You know when a co-commentator says about a striker connecting with a ridiculous volley in football so cleanly that the ball goes straight at the goalkeeper instead of bursting the net and they invariably say: ‘You know what… he’s almost hit that too well!’
Yes, the eye rolls can be detected from here. One wonders if the clerk at Cheltenham Racecourse thinks likewise about their world-class drainage system. It almost drains too well.
The broadside from Willie Mullins this week was another not-so-gentle reminder about his displeasure at the ground being a bit too quick at March’s Cheltenham Festival. It wasn’t particularly helpful either.
The legendary Closutton handler pulled out odds-on favourite and his ‘banker’ of the week Fact To File in the Ryanair Chase. Earlier on that Thursday, Bambino Fever was ‘jarred up’ on the ground when a well-beaten favourite in the Mares’ Novices Hurdle.
Mullins used his Stable Tour day to also mention that ‘a lot of damage’ was done Thursday and Friday of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival because they didn’t water properly and some of his owners may point their best horses to festivals at Aintree and Punchestown instead.
The mood of Jon Pullin, Cheltenham’s clerk of the course, wouldn’t have improved when sand had to be applied on the bend twice in the first day of the November meeting on ‘good ground’ that jockey Sean Bowen said had firm in it after Friday’s second race.
Willie Mullins was critical of the ground in the second half of the Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham’s November meeting yesterday saw plenty of non-runners due to quick ground
Everyone in jumps racing is waiting and hoping for rain. It doesn’t seem forthcoming. Pullin can’t water for Saturday and Sunday due to freezing temperatures overnight. A spate of non-runners loom over the next couple of days.
This is, of course, nothing new at the start of jumps season. Beginners chases hardly muster four runners. Trainers being ultra cautious in introducing their best horses for the long season ahead. A bit of patience, the rain will come and everything will be back on track by Christmas.
But 2026 feels a bit different. Mullins felt strongly enough to reaffirm his general view despite his gripe happening eight months ago. Gordon Elliott wasn’t happy with the ground at Down Royal recently, a usual starting point for his stars.
Ludlow is closed for the foreseeable thanks to a ridiculously dry and warm summer and autumn. The West Country meetings moved to Aintree last week.
But there’s a lot of focus around jumps HQ. Cheltenham seems to have a major problem. Even prior to the watering debate, the bend before the second last is very tight. Perhaps too tight now on the Old Course. It’s a fence and a point of the race that catches many horses out. Friday’s action looked like an accident waiting to happen… and it would be odds-on where it would happen.
Of course, Cheltenham’s season last year was curtailed to fix a broken drain. The Cross-County course is so dry that it remains unraceable. There are also water use restrictions in places at some tracks. Even if you want to water, you can’t in some instances.
Cheltenham looks to have a serious problem on its hands and the words of Mullins will be echoing loudly in the corridors of power.
It’s world-class draining system seems too world class for its own good. The ground dries so rapidly that by the end of the meeting it’s very quick ground again. So no matter how much water you put on, it will just dry up so quickly at Prestbury Park. Water too much and it just stays on top of the surface and causes horses to slip. Go crazy with the watering can and you flood the place.
Jumps racing is dealing in a world of extremes. The weather isn’t playing ball but as Dan Skelton pointed out on ITV Racing, perhaps this constant artificial messing around with ground in years gone by is coming back to bite us all.
Dan Skelton at Cheltenham on Friday and made good points on historic over draining of ground
Horses bypass a hurdle because of low sun on an unsatisfactory day at Cheltenham
It’s hard to see a solution going forward. Dry weather and world-class draining facilities is a disastrous combination for jumps racing. It’s either too firm or apply so much water that it becomes a bog. It’s difficult to race on either extreme. Finding the right balance is looking harder and harder for grounds staff. They are damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
But when top trainers like Elliott and Mullins air their grievances in public, there’s no hiding place for the sport.
Racing must remember it’s social licence to operate and there is a material difference between unsuitable and unsafe ground.
Unsuitable gives the trainer an option to pull out their horses on the account of the ground being either too fast or too slow for their respective horses. But anybody coming out with loaded terminology and questioning safety raises the ultimate question of all: why is any of this happening in the first place if a participant believes it’s unsafe?
We cannot get to a point where racing on exclusively good ground is deemed unsafe. If we do, the sport may as well pull up the shutters. Trainers, no matter what status, should be careful with their words in relation to ground.
Mullins’ grievance could have been dealt with in private. His displeasure in the ground was obvious on the day, he acted accordingly by pulling Fact To File and it didn’t need to be revisited.
Others will pull out their runners with regularity in the next couple of days on the account of unsuitable ground. That’s the key phrase. Suitability not safety.
Punters will keep their cash in their pockets. Fields will be thin. The spectacle will be poorer. But patience is a virtue and things are more likely to improve than not as the season goes on.
But there is a danger this could well be the new norm and it’s not a pretty one for a sport already on rocky ground in some quarters of public opinion, pardon the pun.
