FTHM Podcast: Ruby Walsh, Patrick Mullins & Frank Hickey join Tom Nugent for a National Hunt Season Preview

Ruby Walsh reckon that Galopin Des Champs still sets the standard.

By / Horse Racing News / 3 days ago

Host Tom Nugent, together with former champion jockey turned brilliant tv pundit and expert Ruby Walsh, amateur jockey and assistant trainer to his father Willie, Patrick Mullins and Paddy Power trader and formbook guru Frank Hickey have come together on Paddy Power Media’s ‘From The Horse’s Mouth’ podcast with a National Hunt Season Preview that offers something for the casual enthusiast to the most dedicated Jumps connoisseur.

This highly informative show covers every angle of the new campaign, including a discussion about the new changes to the programme at the Cheltenham Festival and whether Willie will try again to win the National Hunt trainers title in the UK.

There are laughs aplenty including Patrick opining “Well look Willie’s never won a handicap chase at Cheltenham still so that’s probably why there are three new handicap chases at the Festival Or maybe not” with the lads replying ‘if you’re going to say it, stand by it.”

Below, we have selected a few subjects that we think your readers/viewers will be interested in, with either Ruby or Patrick’s views on that particular subject transcribed. However, we will undoubtedly have missed something that you will find newsworthy, so the best policy would probably be to watch the whole show yourself. It’s a cracker from post to finishing line.

From: The Horse’s Mouth Podcast: National Hunt Season Preview on the Paddy Power Racing YouTube Channel.

Two-mile chasers

Patrick Mullins: Gaelic Warrior isn’t pigeonholed as a two-mile chaser – he won Grade 1s at two and a half and three miles. He could be going for a King George.

Energumene is 10 turning 11 coming back from a year off from injury so life’s not going to be simple for him. He possibly might need to step up in trip as well. He’s hardly getting faster.

This leaves El Fabiolo maybe as your crack two-miler, but don’t forget Il Etait Temps as well – so look, the Hilly Way is where we like to go with a lot of them; we could go straight to Leopardstown at Christmas with some.

The Tingle Creek is there as well – Un De Sceaux went and did it, but he was a horse who was very hard on himself at home. I’m not sure our horses are really wound up that early to go and travel to England on their first run. I’m not sure Willie’s going to be mad about that.

Ruby Walsh: Is Galopin Des Champs a class apart? In my opinion, he still sets the standard, and you have to give Fastorslow all due credit because he unseated in the Gold Cup when he was still travelling really, really well, and he came back to Punchestown and beat Galopin Des Champs.

I still think Fastorslow is a hell of a good racehorse. Now I know there was not much between them at Leopardstown but I kind of got the opinion that Galopin Des Champs was a bit readier than Fastorslow on that occasion and it will be interesting to see how they get on.

Galopin Des Champs still sets the standard, there’s no doubt about that, but like anything in life, he’s getting a year older, and I suppose I always look back to when Kauto Star got older. The older he got, the more aggressive you had to be on him and the more you had to ride him. He didn’t get any quicker as he got older.

Galopin Des Champs won’t be getting any quicker and if Paul Townend changed tactics on him last year from always taking his time on him to being more forceful on him, I’d say that he’ll have to be even more forceful on him again this year.

But he still sets the standard and I suppose until something lowers his colours, it’s hard to be against him.

Novice chasers

Ruby Walsh: I think when you’re that far ahead like a Ballyburn, Slade Steel is probably going to be his biggest opposition, but why does Slade Steel turn it around with Ballyburn 12 months on? I don’t see why he will.

One chaser to follow

Ruby Walsh: I think the horse that will be hardest to beat for the season will be Ballyburn. That is so obvious, but that’s what I would say.

Patrick Mullins: I’ll go a horse for an aim, a target – I think Meetingofthewaters for the Topham Chase – didn’t get home in the National, jumped and travelled and looked to me like the winner.

Two-mile hurdlers

Patrick Mullins:  For me, Constitution Hill is a class apart, but he’s had an off season and it’s not easy to get them back. Nicky did it with Sprinter Sacre, but there’s very, very few that have a season like he did last year and come back to their best.

Lossiemouth going Champion Hurdling is the plan. Look she has to step up an awful lot from being a juvenile and being the best juvenile and best mare to step up and take on State Man let alone Constitution Hill, that’s going to be a big ask.

Mystical Power is a good bit off the likes of State Man at the moment, but from where he started. He started at Ballinrobe in May and we didn’t particularly fancy him. And then he went to Galway and he’s just got better and better and better.

It’s going to be a big step up, but he is improving, and he just has to keep on improving. I remember Mark Walsh coming to ride him work before he ran in Galway, and Mark was quite disappointed, but the horse went and won.

So, he’s not a flashy horse, whereas Annie Power was a good workhorse. He’s quite nervous and quite sweaty even at home, but I think when he gets going, he doesn’t need a hood anymore, so he is learning as he gets the more races.

But I’d say with the pedigree he has he could do anything.

Three-mile hurdlers

Can Impaire Et Passe put it up to Teahupoo or Irish Point in the staying hurdle division?

Ruby Walsh: I don’t think so, I thought leaving Cheltenham last year that Teahupoo would come back and win another one, if not two more staying hurdles. Probably unlucky not to be going back for a third one already.

Novice Hurdlers

Patrick Mullins: Jasmin De Vaux has got loads of gears, he’s not like a lot of the Champion Bumper horses which are gallopers and want a trip. I think he’s a horse that’s got gears, he won a point-to-point so he does stay further.

But to me he looks like a horse that is more so a Supreme horse than a Gallagher but that could change throughout the season.

Salvatore Mundi was obviously bought when he finished second behind Sir Gino in Auteuil. We couldn’t get him out early last year, so we kind of followed Il Etait Temps’s example of staying at a high level as a juvenile.

He was sixth on his only run in that season in the Triumph, which was a really good run. He was quite keen, and he wore a hood.

And then when he came out in Tipperary, he rocked and rolled, and I’m not sure if it was a record – I can’t remember what Gaelic Warrior won by in Tramore – but it was 60-odd lengths Salvator Mundi won by, so he’s going to be a live one for the Supreme this year.

Kopek Des Bordes blew me away in Fairyhouse – he’s only a four-year-old, but he’s a big, tall, strong horse. He didn’t have an ideal prep for the race, and if he’d got tired in the race, we’d have forgiven him, but he didn’t. He just blew them apart.

They went a real strong gallop – the Twiston-Davies horse came over, and they had us strung out all over Ballyhack, but Kopek was only getting going. Ballyburn didn’t go for the Champion Bumper – this fella can go for the Champion Bumper.

One hurdler to follow

Ruby Walsh: I think the best-handicapped horse we have is Bunting. He doesn’t look to me to have the scope to go chasing, but I’d be shocked if he couldn’t win a handicap hurdle off 135.

Patrick Mullins: I’m going to repeat myself, but Meetingofthewaters is rated 112 over hurdles, so I’m just going to keep it simple.

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