then it would seem that Ruby Walsh has made a sensible, professional decision, and on the face of it, the correct one.
The constant travelling he did back and forth across the Irish Sea would have been taken into consideration too.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
You’d imagine the juggling act between Nicholls and Mullins can’t have been easy either.
And Walsh ‘putting his family first’ just happens to coincide with a significant decline in the quality of the Nicholl’s stable? I suspect as ever this is about putting Ruby Walsh first.
Absolutely. Why wouldn’t any sportsman want to play at the highest level if he had a choice?
A jockey’s career (and indeed, life) is just one bad fall away from termination.
Mike
I’m sure Taunton, Exeter & Chepstow were delighted to hear Walsh’s reasons for the job change. Did he really need to say that?
I’ve said on here before that I’ve thought Walsh was having his cake and eating it too much for years. Jumping off Nicholls lesser-lights at Chelts always seemed a bit off to me, I always wondered what the Nicholls owners made of it
I’m not sure exactly what the previous arrangement was re-Mullins. Who had first call or was it simply Ruby’s choice when faced with a choice?
According to press releases, the split seems amicable enough.
That said, I do take on board the point about Nicholls’ owners.
AP McCoy mentioned in his " My Autobiography " book that when he was riding for both Martin Pipe and Paul Nicholls, he chose to ride the Pipe hotpot ( Cyborgo ) over a promising Nicholls chaser in the same race.
McCoy said Nicholls was furious. Apparently, Nicholls doesn’t take too kindly when jockeys choose another trainer’s horse over his – especially when a jockey has already ridden and won on that horse beforehand. McCoy won on Cyborgo, but it a took little time to heal the once good relationship between the pair.
I wonder if Ruby will regret giving up the rides on Big Buck’s and Zarkander – that’s if Big Buck’s ever steps foot on a racecourse again.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
I’m not sure exactly what the previous arrangement was re-Mullins. Who had first call or was it simply Ruby’s choice when faced with a choice?
I have no inside info, but looking at past history it simply must have been jockeys choice.
According to press releases, the split seems amicable enough.
That said, I do take on board the point about Nicholls’ owners.
AP McCoy mentioned in his " My Autobiography " book that when he was riding for both Martin Pipe and Paul Nicholls, he chose to ride the Pipe hotpot ( Cyborgo ) over a promising Nicholls chaser in the same race.
McCoy said Nicholls was furious. Apparently, Nicholls doesn’t take too kindly when jockeys choose another trainer’s horse over his – especially when a jockey has already ridden and won on that horse beforehand. McCoy won on Cyborgo, but it a took little time to heal the once good relationship between the pair.
Yet Walsh did the same thing many, many times with impunity. Always seemed very odd to me.
I’ve said on here before that I’ve thought Walsh was having his cake and eating it too much for years. Jumping off Nicholls lesser-lights at Chelts always seemed a bit off to me, I always wondered what the Nicholls owners made of it
If anything surely Mullins would be the one entitled to be a bit miffed, given he was riding winners with him before he ever rode a horse for Nicholls.
I’m not sure exactly what the previous arrangement was re-Mullins. Who had first call or was it simply Ruby’s choice when faced with a choice?
According to what Walsh says in his book, the agreement was to ride Nicholls horses from Monday to Wednesday and on Fridays and Saturdays, and ride for Mullins on Thursdays and Sundays. When it came to Cheltenham he was allowed to make a call between runners from both stables.
I don’t understand why people would think Nicholls should be annoyed when Ruby rides a Mullins horse. When Ruby went to Mullins with the proposed arrangements with Nicholls apparently Mullins was very understanding, which he didn’t have to be. The least Nicholls could do would be to reciprocate.
I have no knowledge of whether this was the case with Nicholls as some seem to be implying (not just on here). It has probably evened itself at Cheltenham over the years anyway and it speaks volumes about the regard in which both trainers must hold him that they were willing to partake in that compromise.
According to press releases, the split seems amicable enough.
That said, I do take on board the point about Nicholls’ owners.
AP McCoy mentioned in his " My Autobiography " book that when he was riding for both Martin Pipe and Paul Nicholls, he chose to ride the Pipe hotpot ( Cyborgo ) over a promising Nicholls chaser in the same race.
McCoy said Nicholls was furious. Apparently, Nicholls doesn’t take too kindly when jockeys choose another trainer’s horse over his – especially when a jockey has already ridden and won on that horse beforehand. McCoy won on Cyborgo, but it a took little time to heal the once good relationship between the pair.
Yet Walsh did the same thing many, many times with impunity. Always seemed very odd to me.
The reason he did so with impunity was because that was the ‘agreement between all parties. He had the choice at Cheltenham and such big meetings.
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