Il Etait Temps set to make first appearance of the season
The current Champion Chaser Il Etait Temps makes his seasonal reappearance today in Clonmel Photo: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Patrick Mullins on Il Etait Temps, Kopek Des Bordes and Anzadam Our ambassador looks ahead to the potential return of Il Etait Temps, Dinoblue, Kopek Des Bordes and Anzadam this week.
Connections will check on the ground at Clonmel before potentially unleashing Il Etait Temps for the season on Thursday.
The pair hold entries in the Clonmel Oil Chase and T.A Morris Memorial Irish EBF Mares Chase respectively, with Kappa Jy Pyke joining March's Champion Chase in the former.
Patrick Mullins told Sporting Life: “We’ve been very happy with Il Etait Temps and he did very well for his summer. We’re obviously sticking to last year’s route and this gets him going a little earlier than maybe some of our other horses but it just fits in well if we’re trying to go back to the Tingle Creek.
"It’s been a very lucky race for us. Douvan won it in the past, so did Allaho, and it looks an ideal starting point but we will just be checking the ground when we get down there.
“Kappa Jy Pyke is an improving horse and definitely a better horse for fences. Should anything go wrong with Il Etait Temps he’s a good back-up to have in the race and should be competitive in all those Graded races over two, two-and-a-half and maybe even stretching out to three later in the season.”
With meetings still being cancelled in England because of the ongoing lack of substantial rain, Mullins says Irish racecourses and trainers are faring a little better.
“It hasn’t held us up. Our gallop is fine as such and our horses usually don’t get going until maybe late-November and hopefully by then there shouldn’t be an issue. Obviously, we had meetings called off last week for waterlogging in Wexford and Galway but some tracks are still quick but that’s just the soil," he explained.
“There was Down Royal the other day, I think that’s a gravel-based place and is always drier than anywhere else. Clonmel gets very heavy in the winter so they can’t water hugely through the autumn but, to be fair, we in Ireland seem to be able to water more effectively, or just more, than possibly in England, so I think it’s less of an issue over here than it is with you guys.”
Which is why Kopek Des Bordes is in the frame to return in the Barberstown Castle Chase at Naas on Sunday, while Anzadam is set to make his chasing debut in the Into Kildare Beginners Chase on the same card.
“We want to get some experience into Kopek Des Bordes. He missed the entire middle of last season and it was very hard to ask him what we did in the spring," said Mullins. "Obviously, he got a fall at Punchestown but has schooled very well recently. Paul Townend was in this morning to ride him and Naas is a nice track to go and jump around, statistically I think it is anyway.
“Paul schooled Anzadam as well this morning. I rode him in work at the Curragh last Tuesday and he has some engine, it’s an incredible engine. So hopefully the fences will get him to race much more effectively but we’ve been happy with his schooling and those two are going to be pretty exciting to watch at the weekend."
Patrick Mullins was speaking to Sporting Life.
