https://www.rte.ie/sport/racing/2019/0514/1049388-gigginstown-will-stop-purchasing-young-horses/
Is this the beginning of the end for national hunt in Ireland?
Is this the beginning of the end for national hunt in Ireland?
gigginstown closing shop
- Thread starter SKYLINE
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Welcome to the forum Skyline. I used to frequent the Skyline, near Heathrow airport, in my younger days. Nice pool and music, oh and cocktails
Welcome Skyline. Interesting times ahead indeed.I got sick of the sight of Gtown being mob handed in hcapp races the last few seasons but this will evidently have an affect on the Irish racing industry.The big loser here is Gordy Elliot and I'm sure Mr Mullins had a wry smile when he heard the news eating his breakfast this morning. You can give that man the championship trainer title for the next decade already (until Patrick takes over)!!
Welcome Skyline. Good news as far as I'm concerned and to be fair to O'Leary it looks like a phased departure so those trainers heavily involved with Gigginstown will have plenty of time to adjust. As for the death of Irish NH, from what I can see here in the UK it is a massive passion over there and whilst that remains NH racing wont be going anywhere. I just wish they hadn't taken it off ATR/Sky.
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The passion is here but without o leary there will be very little money. Even difficult to watch racing on TV now.
I've a nh horse myself so will benefit from less competition but I ain't winning aintree or Cheltenham
there will be no more irish raids which will reduce interest imo.
I've a nh horse myself so will benefit from less competition but I ain't winning aintree or Cheltenham
there will be no more irish raids which will reduce interest imo.
The passion is here but without o leary there will be very little money. Even difficult to watch racing on TV now.
I've a nh horse myself so will benefit from less competition but I ain't winning aintree or Cheltenham
The horses will still be in Ireland for the most part I’d guess. I can’t see Elliot and Mullins not getting other owners to splash the cash on them. They will cost a little less and hopefully be spread around owners from now on.
It might be a very good thing for Irish racing if some of the smaller yards get more competitive.
Intriguing time.
Any odds on them still having horses in training in a decades time?
I’ve no idea why you thing one owner/orgainsation pulling out will destroy a sport in a country. New people will emerge and existing types increase their string. Always been the way in horse racing and indeed the world at large. Afterall, the Isle didn’t go into meltdown when Mr Cameron stepped down now did it. Oh hold on…
If you look at the owners currently with horses in Willie Mullins yard it tells a story and shows why the current Gigginstown trainers should be worried. Since the well-publicised split with Gigginstown we have seen a number of small owners take over the available stables at Closutton - Sullivan Bloodstock have a few, JP one or two and then the likes of Mrs Joanne Coleman (Klassical Dream) or Geraldine Worcester (Quick Grabim). I don't believe there are swathes of new owners waiting to place horses in Ireland and I am certain that Gordon Elliot will be scaling things down.
Apart from one person in the world the old expression ‘there is always someone richer than you’ springs to mind and most deffo applies here. Gord Elliott is at the top of his profession and will have owners queuing up for his services – that chirpy little O’Leary fellow isn’t the only one who rates him as a handler, you know. And don’t forget that all these animals that Gigginstown bought through the sales ring all had underbidders! Racing through the centuries has had countless numbers of prominent individuals leave the sport (for various reasons) and it is still bally well here. Am fascinated to know why some thing it will be different in Gigginstown’s instance…even to the extent that it destroys NH racing in a country.
Interestingly (albeit on a smaller scale than Gigginstown) Lieutenant Henderson and Mr Nicholls have lost quite a few horses themselves with the Grech/Parkin dispersal. But both are at the top of the tree and will have no trouble whatsoever getting new orders to ‘fill the gap’ from new patrons and existing ones. Now if a trainer isn’t up to the level of these 3 chaps that is a totally different story…yes, they will struggle if one of their major owners pulls out.
Interestingly (albeit on a smaller scale than Gigginstown) Lieutenant Henderson and Mr Nicholls have lost quite a few horses themselves with the Grech/Parkin dispersal. But both are at the top of the tree and will have no trouble whatsoever getting new orders to ‘fill the gap’ from new patrons and existing ones. Now if a trainer isn’t up to the level of these 3 chaps that is a totally different story…yes, they will struggle if one of their major owners pulls out.