Mullins discusses upcoming Cheltenham Festival
Willie Mullins met the media at the Lord Bagenal Inn in Leighlinbridge to discuss the upcoming Cheltenham Festival Photo: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Speaking to Racing TV, Willie Mullins has given some cluyes over where some of his stable stars will be heading when they go to the Cheltenham Festival next month.
“There will be improvement from the day in Naas and then she won at Fairyhouse. I’d be hoping that she’d be back to herself by then and it’ll be a proper race.
We know our mare jumps, we know she stays the trip, we know she goes on the ground, we know she handles the track – we have a lot of positives going there.”
“We’ve got four in that - Poniros, Lossiemouth, Anzadam and Ballyburn. Ballyburn – probably pedigree would rule him out of it. Poniros will definitely run because there’s nowhere else to run him and the owners are happy enough to let him run there. Hopefully he’ll have a first five finish – I think that’s probably the best we can achieve.
“Anzadam – I’ve tried a couple of things and I’ve one or two more things to try which might make him competitive. I thought he was going to be competitive a little earlier in the year but we’re a little disappointed as the year has worked out. I haven’t given up hope on him just yet.
“And then Lossiemouth was disappointing the other day but it’s a very open Champion Hurdle and I’ll have a good word with Rich Ricci and see what he thinks about it. A lot will depend on how the mare is herself. Definitely the form she was in the other day I don’t think would cut the mustard there and she might be better off going for the Mares’ hurdle in that sort of form, but we shall see.”
“She’s going there [to the Mares Chase] all being well.”
“We always thought he was maybe a good ground summer horse. Being by Doctor Dino we thought he wasn’t the fastest. And he did win somewhere late in the Summer so he has really surprised me that he’s come along and is doing what he’s doing at this point in his career.
“I’m watching him the other day and I’m looking at how he pulled and dragged his jockey through the race and I don’t think he could do that for three miles round Cheltenham. You’d have a faster pace in the Turners. I’ll leave it up to Paul Townend.
“Maybe he’ll find some way of riding him differently. He rode him from the front the other day and he wanted pace and you could ride him differently in the Albert Bartlett, cover him up and get him to settle. If he told me he could get him to settle then we’d probably run him in the Albert Bartlett. That’ll be crucial - how he wants to ride him.”
“If you go back to November, Fact To File was the Irish banker for the Ryanair and there was no doubt about it. And then he comes out and he did what he did the other day, and you’ve got to remember it’s not like JP (McManus) is an ordinary owner.
“JP has so many horses, Spillane’s Tower for one, that he can run in the Gold Cup with a live chance and still keep Fact To File in the Ryanair. He’s been in the game longer than anyone of us are here. He’s seen the ups and downs, ins and outs of it, so I’m going to respect whatever he says to me.
“We haven’t really spoken about it and I don’t think there’s any need at this stage because they’re all within a few days of one another and a lot will depend on between now and then on what horses turn up or are going to turn up and I think that will influence his decision later in the day rather than earlier in the day. I know sometimes he likes to make early decisions, but this is different I think.”
“We were all underwhelmed at Christmas and last time it was horrendous ground, very testing. He looks like a horse that wants that type of ground, so I thought ‘are we missing something at home in the way we are training or handling him?’ “We are changing a few things at home and I remember we turned Vautour around in two days and we have a month for this guy. We think he has the ability but we have just got to get that spark back into him.”
Gaelic Warrior’s in good form. He had a hard race at Christmas and he had a hard race the other day. He ran fantastic in both races and he’s a horse that does run well at Cheltenham all the time.
“I thought Gaelic Warrior’s run the other day in Leopardstown was ideal for the Ryanair, myself. I just thought the way he ran his race and I wouldn’t have any problem going back there. But maybe if I analyse it a bit more and get a few more opinions, I might change my mind. But I thought that was a hell of a run. Patrick was delighted getting off him – he gave him a terrific feel the other day.”
“He had a very hard race at Christmas for his first run, which I didn’t like but we had to do it. He had a nice race the other day – he was tough enough but I just felt that maybe his Christmas race impacted a little bit on his finishing position the other day but he needed that. If the ground comes right and as he gets older I think he probably needs softer ground, that’ll be a big help but I think the horse himself is in good order.” On whether Galopin Des Champs can regain the Gold Cup: “I think Hurricane Fly did it in the Champion Hurdle and I’m not sure it had ever been done before that. I think he’s still at an age where he’s competitive and I think he still has the ability but he’ll need a lot of luck.
“It would be fantastic and Audrey and Greg (Turley) are such good owners. They would enjoy it. The horse loves it too. He loves people and when we were out there we thought we’d just be half an hour but people wanted their photograph with him and he was stood there with kids. One kid came over in a wheelchair and he just put his head in his lap – it was extraordinary. He’s just a lovely individual.”
Asked if it is possible he might run in cheekpieces: “It is. When those horses get older then maybe there’s no harm in trying cheekpieces. Try something. I thought he ran a great race the other day.”
“He has an entry in the Ryanair but I think he’ll run in the Champion Chase. I’m not sure we got the tactics right last time at Ascot but there was no spark in him that day. He is alright after the fall and back riding out.
“He surprised me when he won at Sandown last year and then came back and repeated it in the Tingle Creek. I was hoping he could do that at Ascot, but he didn’t.”
"He disappointed me last year but he's a very good horse and I always thought he was way better than that. This year he is showing me on the racetrack what he showed me at home. He is in the Brown Advisory."
“The Arkle looks the plan. That was a tremendous run the other day wasn’t it?”
“He was third to what I think are the two best novice hurdlers in Ireland at the Dublin Racing Festival (Talk The Talk and Ballyfad). I think he will come on for it and is right in the mix. I think he has enough speed for the Supreme, but with his run the other day you might be thinking Turners.”
“You’d have to ask the question – how many horses have gone to the Arkle with just one run before? I don’t know for sure but I think Well Chief did it. Maybe it’s a good statistic!
“We are up against it experience-wise, but it’s well known how well he worked recently when he and other horses went two miles over fences at racing speed. The objective was to do what a race in Leopardstown would do on a raceday, but without the hardship that running in the Arkle would entail. The further and faster he jumped, the better he jumped. But we are up against it.”
“I feel like I’m training him the way I normally train him. I’m always happy enough with his jumping - he might have had one or two schools but very little I’d say. It’s more or less about getting him right and he’s come right and Mark was happy with him as well.”
“He’s a beautiful big horse who gallops and jumps and he’s a lovely long, tall horse. But I’ll tell you what he has been compared to the likes of Majborough - he’s got strength. The kind of strength that you don’t see in too many four-year-olds. Apart from his maturity he’s strong. He looks a really, really good horse who is still improving and loves jumping.”
Bambino Fever 7/4 (Mares' Novices' Hurdle)
Lossiemouth 4/1 (Champion Hurdle)
Dinoblue 6/4 (Mares' Hurdle)
Doctor Steinberg 11/4 (Turners)
Fact To File 4/5 (Ryanair)
Final Demand 7/2 (Brown Advisory)
Gaelic Warrior 6/4 (Ryanair)
Galopin Des Champs 8/1 (Gold Cup)
Il Etait Temps 7/1 (Champion Chase)
Kaid d'Authie 4/1 (Brown Advisory)
Kargese 5/1 (Arkle)
King Rasko Grey 12/1 (Turners)
Kopek Des Bordes 5/2 (Arkle)
Majborough 6/4 (Champion Chase)
Narcisco Has 6/4 (Triumph Hurdle)
