Willie Mullins trains four of the seven runners in Saturday’s Irish Gold Cup, with his 7-year-old Galopin Des Champs the clear favourite.
The three mile chase that will pocket the winner €140,000 is the standout Grade 1 race on day one of the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown.
At 1.33 with William Hill, a lot is expected of Galopin Des Champs, who also heads the market for next month’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.
And it is no wonder as he has won six of his last seven outings, including four Grade 1s in Ireland by an average of 13 lengths, all under the stewardship of Paul Townend.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: February 2nd, 3:30 P.M. (GMT)
The one failure was a fall in the Turner’s Novices Chase at last year’s Cheltenham Festival on soft ground. With the going currently yielding to soft, connections will be hoping for no more rain on what will be his first 3 mile trip over fences.
Mullins’ son Patrick will be riding the second favourite for his father – the 5.00 chance Stattler. Yet to win in Grade 1 company, the 8-year-old has never finished worse than fourth in any of his 12 races.
He was beaten by a neck by Minello Indo in his most recent race, the Grade 3 New Year’s Day Chase at Tramore, which ended a run of three straight wins.
Rachael Blackmore will ride 2021 winner Kemboy for just the second time in the 11-year-old’s distinguished career, though the first resulted in a 50 lengths defeat last May.
At 15.00, he completes a clean sweep of the top three in the market for Mullins. Second in each of his last four races, including Grade 1s at Leopardstown and Down Royal, a fifth-straight runner-up prize may be the best he can hope for.
Fury Road is the best chance of preventing Mullins from taking the winning trainer’s prize, at 26.00 for Gordon Elliott. The 9-year-old will be ridden by Davy Russell for the first time in almost three years.
He came third in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown last time out, Kemboy’s most recent second.
Any Second Now has only been raced once since his second place in the Grand National, living up to his name once more, taking second in a hurdle at Punchestown in December. Mark Walsh takes his regular ride back from Dennis O’Regan with the 11-year-old 34.00 for this one.
Danny Mullins will ride his uncle’s final entry, 41.00 outsider Franco De Port, who was fourth in the Savills but without a win for over two years. Also at 41.00 is The Big Dog; third in a Grade 3 in December is the 10-year-old’s only prior experience of graded company.
