Kilkenny maestro Willie Mullins hits out at conditions at Cheltenham Festival

Kilkenny horse racing maestro Willie Mullins has expressed his annoyance at conditions at the Cheltenham Festival after withdrawing star chaser Fact To File from the Ryanair Chase on Thursday.

The ground at Prestbury Park was officially described as good, good to soft in places for the third day of the meeting, but after Fact To File’s owner JP McManus walked the track on Thursday morning and having witnessed some of his own team during the early races on the card, Mullins was not prepared to risk his Irish Gold Cup hero.

Mullins told Racing TV: “JP walked the track this morning and I happened to walk it coming across the track after exercising horses. Looking at Bambino Fever (unplaced favourite in first race) and looking at the ground, I thought ‘this ground is going to be too good for her’ and sure enough she wasn’t able to act on it.

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“I said to JP these horses are too difficult to get and acquire and you have to mind them. We waited and waited for the rain that was promised, it hasn’t come, so we made the decision not to run. These horses are too hard to find, too hard to get.”

Mullins went on to explain that, although appreciating the forecast rain had not materialised, he felt further watering could have taken place to ensure softer underfoot conditions ahead of the action switching to the New course.

He added: “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. 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.

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“We were promised watering and I’m not sure the watering we were promised has been done. I’m a little bit annoyed about that and I thought there would be more watering done.

“I know the weather forecast hasn’t been kind, but very few people complain about a bit of watering and then too much rain.

“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.”