Jonjo O’Neill Jr aboard Poniros after winning the JCB Triumph Hurdle on day four of the Cheltenham Festival at odds of 100/1. Photo: PA
Willie Mullins has questioned the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) for “solving a problem that wasn’t there” in the wake of Poniros’ shock 100/1 success in this year’s Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Poniros was one of 11 runners for Mullins in the Grade One contest as the four-year-old caused a huge upset under Jonjo O’Neill Jnr in his first career start over hurdles.
That scenario cannot repeat itself next March and beyond, though, after the BHA made programme changes last month which will require horses in Grade One juvenile and novice hurdles to have a rating of at least 110.
They will not be permitted to run unless that rule, dubbed ‘The Poniros Rule’, is satisfied either via a published handicap mark or if the BHA handicapper deems them to have run to that level in at least one hurdle race.
This is something which jumps king Mullins is not best pleased about and he didn’t hide his thoughts at Horse Racing Ireland’s launch of the new National Hunt season.
“I mean they solved a problem that wasn’t there, I thought. I’ve run plenty of horses first time out over the years in Grade One races and they all got on fine so to me, it wasn’t a problem that was there,” Mullins said.
“They’re looking for runners and for all those races in Cheltenham to have more runners, more open racing. They’re always crying out about that, now they’re closing it off.
“In a few years’ time, they’ll have to make incentives to get people to run in these races. It definitely wasn’t a problem and they might actually create more problems than they’ve solved.
“But there wasn’t a problem to solve so they’re going to narrow their amount of entries, I think anyway.”