Willie Mullins’s apparently relentless progress towards the British National Hunt trainers’ championship came to an abrupt halt here, when Vautour, the 1-5 favourite, fell with nearly a circuit still to run in the Grade One Melling Chase.
God’s Own and Paddy Brennan took the £112,000 first prize, a purse that most punters and bookies had assumed would take Mullins into a clear lead over Paul Nicholls, the champion trainer in nine of the last 10 seasons.
Vautour, the easy winner of the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham last month, cleared the first eight fences with his familiar slick precision but he put in an extra half-stride at the ninth and fell after clipping the top of the fence. God’s Own then held the challenge of Al Ferof in the closing stages to win by two-and-three-quarter lengths, giving Brennan his second Grade One win at the meeting after Cue Card’s victory in Thursday’s BetFred Bowl.
Vautour and Ruby Walsh were unhurt in the fall, although the jockey was stood down for the rest of the day less than an hour later, after also suffering a fall in the Topham Chase. He will need to pass the doctor to ride Sir Des Champs in the Grand National on Saturday afternoon, although Mullins expects his stable jockey to be back in action: “As far as I know he stood himself down. He’ll be fine for tomorrow.”
Brennan said: “You don’t wish that on anyone but when he [Vautour] went down, the jockeys all went quiet. They were all suddenly thinking how they could win. But I stuck to plan A, he was good, he put his head down and galloped all the way to the line. I thought when he went down that I was on the best horse, and that’s how I rode him.”
The lead in the trainers’ championship changed three times during the course of the afternoon but Mullins finished the day £54,244 in front after a 1-2 with Bacardys and Battleford in the Grade Two Champion Open National Hunt Flat Race. He narrowly missed out on a Grade One winner in the Sefton Novice Hurdle, however, as his runner Bellshill, the 11-2 favourite, was caught in the final strides by Ballyoptic.
Mullins drew a blank earlier on the card, too, as Limini, the 11-10 favourite to follow up her easy win at Cheltenham last month, could finish only third behind Buveur D’Air in the Top Novice Hurdle, while Native River, from the Colin Tizzard stable, took the Grade One Mildmay Novice Chase from Henri Parry Morgan, with Blaklion, the RSA Chase winner at Cheltenham, only third. Mullins was eased for the trainers’ title by most bookmakers after his mixed afternoon, and is top-priced at 4-11 with Coral, having been a 2-9 chance on Friday morning.
