Irish trainer Willie Mullins on track for Cheltenham success
WITH more than €1.8 million in prize money to be won and 15 top class races at last weekend’s Dublin Racing Festival (6-7 February), Irish racehorse trainer Willie Mullins is almost certainly on trace for next month’s Cheltenham Festival.
Top Irish racehorse trainer Willie Mullins won nine of the 15 races including the Irish Gold Cup at the Dublin Racing Festival. Image Credit: Horse Racing Ireland
The most successful of the top five Irish trainers, Willie Mullins secured nine of the 15 races including last Sunday’s Cheltenham forerunner, the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup with his nephew Danny Mullins and Kemboy. Mullins’ top jockey Paul Townend had bowed out of riding Kemboy as the ‘winter testing’ quality of the course was expected to be a non-runner, but Kemboy showed that all bets were off after placing second in last year’s Gold Cup.
“I am really delighted to get a winner like that for this festival,” said Willie Mullins just after winning the Gold Cup. “We have entered him in the (Cheltenham Festival) Stairs Hurdle. We thought we would put him in the (Irish) Gold Cup and we would see what would happen.”
Danny Mullins and Kemboy on their way to gold at the Dublin Racing Festival. Image credit: Racing365
The Dublin Festival weekend started with Chacun Pour Soi winning the Champion Chase, Energumene in the Arkle and Kilcruit in the Bumper along with Appreciate It in the feature Chanelle Pharma Novice Hurdle and then Monkfish in the Flogas Novice Chase. Mullins’s weekend continued with Maze Runner in the William Fry Handicap Hurdle before setting his sights on the Gold Cup.
