Setbacks galore but Mullins still saddles big race treble

Inside Track with John McIntyre

SOME of the headlines emanating from Fairyhouse racecourse last Sunday, the most prestigious day of the Irish National Hunt season so far, would leave you almost feeling sorry for the all-conquering Willie Mullins yard which endured a number of high profile setbacks.

Firstly, the much touted Allez Colombieres suffered a serious injury in the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle, leaving Ruby Walsh with no choice but to pull up the expensive French import which had cost €300,000.  Unfortunately, the horse’s injuries were so serious that Vets at the track had no choice but to put him down.

Mullins also saddled the favourite in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, another Grade 1 event, but Zaidpour came to grief on the back straight which helped to pave the way for an emotional big race success for Lieutenant Colonel and Sandra Hughes, who has just taken over her late father Dessie’s training licence. More disappointment followed when another highly regarded stable contender, Childrens List, surprisingly finished out of the money in the concluding bumper.

Three strongly supported market leaders and all failing to justify their odds on the same card for one reason or another would be enough to demoralise most trainers, if they were so lucky to saddle such a strong team in the first place, but Mullins still left the Co. Meath last Sunday consoled by the fact that he had managed a treble.

There were Grade 1 triumphs for stable second string Nichols Canyon in the Royal Bond and the impressive Valsuer Lido in the Drinmore Novice Chase, while Ireland’s champion trainer had also got the meeting off to the perfect when another French import Kalkir ran away with Juvenile hurdle. It may have been a day of mixed fortunes for the stable, but it also underlined the embarrassment of riches at Mullins’ disposal.

He has dominated National Hunt racing for virtually the past decade, but this season he is sweeping all before him in a manner which we have not seen before. During the month of November alone, Mullins tuned out a staggering 36 winners at a strike rate of over 40% and 20 of those were sent off at really prohibitive odds on prices. Even professional punters would baulk at getting involved with 1-6 and 2-11 chances.

These kind of odds are not good for the betting industry either with turnover way down in those races in which Mullins saddles ‘hot pots’. His rival trainers must be really envious of their Co. Carlow based counterpart as apart from the yards of Gordon Elliott, Noel Meade, Henry De Bromhead, Jessica Harrington and the late Dessie Hughes, the rest have to make do with increasingly lean pickings.

They say Mullins is something of a genius when getting horses ready and that he has an ‘eye’ for potential good ones, but his task has been made much easier by having so many wealthy patrons on his books. The small trainers and owners are being squeezed out – for instance, what chance has a reasonably regarded animal from a modest operation got against a €150,000 French import in a maiden hurdle – and, if anything, their prospects are getting bleaker all the time.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.