Willie Mullins supplied Rachael Blackmore with her sole Dublin Racing Festival success to date, but the jockey could emerge as the champion trainer's biggest rival at this weekend's Leopardstown showpiece.
Honeysuckle, favourite to maintain her unbeaten record in Saturday’s €200,000 PCI Irish Champion Hurdle, is one of a number of prime Grade One rides Blackmore can look forward to over the two days of Irish jump racing’s shop-window event.
Aspire Tower is odds-on to maintain his own spotless record over flights in Sunday’s Tattersalls Spring Juvenile Hurdle. Notebook is another market leader in the ERSG Arkle. A Plus Tard will bid to confirm Christmas form with Chacun Pour Soi in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase.
All four are trained by Henry de Bromhead and it is his partnership with Blackmore that shapes up as potentially the biggest threat to Mullins after Tuesday’s forfeit stage.
In terms of both quality and quantity Mullins is targeting the festival’s overall €2.1 million prize fund in strength.
Kemboy leads his trio of hopefuls as he pursues an 11th win in Sunday’s €250,000 Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup. Ten horses remain in the race and the sponsors make Kemboy a 6-4 favourite ahead of Delta Work.
Popular veteran
Sharjah is among four Mullins entries in the Champion Hurdle, while he has half of the eight hopefuls left in Saturday’s Dublin Chase. Mullins also has half of the dozen contenders left in Sunday’s Flogas Novice Chase including the hugely popular veteran Faugheen.
Aspire Tower’s race is the only one of eight Grade Ones on offer over the weekend that Mullins isn’t represented among the entries.
With nine wins to date over the two previous years of the Dublin Racing Festival, it’s an ominous show of strength for his rivals, but the Blackmore-de Bromhead alliance can legitimately fancy their chances in the top races too.
Both have had just a single success each to date at the festival. De Bromhead scored a Flogas victory with Monalee in 2018, a day after Blackmore landed the now Matheson Handicap Chase for Mullins with the gambled-on Patricks Park. Ironically, de Bromhead’s Three Stars was runner-up in that race.
Since the start of the 2018-19 season the duo have become one of the most formidable teams in the sport, including when A Plus Tard gave Blackmore a first Cheltenham festival success last March.
At the same meeting Minella Indo gave her a first Grade One when landing a 50-1 victory in the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle. It was a first top-flight success for a female rider over hurdles at the Cheltenham festival.
Momentum
A month later Honeysuckle provided Blackmore with a first Grade One in Ireland at Fairyhouse over Easter. She has maintained that momentum this term, with Honeysuckle landing the Hatton's Grace and both Notebook and A Plus Tard scoring at Leopardstown over Christmas.
Having finished runner-up in last year’s jockeys championship with 90 winners, Blackmore is third to Paul Townend in the current table. Both could wind up fighting it out at the business end of much of the weekend action since Townend has the pick of much of the Mullins team.
We were disappointed he got beat but taking the positives out of it, he gained more experience there
He is keeping his fingers crossed for improvement from both Chacun Pour Soi and Kemboy who were beaten on their seasonal debuts over Christmas.
“He [Chacun Pour Soi] has been well since. I hope he can come on – he’ll have to come on a lot for Christmas.
“We were disappointed he got beat but taking the positives out of it, he gained more experience there and hopefully he can improve and get back to winning ways this weekend. Improving fitness wise should put him bang there.
“Kemboy ran similar to Chacun. For a long way he did everything right. It’s a track he likes and he showed he has a bit of sparkle. Hopefully he can improve as well.
“A lot of these horses are the same. Even the maidens and the novices are improving from their first run and hopefully the seasoned horses can do the same,” Townend said.
