High flying Mullins yard fielding most powerful festival team yet

Date Published: {J}

John McIntyre

HE’S the man who has established a stranglehold on Irish National Hunt racing which is in no danger of being broken in the foreseeable future; he’s the man who has turned out a staggering dozen winners at each of the last two Punchestown festivals; he’s the man who is already a distance clear in his pursuit of a fourth consecutive Trainers’ Championship; he’s the man whose stable runners are currently sweeping all before them.

Willie Mullins is also the man who is training his sights on the Cheltenham festival next week like never before with a powerful near 30-strong raiding party, one that is arguably more potent than what the rest of his Irish counterparts heading to the Cotswolds can assemble between them. In a nutshell, the former six-time champion amateur jockey has the firepower – at least, on paper – to take the sport’s greatest meeting by storm.

That might seem a brash statement, especially in the context of Cheltenham consistently proving a graveyard for fancied contenders, but when you consider that the Mullins yard is currently blessed with a multitude of top chasers and hurdlers, it’s easier to justify expectations of the Co. Carlow based operation having its most productive March National Hunt festival yet.

Never mind that Mullins is set to saddle leading fancies Hurricane Fly (Champion Hurdle); Mourad and Fiveforthree (World Hurdle); and Golden Silver (Champion Chase) in the festival’s showcase events, but he will also be represented by lively outsider Kempes in the Gold Cup, with the likes of Zaidpour, So Young, Day Of A Lifetime, Allez Garde, Gagewell Flyer, Sir Des Champs, C’est Ca, Quel Esprit and Mikael d’Haguenet heading the trainer’s assault on the big novice hurdle and chasing prizes.

Mullins, who will have the fit again Ruby Walsh back in harness, will also be strongly represented in the festival handicaps, not least by Final Approach in the County Hurdle – a race he won last year with the grey, Thousand Stars – Call The Police (Coral Cup) and Some Target (National Hunt Chase) while his several entries in the Champion Bumper, including Allure Of Illusion and Lord Gale, give Ireland’s top trainer a sporting chance of landing next Wednesday’s finale for the seventh time in its 19-year existence. And, of course, his banker will be Quevega which will be bidding for a hat-trick in the David Nicholson Mares Hurdle.

That’s a formidable line up by any standards and Mullins will be disappointed if he fails to surpass last year’s festival haul of two winners. He has yet to be crowned leading trainer at Cheltenham, but 2011 could be a landmark year for the stable. Only Edward O’Grady of the current Irish handlers has managed to saddle more winners at the festival and his tally of 18 is now just one ahead of Mullins.

Yet, expectations of glory at Cheltenham can often be cruelly dashed and it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that the Mullins yard could return from Prestbury Park having drawn a blank. That’s how competitive the famed four-day meeting is – there’s no place to hide on a demanding, undulating track with its stiff uphill finish and while many Irish runners are visually impressive on home turf, the pace they are forced to run at Cheltenham is a different level. They simply don’t hack around under the shadow of Cleeve Hill.

Naturally, huge interest will centre on Mullins’ bid to land the Champion Hurdle for the first time with Hurricane Fly. The French import has missed the last two Cheltenham festivals due to injury, but has had an uninterrupted preparation this time around and is generally second favourite behind title holder Binocular for the highlight of next Tuesday’s card. The seven-year-old has been dominant in small-runner fields in Ireland this season, putting further distance between his main challenger, Solwhit, on each occasion they have met in the current campaign.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.