There was a Mullins/Potts horse running yesterday at Down Royal.
Willie has a number of entries for the big Auteiul meeting.
Diakali, Doogara, Blood Cotil and Viconte de Noyer are in the 4yo hurdle, while Thousand Stars, So Young and Zaidpour are in the Prix la Barka.
I see Nicholls has entered Celestial Halo in this as well.
Alistair Down on ATR's forum yesterday stated that there were five horses over in France which most of the top buyers were chasing recently but when push came to shove it transpired Mullins had already bought alll five.
"The owls are not what they seem"
Is €300k not the standard for any half decent horse in France.
Cant compete with that
Better that we know which yokes have allegedly been snapped-up by Mullins, and we can decide for ourselves if they are "the top 5 prospects in France". Any idea which horses?*
Martin will know the detail a lot better than I could articulate, but anything with form (not necessarily winning form either) in any of the top 3yo/4yo events - hurdles or chases - at Auteuil is going to command E250,000+, I would imagine. And I reckon anything winning a top race at Enghien or Pau, won't get knocked-down for less than E100K.
There seems to be a glut of owners with short arms and deep pockets, at present. Just a shame very few of them seem inclined to have a dash back at the top French conditions races, once their charges have been shipped over here to be trained (though it has to be said that there is generally a positive-trend as regards such raids. Long may it continue).
*Acknowledging that there will be the occassional one that is wholly under the radar, in terms of form in-the-book.
"Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".
SlimChance, March 2018
Wish I knew which horses had been bought Grassy - I'd imagine they are as you say once or twice raced 4yo's over hurdles, probably from Pau.
Needless to say there'll be plenty going for absolute lumps from down there and no guarantee that these are the best horses in France, the ones with the most potential or even the ones who've shown the most ability thus far but Mullins and Kirk seem decent judges of what is what over the sea so sure they'll find the right horses.
Maritn
Hurricane Fly - whatever he runs in he wins
Twitter: @Quevega
Irish breds aren't doing too bad these day either. France has been good to him. These will be some shorties when they debut at Thurles over nov/dec
Some people say he’s the best since Arkle and that’s certainly true when you look at what he’s done
Wonder how many horses the Riccis will buy this summer. They already have 40 in training there, and he's just got another huge bonus, so they could be hitting 50/60 by next season and I don't think they've had a bad one yet.
Ricci recently left his position at Barclays..... Not sure where he will end up.
I'm clever enough to ask the questions i'm too stupid to answer
He won't go poor. I believe he wasn't too happy that Wylie got the top lot in a recent Mullins spending spree but I'm sure Ruby and Willie will manage that. Mullins has the huge advantage of having Kirk who is essentially his private agent for him. But I guess when you have 100+ horses in your own yard at €50 a day, another 100 spread across your brothers' yards, you get 10% of €3 million in prizemoney, then you can afford to pay for a private agent. They are as good a commercial operation as Coolmore. They have got to the point where very few will take on one of their shorties in a maiden hurdle.
Given the size of his bonus and no doubt the golden handshake i'm sure he'll be fine. I was more wondering would he stay in the UK given he's american.... I've got no idea though.
I had to laugh when I saw Mullins wearing an All Saints jumper in an interview; he's even trendy now....
I'm clever enough to ask the questions i'm too stupid to answer
I see he has 3 runners in the 4.15 at Auteuil today maybe a comb f/c on the PMU might be value? Diakali, Blood Cotil & Viconte Du Noyer
Pluralism of Ideas and the prosperity of any land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect to 'think the unthinkable' is how humanity has progressed; when minds are incarcerated nothing endures.
Celestial Halo..wins at 10/1
1 Blood Cotil 25/1
2 Diakali 4/1
3 Le Grand Luce 6/4F
NR: Extreme Cara (FR), Gorvello (FR), Libranous (FR)
10 ran Distances: 1l, nk, 2½l
TIME 4m 41.60s
Jockey: Paul Townend
Trainer: W P Mullins
PARI-MUTUEL (all including 1 euro stakes): WIN 26.20
PLACE 3.60, 1.90, 1.40
DF 10.10
SF 96.80
Pluralism of Ideas and the prosperity of any land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect to 'think the unthinkable' is how humanity has progressed; when minds are incarcerated nothing endures.