Morning,
Lets start by saying that like many on here, the Cheltenham Festival this season hadn't got me as excited as it had in the past, I have had a pretty bad downer on the sport this season. However, it is fair to say that the Tuesday of the Festival is always a day I do enjoy.
The Great - Tuesday
Simply put, this is the days racing that I will remember fondest of all I have been to, and will stick in the mind as long as the Ouija Board Goodwood ding dong with Alexander Goldrun. This day was so special, and one that may well keep the membership numbers ticking over for the next seasons Cheltenham renewals.
It started with two wonderful horses in the Supreme, that was great to see, and then it ramped up further with Jonbon and El Fabiolo putting on a show in the Arkle. The latter is a horse that I really liked in the flesh and he is already an early Antepost bet for the QMCC!
Then it kicked off, well the anticipation did, as Corach Rambler won for Scotland, repeating last seasons win, and that then played a part in the best 1 and 1/2 hours on a racecourse. The celebrations by that team was great, and then in strode the Champion Hurdle field, with Constitution Hill amongst them. The nervousness in the crowd, the anticipation and the hope was palpable.
He didn't disappoint in any way, he absolutely demolished them, and with such consumate ease. He is a horse of a generation, and if he has a long career, we may well be talking about one of the greatest horses in National Hunt racing. Absolutely breathtaking.
And yet, that was almost like the secondary story, because seeing the remarkable win of Honeysuckle and its intertwined stories with Jack de Bromhead and the family was something else. I want to put on record how amazed I am by Henry de Bromhead, he is truly remarkable and yesterday (Friday) seeing him put an arm around his daughter in the parade ring was one small but crystal clear memory of the week. He is some man.
Honeysuckle is some mare too, she battled past the gallant Love Envoi, and the crowd absolutely took off, it was one of those "I was at Cheltenham" moments. Two in two races!!
The Very Good - Ireland domination
It is fair to say that Willie Mullins dominated the festival, but it was the strength in depth, the relentlessness of it all that was so telling. Winning races is one thing, but taking home all the prizes in the same race is something else. The Triumph, The Supreme, The Ballymore. All out domination by Ireland.
Yes we did see some glimmers from the UK, with Nicholls winning Grade 1s, we saw Jamie Snowdon and Oli Greenall/Josh Guerrero have winners and Lucinda had the aforementioned day 1 repeat. However it is Patrick Neville who also needs a mention for the superb jumping The Real Whacker, who won what looked a decent race, and did so in gallant style. A great win for the small yard, and the first in a long time for the north of England.
We also had Dan Skelton fiddling handicappers to success, a very obvious pattern we need to continue to watch out for. Imagine if he was Ronan McNally !!!
However one true point of optimism, and yes, I use point for a reason, having used it twice now is that point to point? was the winning of the Foxhunters. Bradley Gibbs, for Bradley Gibbs. What a result for British pointing and it does give some optimism that you can find Cheltenham winners in the UK. Energumene being another that shines that light.
The Downright terrible
In a week where Willie Mullins had over a hundred entries we saw the usual ****e from the "second" tier of British racing, with I am sad to say, Fergal included. 5 runners over 28 races, from a yard who have had near 200 individual runners this season. It is bordering on shambolic, but he isn't the only one, you've got Olly Murphy, Donald Mccain, Gary Moore, David Pipe, Venetia Williams, Joe Tizzard, Nigel TD, Ben Pauling, Jonjo O'Neill, Kim Bailey, Alan King, Neil Mulholland. All top 20 trainers in the UK, all with the sum of their parts sending next to sod all to the festival.
The champion jockey this year has had 0 - ZERO, **** ALL, NADA, NIL, NOTHING, BUGGER ALL rides at the festival. He was at Sedgefield, Hexham, Doncaster and even had a day off!! Champion jockey not riding at the festival. It is farcical to say the least. A sport who "champions" mediocrity. A sport that counts the number of ****ty winners at Sedgefield, Hexham, Worcester, Hereford in the same way it counts winning a Gold Cup or a Champion Hurdle.
Trainers targets aren't seemingly improvement in horses, getting them to festivals, but the number of winners they get in match races and the like in the depths of winter. ****ing hell, it is so uncompetitive currently, I think every trainer should be beating their previous record number of wins. The take it in turns declaring horses, uncompetitive ****e.
British racing is in the doldrums, it isn't about the spending either, they are buying horses at boutique (cough rip off cough) sales like the one on Thursday night. Mulholland paid 290k for one!! Ben Pauling 200k and David Pipe 95k.
It is about the whole sport in the UK, it is rotten to the core, from the dire prize money, to the lack of competition and the ever expanding waistline that is the number of races. It is a sport that is killing itself from the core, and it might have bright sparks like Constitution Hill and even Stage Star, but it also has lots of annoyed racegoers, frustrated owners and even with the glory of the four days, its so bloody apparent that the sport needs critical changes in the UK. Otherwise next year it might be an even dimmer picture for the NH game in the UK.
Lets start by saying that like many on here, the Cheltenham Festival this season hadn't got me as excited as it had in the past, I have had a pretty bad downer on the sport this season. However, it is fair to say that the Tuesday of the Festival is always a day I do enjoy.
The Great - Tuesday
Simply put, this is the days racing that I will remember fondest of all I have been to, and will stick in the mind as long as the Ouija Board Goodwood ding dong with Alexander Goldrun. This day was so special, and one that may well keep the membership numbers ticking over for the next seasons Cheltenham renewals.
It started with two wonderful horses in the Supreme, that was great to see, and then it ramped up further with Jonbon and El Fabiolo putting on a show in the Arkle. The latter is a horse that I really liked in the flesh and he is already an early Antepost bet for the QMCC!
Then it kicked off, well the anticipation did, as Corach Rambler won for Scotland, repeating last seasons win, and that then played a part in the best 1 and 1/2 hours on a racecourse. The celebrations by that team was great, and then in strode the Champion Hurdle field, with Constitution Hill amongst them. The nervousness in the crowd, the anticipation and the hope was palpable.
He didn't disappoint in any way, he absolutely demolished them, and with such consumate ease. He is a horse of a generation, and if he has a long career, we may well be talking about one of the greatest horses in National Hunt racing. Absolutely breathtaking.
And yet, that was almost like the secondary story, because seeing the remarkable win of Honeysuckle and its intertwined stories with Jack de Bromhead and the family was something else. I want to put on record how amazed I am by Henry de Bromhead, he is truly remarkable and yesterday (Friday) seeing him put an arm around his daughter in the parade ring was one small but crystal clear memory of the week. He is some man.
Honeysuckle is some mare too, she battled past the gallant Love Envoi, and the crowd absolutely took off, it was one of those "I was at Cheltenham" moments. Two in two races!!
The Very Good - Ireland domination
It is fair to say that Willie Mullins dominated the festival, but it was the strength in depth, the relentlessness of it all that was so telling. Winning races is one thing, but taking home all the prizes in the same race is something else. The Triumph, The Supreme, The Ballymore. All out domination by Ireland.
Yes we did see some glimmers from the UK, with Nicholls winning Grade 1s, we saw Jamie Snowdon and Oli Greenall/Josh Guerrero have winners and Lucinda had the aforementioned day 1 repeat. However it is Patrick Neville who also needs a mention for the superb jumping The Real Whacker, who won what looked a decent race, and did so in gallant style. A great win for the small yard, and the first in a long time for the north of England.
We also had Dan Skelton fiddling handicappers to success, a very obvious pattern we need to continue to watch out for. Imagine if he was Ronan McNally !!!
However one true point of optimism, and yes, I use point for a reason, having used it twice now is that point to point? was the winning of the Foxhunters. Bradley Gibbs, for Bradley Gibbs. What a result for British pointing and it does give some optimism that you can find Cheltenham winners in the UK. Energumene being another that shines that light.
The Downright terrible
In a week where Willie Mullins had over a hundred entries we saw the usual ****e from the "second" tier of British racing, with I am sad to say, Fergal included. 5 runners over 28 races, from a yard who have had near 200 individual runners this season. It is bordering on shambolic, but he isn't the only one, you've got Olly Murphy, Donald Mccain, Gary Moore, David Pipe, Venetia Williams, Joe Tizzard, Nigel TD, Ben Pauling, Jonjo O'Neill, Kim Bailey, Alan King, Neil Mulholland. All top 20 trainers in the UK, all with the sum of their parts sending next to sod all to the festival.
The champion jockey this year has had 0 - ZERO, **** ALL, NADA, NIL, NOTHING, BUGGER ALL rides at the festival. He was at Sedgefield, Hexham, Doncaster and even had a day off!! Champion jockey not riding at the festival. It is farcical to say the least. A sport who "champions" mediocrity. A sport that counts the number of ****ty winners at Sedgefield, Hexham, Worcester, Hereford in the same way it counts winning a Gold Cup or a Champion Hurdle.
Trainers targets aren't seemingly improvement in horses, getting them to festivals, but the number of winners they get in match races and the like in the depths of winter. ****ing hell, it is so uncompetitive currently, I think every trainer should be beating their previous record number of wins. The take it in turns declaring horses, uncompetitive ****e.
British racing is in the doldrums, it isn't about the spending either, they are buying horses at boutique (cough rip off cough) sales like the one on Thursday night. Mulholland paid 290k for one!! Ben Pauling 200k and David Pipe 95k.
It is about the whole sport in the UK, it is rotten to the core, from the dire prize money, to the lack of competition and the ever expanding waistline that is the number of races. It is a sport that is killing itself from the core, and it might have bright sparks like Constitution Hill and even Stage Star, but it also has lots of annoyed racegoers, frustrated owners and even with the glory of the four days, its so bloody apparent that the sport needs critical changes in the UK. Otherwise next year it might be an even dimmer picture for the NH game in the UK.
What do you think 
