There was more 'juice' in the ground today than there was at Cheltenham. It was near enough good ground when he won at Cheltenham. When he fell earlier in the season it was going right handed, and today he's struggled to jump again, but has got away with it because of the lack of competition. So I'm not buying Ruby's ground excuses. That horse doesn't like right handed tracks
Getting beyond a joke at this stage 1st string 2nd string or 3rd string, Mullins is a phenomenon isn't he? The 2 festivals should he named the Willie Mullins festival like Beefy said! Least he let's Dermot Weld have Galway!
I'm not sure the dominance of one trainer is necessarily a good thing for racing though. He just seems to have all the good horses. It's worse than AOB on the flat
Travelled well Stick, made hard work of it in the end though. The 2nd is probably a pretty good horse too
Yorkhill is the best bumper horse i've seen this season. Absolutely phenomenal. Looks like there's a lot to grow into as well. Plenty of scope. The Wylie's are going to war next season with him and Bellshill.
Three winners today so up slightly.still a nightmare for punters when mullins 2nd/3rd string are winning all week.if ruby cant pick the best horse how the feck are we supposed to
I for one don't think Jezki will stay the trip well enough at Cheltenham when he goes World Hurdle next season. Genuinely think the class angle and the fact the Irish staying hurdlers are horrific this season gave them that race today because i thought both looked tired at the end of the race. Jezki less so. Annie would have beaten them both - 3m round Punchy is the absolute perfect trip for her - perplexing why they have again swerved it. Ricci must be taking the high road and deciding not to rock the boat when her targets are discussed.
It's hard to say Bob, if you take form lines through Jetson and Lieutenant Colonel then he has a little bit to find, but not loads. However if you take the lines through Zaidpour then Jezki's form today looks good enough to have won the world hurdle. So it's swings and roundabouts really. The world hurdle doesn't attract many class horses, they are usually failed 2 mile hurdlers or failed chasers, so he won't likely be competing against a lot. After all Jezki is a champion hurdle winner and has only stepped up into the 3 mile division because of the likes of Faugheen, so he has a massive class advantage over the others. I wouldn't say Jezki is past his best at 8 years old either. You also have to remember that today's ground would not have been ideal for Jezki, with over night rain turning it to yielding. So if he was to get genuine fast jumping ground like they had in this seasons world hurldle then he'd have a massive chance. The stamina wouldn't concern me, he seen out the trip well today, and his pedigree suggests 3 miles is well with his range. It's suprising really that he had the gears to win a champion hurdle looking at his pedigree. As much as I like Annie Power, you have to wonder why they keep swerving taking on the boys. Has the confidence in her from connections been lost a little after her colours where lowered by More Of That? I definately think she'd of gone close in today's race, but I don't think she'd of been any certainty to beat Jezki. I think there form over 3 miles is pretty comparable. Having said that I doubt she'll even run in next years world hurdle, Willie will bottle it, and run her in the mares race again, just like they did with Quevega. They'd rather have a near enough guarenteed Cheltenham winner, than run her in a race she's got a chance, but is far from a guarentee
