There have been three Grade One races so far at this year’s Christmas Festival at Leopardstown, and Willie Mullins has swept the board. In fact, he has won eight of the 14 races at the meeting over the past two days, making it very clear that his trainer’s title will not be surrendered to Gordon Elliott or anyone else without a real fight.
Michael O’Leary may have taken his ammunition elsewhere, but the Mullins stable is still a veritable arsenal of high-grade National Hunt weaponry and a clean sweep of the seven Grade Ones at this meeting, while still unlikely, is certainly not out of the question.
This afternoon’s Lexus Chase is the feature event of the week and probably the race that, in his heart of hearts, Mullins would like to win above all. Bizarre though it seems, his success last year with Don Poli was his first in the race, and while Don Poli is back for another go, he has since joined Gordon Elliott after Mullins’s high-profile falling out with the leading owner O’Leary – he of the budget airline – over the price the trainer was charging for his services.
In fact, there are no less than three former Mullins trainees in today’s Lexus field – Outlander and Valseur Lido are the others – while Mullins himself relies on Djakadam, the runner-up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2015 and 2016. Numbers are on O’Leary’s side, but Djakadam (3.00) may well be good enough to see them all off on his own and extend his trainers’ extraordinary run in the week’s biggest events.
That presupposes that Vroum Vroum Mag (1.50) will justify her odds-on price in the Grade One Christmas Hurdle earlier on the card, but there does not seem to be anything in the field to stand in her way. Bleu Et Rouge (1.20) is another Mullins runner who makes plenty of appeal at the prices, and can see off another of his former stable companions, Gangster, in the Beginners’ Chase, while Tudor City (2.25), from the Tony Martin stable, will be popular in the novice handicap hurdle. He was outbattled in the closing stages at Cheltenham last time out, but faces a more straightforward task today.
Both of the domestic cards over jumps are subject to further inspections later this morning – Leicester at 11.30, less than 90 minutes before the scheduled off-time for the first race. Catterick was called off at 11am.
There are no problems at Lingfield though, where Alfredo (1.45) should maintain his winning run in the stayers’ handicap, while Nachi Falls (3.40) is a fair price for the last at Leicester on the balance of his form if the meeting survives. Fattsota (11.55) should improve on his debut second at Southwell in November when, or rather if, he makes his second start over hurdles at Catterick Bridge.
