Kopek, hunter chases, aga khan & ducks in a row.

​As with anyone who holds free speech as the most vital ingredient in a democratic country, I hold the Walsh family in the highest regard. Ruby I could listen to for hours on end. Katie was one the best female amateur jockeys in Irish racing history and Ted, well, Ted is a force of nature. Yet even the mighty Ted Walsh can get over-excited and forgetful, though as a champion of free speech I must respect his opinions, even when I believe him to be, perhaps, wrong.
He apparently phoned Willie Mullins recently and said that he thought the performance of Kopek Des Bordes at the Dublin Racing Festival was the best he has seen since Golden Cygnet. He could not have meant the best performance in the history of the D.R.F. as it was not around during Golden Cygnet’s brief period as the best young horse seen for many a long day. So, Ted must have meant the best performance since Golden Cygnet ran away with what we now refer to as the Supreme Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
So, I must ask Ted Walsh, and everyone else? Kopek Des Brodes was more impressive than even Constitution Hill when he slammed Jonbon in the Supreme Hurdle?

Today, at Ffos Las, there is hunters chase which is worth marginally more to the winner than the 3-mile handicap chase earlier in the day. I am not suggesting that £3,500 is too much, only that a first-prize that is less than £3,500 is wrong by comparison. Hunter chases are an adjunct to point-to-points, which is an amateur sport, or once was. Now in Britain it is beginning to become, in part, as professional as in Ireland where it is more an industry than a sporting endeavour. The handicap chase on the card is regarded as a race for professionals, even if amateur riders and permit-holders can take part. The handicap chase is worth £3,247 to the winner, with the second receiving £1,494 and the third £747. The Hunter Chase is worth £3,500 to the winner, £1,700 to the second and £898 to the third. The two divisions of the Bumper at Huntingdon are worth a mere £2,178 to the winners, £1,003 to the second and £500 to the third.
It just seems topsy-turvy to me, another thorn in the side of owners with far more overheads than the owners of hunter-chasers, I would suggest.

The death of the Aga Khan is prominent in the Racing Post today, as would be expected and as the late Aga Khan deserves. If you read-up on the history of the flat, the family of Aga Khan features in virtually every decade for the past 100-years. I am not qualified to write about him, other than to say I was no fan due to his policy of retiring all his great horses at the end of their classic year, believing this policy deprives both the form-book and the racing public knowledge of the true ability and constitution of the colts that go on to be stallions that then influence the breed all over the world.

It is only February 6th and Willie Mullins has all his ducks in a row where Cheltenham is concerned. Taking away the intermediate chase can already be deemed a success. No debate whether Ballyburn goes for one race or another and Willie has even made up his mind which race will be El Fabiolo’s target and it will not be the Champion 2-mile Chase. What will the pundits have to argue over if Willie Mullins leaves us with no last-minute decisions. He has though made up his mind over where Fact Or File goes, and I suspect it will be the Gold Cup and letting him bowl along upsides his Galopin Des Champs, though this decision is still distilling in Willie’s mind. He will inform us when he has spoken to connections. It is also possible, as with Gaelic Warrior, that he might miss Cheltenham altogether.
That is so much better. Much more the Willie Mullions of old.