It may be heresy to suggest Don Poli could benefit from a pair of blinkers at the Cheltenham Gold Cup but even Willie Mullins must suspect his first ever Lexus Chase winner is capable of simultaneously winning €150,000 Grade Ones and taking the mickey.
The champion trainer conceded after Don Poli’s narrow Leopardstown victory over First Lieutenant and Foxrock that bookmakers were unlikely to shorten the odds on him being the one to provide that first ‘blue-riband’ success in March.
In fact, many of them examined Don Poli’s performance and lengthened his Gold Cup odds out to 6/1 while cutting another Mullins star, Djakadam, to 7-2 favourite.
Enlightenment
Even Don Cossack, who like Don Poli carries Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud colours, got his Cheltenham odds cut on the back of a Lexus that provided more confusion than enlightenment, bar perhaps, most significantly, for Mullins himself.
Don Poli lacks flamboyance at the best of times but this was a notably laid-back performance even by his standards as he required Bryan Cooper to get very serious indeed to overhaul Foxrock.
Briefly it even looked like Gigginstown’s veteran First Lieutenant could blindside the pair of them. Yet once again it was Don Poli’s head in front at the line, albeit it didn’t require much to imagine he had his tongue stuck out at all those taking this racing lark so seriously.
The stewards examined how Don Poli veered left across Foxrock and it would have been interesting had that horse finished runner-up. Cooper was cautioned for careless riding, Davy Russell got a one-day ban for his use of the whip on First Lieutenant, but through it all Mullins wore the calm expression of someone who knows precisely what kind of enigma he’s dealing with.
“He’s very lazy, does only what he has to do and on these conditions I imagine he got very tired. I’m very happy. You always have to have confidence in Don Poli and Bryan is getting that confidence in him,” he said, before indicating his first ever Lexus winner could now go straight for the Gold Cup.
Suggestions of headgear might be a little facetious given such a move is not usually a first resort for jump racing’s dominant figure. However, it’s hard to picture Don Poli getting away with such laziness when it counts in March and it’s not like first-time blinkers don’t work in the Gold Cup – See More Business wore them in 1999.
Whatever occurs, the Gold Cup picture is even more confused after Christmas than it was before and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Djakadam is favourite simply because he stayed at home.
Mullins indicated his fifth Gold Cup runner-up will reappear at Cheltenham at the end of next month and that all options will be kept open for his string of other potential ‘blue riband’ contenders, including Vautour.
Locker
The impression remains, however, that whatever form rating Don Poli has run to so far, there is still much more in the locker. The trick could be in getting him to produce it.
Producing a Lexus victory, however, means his trainer only has to win a Ryanair Gold Cup, formerly the Powers, at Fairyhouse’s Easter festival, to clean-sweep Ireland’s Grade One prizes. It also gave Gigginstown a Grade One double on the day after their second-string Prince Of Scars won the Squared Financial Christmas Hurdle, beating the Cooper-ridden Alpha Des Obeaux, with the favourite Arctic Fire appearing not to stay.
“The extreme conditions played to his strengths and you can’t beat having an improving horse,” said Davy Russell, who had earlier landed the Beginners Chase on Zabana for Meath trainer Andy Lynch.
The stewards looked at the running and riding of the runner-up Blair Perrone in this race and “noted” the explanations of trainer Tony Martin and jockey Denis O’Regan after the horse was found to be lame afterwards.
The well-backed Martin-trained Whatsforuwontgobyu landed the novice handicap hurdle under Barry Geraghty.
The day three festival crowd of 16,466 was down almost 2,000 on the corresponding 2014 figure. Bookmakers bet €1,078,531, down from last year’s €1,184,331. The Tote was up to €650,319 from €561,781.
