There’s no rest for the Willie Mullins team on Saturday, with four runners at Ireland’s sole weekend fixture in Thurles and a challenge too on Uttoxeter’s Midlands Grand National.
Mullins declared both Captain Kangaroo and Mr Incredible for the 4¼-mile marathon, but the latter had a tough race when third in Thursday’s Kim Muir at Cheltenham.
Danny Mullins stays in England to team up with Captain Kangaroo despite the horse boasting a worrying sequence of letters in his last four runs.
A fall in last month’s Grand National Trial at Punchestown was preceded by getting pulled up in the Thyestes, another fall in Leopardstown’s Paddy Power and a “U” for unseat over the National fences in Aintree.
The bird-shaped obsession that drives James Crombie, one of Ireland’s best sports photographers
To contest or not to contest? That is the question for Ireland’s aerial game
Ciara Mageean speaks of ‘grieving’ process after missing Olympics
‘I’m the right guy in the right moment’ says new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim
It hardly makes for an encouraging prospect but, before that mini alphabet, there was a victory in the Cork National on soft ground over 3½ miles.
Captain Kangaroo was also good enough to beat Kilcruit on his bumper debut back in the day.
Soft ground around Uttoxeter is a real test of stamina but Iwilldoit’s presence at the top of the handicap sees the Irish hope running off a nice racing weight of 10.8.
Another horse with boundless stamina is the 2020 Welsh National winner Secret Reprieve who should relish this extreme test.
Mullins’s quartet at Thurles includes the enigmatic Asterion Forlonge, who returns to action in a conditions hurdle.
Last seen exactly a year ago when seventh to A Plus Tard in the Gold Cup, the grey boasts some high-class if infuriating form.
He was a Grade 1 winning hurdler, though, and could hold a quality edge over opposition that includes Lifetime Ambition and the Galmoy runner-up Summerville Boy.
The Thurles feature, the Grade 3 Pierce Molony Memorial Novice Chase, sees Flame Bearer renew rivalry with Indiana Jones.
The latter scored at this level in the Flyingbolt at Navan recently where Flame Bearer was a well-beaten third.
What’s different now is a 7lb swing, an extra quarter mile and, perhaps most crucially, much softer ground that could suit the No 1 Mullins hope more.
Michael O’Sullivan enjoyed a breakthrough Cheltenham Festival but it’s back to basics for the young rider with a handful of Thurles spins.
The best of them looks like being Quirke’s Gate for his boss Barry Connell in an Opportunity Handicap Hurdle.
