Not content with unequalled dominance of National Hunt racing, Willie Mullins is on course to try to secure classic glory in Saturday’s Juddmonte Irish Oaks at the Curragh.
His filly Lope De Lilas is a general 6-1 shot for the weekend’s €500,000 feature despite how it will be just her third career start. Unplaced on her sole two-year-old outing, the €90,000 yearling purchase leapt to prominence with an impressive maiden victory at Leopardstown in May in the colours of Mullins’s wife, Jackie.
On the back of that Lope De Lilas was bought by the big-spending Qatari operation Wathnan Racing who in the space of little more than a year have become one of flat racing’s big ownerships. An impressive tally of four winners at Royal Ascot last month cemented both that status and James Doyle’s position as retained rider to the Wathnan boss, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar.
Ireland’s champion jockey Colin Keane rode Lope De Lilas in both of her starts to date but Doyle will take over in the hot seat on Saturday.
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“James is going over to ride her in a piece of work tomorrow and as long as everything is smooth the plan is to run,” the Wathnan representative Richard Brown said on Monday.
Aidan O’Brien’s Ribblesdale Stakes winner Port Fairy currently tops betting lists in advance of Tuesday’s important confirmation stage with the champion trainer pursuing a record-extending eighth win in the race. However, the prospect of a classic head-to-head with his jumps equivalent could dominate the run-up to a contest shorn of the now-retired Epsom Oaks heroine Ezeliya.
Mullins memorably upset the established order in the 2016 Irish Leger when Wicklow Brave beat Order Of St George to spark memorable celebrations by Frankie Dettori. The Italian jockey was also central to another famous classic success 21 years ago, steering Vintage Tipple, trained by the legendary Paddy Mullins, to Irish Oaks glory.
Emulating his father’s feat would constitute probably the greatest accomplishment to date on the flat by Willie Mullins whose comparatively rare excursions on to the level have yielded some notable successes.
Belloccio’s victory at Royal Ascot last month was a 10th at the world-famous meeting for Mullins.
The 67-year-old maestro, crowned champion jumps trainer in Britain for the first time in April, has previously pointed to both the Ascot Gold Cup and the Melbourne Cup as races he feels could be realistic targets for his operation.
Despite having to concede experience, Lope De Lilas could take her trainer to a different classic level at the weekend and open up a new Classic horizon for her owners.
Wathnan made an immediate impression last year with successes such as Courage Mon Ami in the Ascot Gold Cup while Isaac Shelby was runner-up in the French 2,000 Guineas. Their investment has gone to another level this season, underlined by a quartet of Ascot successes including Haatem in the Jersey Stakes and Wathnan’s €460,000 purchase Shareholder in the Norfolk.
Leovanni, a £190,000 buy, landed the Queen Mary and will appear next in the Lowther at York according to her Yorkshire-based trainer Karl Burke.
“The idea has been to go straight to the Lowther and we have plenty of time between Ascot and York. I couldn’t be happier with her physically and I think she has strengthened and grown a little bit since Ascot.
“She is only starting to work back again now but she does things very well. We have had to get on with her because she was getting very fresh in herself and I’ve got two very good lads who ride her who say she is the best horse they have ridden, so we’re very happy with her,” he said.
Mullins’s flat forays are always worthy of note wherever the fixture and he sends a pair of hopefuls to Tuesday evening’s Killarney meeting.
Mr Adjudicator, a Grade One winner over jumps in 2019, must overcome a 566-day absence in a two-mile handicap but fitness is rarely an issue for Mullins’ runners in such circumstances. A winner at Galway five years off a mark of 81, Mr Adjudicator now races off 75.
Nelda, a half-sister to a pair of Group One winners, will have first-time cheekpieces on her debut for Paddy Twomey in an earlier maiden.
