We’ve got some great insight from top Irish trainer Noel Meade on some of the key topics around racing currently, including his Cheltenham Festival runners, courtesy of our friends at Boylesports Racing.
The eight-time Champion Trainer in Ireland has taken time out of his busy schedule to talk through some of the key talking points in racing currently, including:
- Assessing his three chances at the Grand National Trial meeting at Punchestown this weekend
- Why the “ridiculous” new whip rules in Britain are a cause for concern
- Taking on the Irish powerhouse yards of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott
- His hopes and runners for the Cheltenham Festival next month
- Why prize money in England is a “serious” issue
Grand National Trial Day Runners
It looks like we will have three at Punchestown this weekend, two in the trial and one in the handicap hurdle.
The obvious one that has the best chance would be Diol Ker. He was just touched off in the Paddy Power, we decided not to run him in the Thyestes and waited for this instead because three and a half miles will be up his alley.
He is going to have top weight, but we are going to claim off him with the jockey. We are hopeful enough that he will run a big race.
Maybe Eurobot can spring a surprise but he will want to be doing it a lot better than he has been lately, for sure. He’s been disappointing to be honest, he’s a bit one-paced and his jumping has fallen to pieces the last couple of times he has run. Look, I’m hopeful but I wouldn’t put him forward to win it.
The horse that was just touched off in the Thyestes, Dunboyne, if he runs then he will have a big chance. Gordon [Elliott] has a few, obviously last year’s winner is in it, at joint top-weight. Maybe on very heavy ground it might be an advantage to have that run but we dodged it with our lad in the hopes we would have him fresher for this race.
Thoughts On The Whip Rule Change In Britain
As far as I’m concerned, my opinion is the same as many others, to bring it in now is absolutely ridiculous. I would have thought it should have been brought in on perhaps the first or second of May, not ahead of the biggest festival of the season where you are just going to draw attention to it.
Are we worried about it? Yes, of course we are worried about it, but I’d be hoping the jockeys can acquaint themselves with it.
I was talking to a jockey the other day, who was serving a day’s ban because he hit the horse in the wrong place. I think that is going to be a problem with the new rules, maybe that might be the downfall, where horses get hit in the wrong place by the jockeys because, well, they don’t all have the same length of arms!
I think it’ll change jockeys’ styles quite a bit. I always like a stylish jockey, riding with style but we will see a change in that, it’ll maybe be back to how they rode a while ago where they were a bit deeper and sat up a lot straighter. I suppose it’ll evolve as well, everybody else is doing it as well so we are going to have to roll with it.
Irish Coming To Town At Cheltenham Festival Next Month
When you look at the depth of it, Paul (Nicholls) has a couple of very good horses, very good novices and they have chances. Nicky (Henderson) will obviously have Constitution Hill and a few others scattered around.
We have a lot more horses to compete with, I suppose, than the English do. I am sure Willie and Gordon will bring over 130 or 140 horses between them.
Noel’s Potential Cheltenham Festival Runners
THEDEVILSCOACHMAN
I’m not sure what he will run in, probably the Brown Advisory, but he does want soft ground and the last couple of years that hasn’t come up in Cheltenham, but he is entered.
IDAS BOY
He was supposed to run last weekend but was unfortunately lame behind and didn’t get a chance to run, but he’s a possibility for the Brown Advisory too.
THE MODEL KINGDOM
She will run in the Mares’ Novice hurdle. I am not sure if Cheltenham is the right place for her but her owners were keen for her to go, she’s won her first three or four on the bounce and she could run a big race. Whether she can get up the hill or not remains to be seen, but she’s a speedy mare.
BEACON EDGE
He’s entered in the Stayers’ but I think it is more likely he’ll contest the Coral Cup.
AFFORDABLE FURY
He won his first two starts and then fell at the last on his third run. He was disappointing on his next run but we’ve always thought he was a decent horse and if we’re happy with him then he may run in the Albert Bartlett. He’s also entered in the Ballymore, but we will see how he works at home.
Prize Money A Serious Issue In England
I think the prize money issue is serious, there is no doubt about it.
We have a very good structure to our season. We go from one week to the next and we have Graded races every weekend, worth a lot of money, over here in Ireland.
We have a lot of the top owners, too. A lot of the top jumping owners are English but have horses in Ireland, which I suppose is very good for us but is pretty bad for the British.
It does appear, with the exception of a couple of the top yards in England – though we have a similar situation here – with Nicky [Henderson], Paul [Nicholls] and Dan [Skelton] now, they seem to have the top money to spend as well.
The Mullins/Elliott Dominance In Ireland
We go about our business as best we can but it is very difficult at the moment because, I have always said, “he who wins in the sale ring, will usually win on the track.”
Willie [Mullins], Gordon (Elliott) and Henry [de Bromhead] have been buying up practically everything, the top lots, this is why the English trainers are struggling as well because the top horses are going to those couple of trainers.
Willie is exceptional, there is no doubt about that. But when you win races, you get more horses and when you get more horses, you win more races. Then, the better races you win, the better horses you get and the better horse you get, the better races you win. That’s the way it is.
Willie was probably the first trainer to come along and say look, we don’t want just one, or two, or three horses that can win a race, we just want to keep buying good horses. He has kept buying and buying.
When I started training, if you had 60 or 70 horses then you had a huge string. Now, it’s around 250 to 300 horses and it’s a colossal amount. A lot of them, especially Willie’s, are very well bought. I can’t afford them. It’s very difficult to compete against.
Grand National Issues
Sometimes you can get carried away with these things, it could be different next year and there will be more English than Irish, but I do think there are more staying chasers in Ireland at the moment, with a higher rating. You need quite a high rating to get into the Grand National.
Iwilldoit, winning the Welsh National but not being able to run in the Grand National, is sad but I suppose if he was way out of the weights there is no point being in it.
Maybe there is a reason that races like the Welsh Grand National, or some other staying chases, should have a “win and you’re in” mentality. We do that for the Galway Hurdle in Ireland, as long as they’re in the handicap.
Looking For More Racing Info? Check Out Our Racecards & Top Tips Sections
Check out our latest tips from top tipsters Andrew Mount and Daryl Carter here