Talking Points: Milton Harris, Willie Mullins, the Mares' Hurdle and more!

Plenty to discuss in this week's Talking Points, including the permanent removal of Milton Harris' training licence, Willie Mullins' dominance in Ireland and much more.
Nick Luck is joined by Harry Derham, Maddy Playle and Richard Hoiles to discuss the key topics.
#horseracing #horse #horses
Must-see compilations and best bits ➡️ y2u.be/Kfl2CXtG6xA
Greatest Hits! Some of our most amazing action ➡️ y2u.be/AfNpAewK4m4
Feature-length documentaries for racing lovers ➡️ y2u.be/xIprr1hNCeA
Thrills, spills and funnies! ➡️ y2u.be/AHqOQUnNhXo
Racing Greats ➡️ y2u.be/74MKoH7TLIE
All the best Group One and Grade One action ➡️ y2u.be/mOq9ZgMn_ME
Welcome to the official KZbin channel of Racing TV, the UK's leading horse racing channel showing live racing from the best racecourses in Great Britain and Ireland.
Subscribe to Racing TV's free KZbin channel and get closer to the sport we all love. If you want to watch unmissable moments from the world of racing and exclusive interviews and highlights from our specialist shows then this is the place for you! bit.ly/2RHbyMa
You can also find us on Sky 424 or Virgin Media 536 (411 in Ireland): t.co/xkJ0xBrDcm
Also watch Racing TV at racingtv.com and via our iPhone, iPad and Android apps: t.co/CwcklwUMHs

[@gurney2931]

Not putting Milton Harris up as a hero but Nick says what Milton Harris thinks is acceptable is different than what others think. I look forward to Nick and others in a similar position highlighting the behaviours of Sheikh Mohammed. Why is it OK in racing to hammer the little man every time ??????????????????

[@michaelmcginley7930]

Richard hoiles is an elequant mant.very articulate

[@AlanKelly-ff7tk]

Highlight of the DRF was Madara / Sophie Leech. Just unfortunate that Henderson and tatty head are too gutless to follow suit

[@seamusdurcan3774]

This mantra was started several years ago when the English trainer's were moaning about WP Mullins & g Elliot.clearing up at Cheltenham, English handicapper added the Irish tax when the horses cross the Irish sea, that's not working so there using another tactic now DOMINATION it's quite interesting when the Irish economy was on its knees & the English brought all the best horses from Ireland & after that the Irish had 1 winner though Cheltenham festival on a couple of occasions then 2 3 winniners not a mention of the English dommence double standards I think. By the way Sophie leech showed the way well done! 1 horse sent over 1 winner

[@miller2624]

Spot on, us British are just a bit jealous at the moment, with having just a handful of half decent horses .

[@trevormeeks4084]

People forget that horse racing is an elite sport UK Ireland Japan France Dubai and parts of USA and Canada are the only country's that really have horse racing to a high standard it's basically a rich man's sport aisans like cricket Africans football USA Baseball and American football there is about 68million people in UK and Ireland about 2 million watch horse racing this will not change it's not in other nationalitys culture. if they want to increase people going to the races stop pricing the general public out of going I used to go to Epson derby every year until they fenced it all off started charging silly amounts to park your car And get in where it used to be free they are more interested in selling overpriced beer and food than the punter watching the racing .

[@richardrellis3979]

Stupid negativity from these guys. Willie is the best of the best Learn to complete English owners and trainers Racing tv at its very worst

[@JamesBond-kj2xv]

If joe Donnelly and jp didnt give the english trainers you would have maybe 1 winner at Cheltenham as they are both irish

[@michaeloneill6409]

I thought the comment from Harry Dernham regarding running Lossiemouth in the English Champion hurdle was rather childish, but it was noticeable Nick Luck found it rather humorous.....now there's a surprise......When Luck was on his high horse about Willie Mullins dominance of Irish racing (BTW Irish horseracing has got nothing to do with Nick Luck), the person who disappointed me the most with their criticism of Mullins was Richard Hoiles!!!!

[@jacob4690]

Let’s see Maddy own a good mare one day and where she runs her then.. it’s easy to say where Lossiemouth should run when you don’t own her

[@paulrichards6894]

think she would have zero chance in the champion..so the mares the right race...think she maybe vulnerable in that

[@anthonyberry1314]

Well said

[@TomLeach-dd8cl]

I predict in less than 20 years jumps racing will be dead. Unless the owners can start realising that they are ruining the sport by sending all the best horses to 2 or 3 trainers . At the end of the day it's a betting product as well as a sport and when punters get sick of it you won't have a sport. The drf is a great example. 2 runner races 4 runner races. I'm getting bored of it myself.

[@WerdnaLiten]

Agree - it's not the sport I started following as a schoolboy nearly 30 years ago. The last 10 years have seen worrying trends......and haven't been addressed. Too many races, not enough top horses spread around, lots of meaningless Gd1 races, etc

[@michaelmulhall5007]

Again not willies fault this big owners don’t know much about the sport just see W Mullins beside the Majority if winners and buy them for Willie. And unless they ain’t top class there horse be be left there. Appreciate it prime example Danny told to give Paul easy lead on allaho and not even make it a race. Danny again getting a bollocking off Patrick for race riding that was perfectly acceptable.

[@CharlieFleeting-qv6zp]

Maddy Playle honestly can’t they do any better!

[@michaeloneill6409]

This guy Luck seems to have a bee in his bonnet in relation to Irish horseracing & Willie Mullins, one can sense the jealousy oozing from his every pore at the Irish dominance of the NHS scene, the Irish racing community are fed up listening to panels like this, constantly complaining about the Irish horseracing industry....for years when English trainers like Henderson, Nicholls, Pipe etc .. were dominating the scene at Cheltenham & Irish trained horses were totalling a meagre one winner by the end of the 3 day meeting as it was then, there wasn't a word of concern from the hacks of the day about English trainers dominating the racing scene, Now that Irish trainers like Mullins, Elliott & Debromhead have the upper hand, hacks like Luck & others are furious ..... HRI must, at the earliest opportunity drop Racing TV from covering Irish racing, it shouldn't be too difficult to find a provider who could provide sole coverage of Ireland's 5 or 6 horseracing weekly race meetings......Irish horseracing does NOT need Nick Luck or Racing UK!

[@garymoon1]

Spot on

[@hewoguys2506]

if they want the sport to survive it cant keep running like this willie has a monopoly and if this carries on for next ten years sport wont cope like any sport if one team or person has it all that sport wont survive as people wont care coz they already knownthe result😊

[@JamesBond-kj2xv]

Maddy their was 6 entries to be filled in a hurdle race worth 150 grand enter their horses

[@davidcoughlan3619]

2 horse race today in Leopsardstown & both horses trained by Mullins & surprise.. surprise the 6/4 trounces the 4/7 ..Irish racing in freefall in few years..punters have enough trust me....

[@daraspeight357]

keep maddy...lovely girl that makes sense

[@XX-wd9xn]

What's the point 🎉we'll done Willie and I was a fan . I must admit ruby inspired most of us apart from the donks who can't help themselves 🎉

[@patrickfarrell5092]

I see the Mullins discussion as Brits bitching and moaning because they cannot get their own house in order. Instead of complaining about Willie winning in Leopardstown why not send over horses to take him on instead of hiding in the shadows and giving out, this is so juvenile. The reason owners are sending their good horses to Ireland to be trained is the prize money is better and apparently the trainers aren't bad either. Regarding competition aren't Henderson and Nichols ruling the roost in GB for the last 10 years, how many races did Paul win in Scotland today? Really I'm getting tried of this nonsense and especially from journalists who need something to write about. The British in general have this superiority complex and when that gets dented they tend to throw their toys out of the pram. I for one believe the Mullins family have worked hard for what they have, there are 3 generations involved, instead of complaining about them try get your own act together first.

[@normatrooper6045]

Well said.

[@miller2624]

I'm a brit but I totally agree with you . Trainers in Britain need to get better .

[@suemaher5282]

Well said Patrick instead of moaning as A.P. said try catching up.

[@marttyler2569]

Behave mick

[@patrickfarrell5092]

@@marttyler2569 that's a very 20th century remark Tommy

[@trevormeeks4084]

Why should the irish move dublin festival its an english problem not the irish remember its a comlete sell out at punchestown

[@trevormeeks4084]

What do you do about it it's not Willy's fault he's got all the best horses he's not in England it only bothers us at Cheltenham in UK we've got Nichols and Henderson to deal with

[@trevormeeks4084]

Dont forget the pundits like grade one races the punters like the handicaps so saying you cant have a bet is not true

[@miller2624]

Exactly, I look forward to the ultima way more than the champion hurdle .

[@trevormeeks4084]

@@miller2624 I do as well there is 28 races at chelt only about 6 or 8 are races with odds on favs there are plenty of races to win a few quid on these are races where Elliot and Nichols horses can be backed

[@potterendergaming5335]

Stop moaning about mullins take him on!

[@mervyncharter]

An Idea to improve the Cheltenham Festival would be to move the 1st day of the Festival to January or early February. This 1st day of the Festival would Include the Mares Races and the 2 and a Half mile chases like the Ryanair Chase and the Turners Chase. The Final 3 days of the festival would remain in Mid March. This would instantly make races like the Champion Hurdle, Ryanair Chase, Gold Cup, Arkle, Brown Advisory more competitive and exciting as the Top Mares will in essence be able to run in the Mares Only Championship then in March the Championship races themself. And the Ryanair and Turners would no longer be diluting the Gold cup, Champion Chase, Arkle, Brown Advisory. To me it could leave everyone a winner and the Sport will be much richer for it. The Dublin Racing Festival would have to be moved in the calendar but surely that can be done for the greater good of the sport.

[@jacob4690]

Is this a windup? 😂 when has the Ryanair ever diluted the gold cup? How will the sport be richer too? You’re removing one of the biggest days in the calendar and to say it would be just as big in February on a standalone day is ludicrous

[@rodneymckee8431]

Didn't here this must moaning when Martin pipe. Hendo and Nichols dominated get over it

[@normatrooper6045]

Spot on, we have lauded Michael Dickinson for years for achieving the top 5 in the Gold cup.

[@chrismiller6317]

Trainers are missing trick the 2 horse race was worth £150,000 so place money was worth more than some the non participants having a winner the sport I love is dying on it’s A💥💥💥so wake up and smell the ☕️

[@alanoneill3065]

Influencing?...because its new doesn't mean that it is good...fashion comes and go

[@blairfoley7404]

Will ye just shut up about Willie I’ve never seen so much bitterness towards one man yes he’s doing well and worked very hard to get where he is now is Paul Nichols not dominating English racing he has won 14 titles since 2005-2006 is that not worrying from an English point of view and you’re not harping on about that

[@markjex9035]

It's OK, for Aidan O Brian to win all the FLAT RACES ! But its All wrong for Willie Mullins to win all the Jumps . YEAH IRISH , makes Sence . Someone Explian ? Like Messi + Ronaldo are very bad for football .😮 why is Mullins so bad ?

[@keybuckley]

All I'm hearing is. Wah, wah, wah. You know the worst thing about all this is that they're IRISH!

[@terenceryman394]

The country in question matters not a jot. It’s irrelevant to the argument. What we need and want is a strong competitive enjoyable product in the UK and in Ireland. In the latter it is no longer particularly interesting nor enjoyable, and as a betting medium less and less attractive to the punter. This is already having repercussions, the effect of which is to the obvious detriment of the sport. I just wish more pundits were prepared to say as much. I have great respect for Richard Hoiles, but was very surprised to hear he has no problem with Mr Mullins’ near total domination of the Irish NH scene. I’d love to discuss his view with him to understand why he doesn’t think this is problematic. To my mind it’s an obvious issue that is taking the sport down a very very dark alley.

[@patrickfarrell5092]

​@@terenceryman394I think Mullins sucess is vastly attributed to the downfall of British racing, why would an owner want his or her horse trained in GB when the prize money is half that of Ireland?

[@terenceryman394]

@@patrickfarrell5092 very fair point to a degree. But why oh why do so many top horses go straight to WM? There are so many good trainers in Ireland, but the almost total focus of these top grade horses on one stable is making training economically unviable for many others. The result is that the current problems are exponentially self-perpetuating. It’s become a very sad state of affairs. I’m aware that certain stables have dominated to some degree throughout history. I go back to the Fred Winter and Fulke Walwyn days for example. But today’s stables are so big that any domination is naturally at a different level to previous eras. And in Ireland, when even the likes of Elliott and de Bromhead are being squeezed out (check the results of this weekend’s DRF), there is a serious problem at hand. I don’t believe WM is necessarily a better trainer than others. There is no proof, and it is dependent on multiple factors especially the type of horses he gets. Personally I think he’s very good, but I think many others are too; they just don’t get the same calibre of horse to work with.

[@jacob4690]

DRF is the most overrated festival in racing it’s just a Mullins benefit

[@Martin.Lewis..]

😂😂😂 spoken like a true clueless Hendo Army fan that kid.

[@jacob4690]

@@Martin.Lewis.. what’s so good about it then? Mullins winning all 8 grade 1s is that entertaining to you?

[@Martin.Lewis..]

@@jacob4690 if you didn’t learn anything from yesterdays racing kid then you have no idea about the sport!!!

[@jacob4690]

@@Martin.Lewis..yeah I learnt which of Mullins horses is the best wow very exciting! I like the DRF and I attended last year but to say it’s the best festival is ridiculous

[@terenceryman394]

Jacob, you are quite correct. It’s plainly obvious that competition in Irish NH racing is suffering because of Mr Mullins’ domination. Which just makes it ever more boring sadly. Not his fault, but something should be done to increase competitiveness.

[@alanoneill3065]

Cheltenham is overhyped

[@Mysterybox02]

You can’t tell me the drf was fun to watch, it wasn’t, racing will lose people if it continues like this, nobody wants to watch the same thing over and over again, it doesn’t sell tickets 2 runner grade ones , one horse finishes, that’s not good.