It took Willie Mullins 30 years to reach 100 Cheltenham winners but he is on the verge of a remarkably quick “half century” at this weekend’s Dublin Racing Festival (DRF).
Jump racing’s dominant figure has saddled 47 winners in the DRF’s seven-year history of filling the role as Ireland’s €2 million showpiece prep’ for next month’s all-important action back in Gloucestershire. The results of the 15 races over two days at Leopardstown hardly makes Cheltenham success inevitable. But its role in establishing this country’s pecking order going there has become huge.
Just a trio of British raiders over the two days underlines how domestic an affair it is. In contrast over 30 per cent of attendees in Foxrock are expected to be from across-channel. Such is the DRF’s appeal that attendance is all-ticket, and has been capped at 18,500 each day.
How Saturday’s crowds are impacted by the Ireland-England rugby international in Dublin remains to be seen. The game kicks off 10 minutes after the start of the last race. But if the rugby odds are close team-Mullins once again looks to be in an overpowering position.
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Over 50 declarations are distributed throughout all 15 races. They include the outstanding Galopin Des Champs who goes for three-in-a-row in Saturday’s €150,000 Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup.
He is one a handful of odds-on favourite for Mullins in the eight Grade One contests. Just as Fact To File is likely to be the main threat to “Galopin” the same is likely in the majority of the top-flight events. Just a single outsider will take Mullins on in Sunday’s Irish Champion Hurdle.
It means the odds on a repeat of last year’s unprecedented clean sweep of all eight Grade One races have shrunk all week. That Mullins will at least reach the 50-winner mark at the DRF is so assumed as to be not worth betting on.
Weighty debates about the broader competitive impact of such a situation are hardly new and could intensify even further on the back of this weekend’s action.
Gordon Elliott is skipping the festival with two of his best horses Brighterdaysahead and Romeo Coolio. The other one of Irish racing’s traditional “Big Three” Henry De Bromhead has not been firing on all cylinders since Christmas. His Gold Cup hope Monty’s Star is one of 10 weekend runners.
What’s hard to quibble with, however, is the depth of talent on show, albeit so much of it is in the hands of one camp.
Final Demands tops a handful of Closutton runners in Saturday’s opening Grade One, while confidence around Sainte Luice ahead of her clash with Hello Neighbour & Co in the big Juvenile Hurdle is noticeably strong.
Bookmakers reckon Majborough’s biggest danger in the Arkle is his stable companion Ile Atlantique. Even the big three-mile handicap hurdle looks to revolve around whether Meetingofthewaters can exploit an official rating glaringly at odds with his mark over fences.
Pride of place, though, goes to Galopin Des Champs. Unbeaten in six starts over fences around Leopardstown, he has an Irish Gold Cup hat-trick in his sights on-route to potentially pulling off the same feat in Cheltenham’s “Blue Riband”.
His stylish defeat of Fact To File in the Savills at Christmas was his 10th top-flight victory in all, and resulted in a reception that suggests a racing public that’s increasingly warming to an exceptional talent.
It will be a third clash with Fact To File this season with the score between them currently 1-1. A less flamboyant and energy-efficient Fact To File might close the gap from Christmas. But “Galopin” looks a proper top horse at the peak of his powers.
“He’s nine which I would have considered the best year for a steeplechaser,” Mullins said. “He’s sound, he’s uncomplicated, he’s got a lovely temperament. What more can you ask.”
Victory for any of Mullins’s six runners will give him a 14th victory in a race he first landed with Florida Pearl in 1999.
As the youngest runner in the line-up, Majborough gets 2lb from his Arkle opposition which might prove a significant factor in his favour. It was hard to pick holes in his chasing debut performance, and Mullins has made little secret of his regard for last season’s Triumph Hurdle champion.
However, Ile Atlantique has looked a transformed performer since his own transition from hurdles, winning twice and looking anything but a horse that might flatter to deceive. A seemingly natural jumper he could upset the Mullins pecking order.
Rachael Blackmore will be in the hot-seat when Meetingofthewaters has a first start over hurdles for Mullins in the three-mile hurdle. A 112 rating compares to a 148 mark over fences. Carrying the JP McManus colours, the 2023 Paddy Power Chase winner could prove a blot on the handicap. If not Glen Kiln may prove a value alternative.
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