CHELTENHAM, England, March 12 : Top Irish trainer Willie Mullins threatened on Thursday to stop bringing his best horses to the Cheltenham Festival after taking issue with the quality of the ground.
The most successful trainer in the history of the event withdrew odds-on favourite and last year’s winner Fact to File shortly before the day’s Ryanair Chase feature race after finding the conditions too hard.
“In jumps racing we would like soft in the description of the ground and we think good ground is not good enough for the type of individual we are buying and trying to race,” Mullins told Racing TV.
“You want to have the top horses at the best Festival but if the ground is like this, we are not going to bring them.”
Mullins said watering of the course had been promised but he was not sure it had been done, with forecast rain also holding off.
“This isn’t good for the type of horses we are bringing over here and I know it suits some horses but for the majority of the good, big, National Hunt horses we would like it a little softer,” he added.
Jon Pullin, clerk of the course, told the BBC that most of the ground was watered the day before.
“After racing concluded on Wednesday, selective watering took place on the majority of the new course to maintain the going description of Good, Good to Soft in places,” he said.
“Our focus is on producing safe jumping ground for all our participants and that has been provided today.”
Mullins had five winners on the first two days of the festival but none on Thursday.
Heart Wood, a 9-2 shot trained by Henry de Bromhead and ridden by Darragh O’Keeffe, won the Ryanair Chase ahead of 2-1 favourite Jonbon.
