'Al Boum Photo has a rating to win' - Willie Mullins eyeing biggest French prize

Sunday: 3.00 Auteuil
Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris (Grade 1) | 3m6f | 5yo + | SKY

Al Boum Photo will bid to join Mandarin and The Fellow as the only horses to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup and a Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, as Willie Mullins chases a first win in French jump racing's holy grail.

After finishing sixth in this season's Gold Cup and third in the Punchestown equivalent, Al Boum Photo may not have quite hit the heights of his two Cheltenham-winning campaigns this season but the lightly raced ten-year-old has the necessary blend of class and stamina to pose a real threat on his first start at Auteuil.

"Al Boum Photo stays all day, jumps well enough I think and he has a rating that could win it," Mullins said. "He would certainly have the highest rating of any horse I've run in the race and he doesn't have that many miles on the clock."

Willie Mullins: three-handed in his challenge for a first Grand Steeple-Chase de ParisCredit: Edward Whitaker

Mullins also saddles Burrows Saint, who finished a creditable fifth in this race three years ago and is the mount of Rachael Blackmore, as well as Franco De Port.

"Burrows Saint unseated at the Chair in the Grand National this year when he was going well," said Mullins. "He hasn't returned to his best form yet this year but he’s fit and well and I think he must take his chance.

"Franco De Port's rating is probably not good enough to win it but I think he has the pedigree to stay the trip. We’ll see how he gets on this year, maybe for a crack at the race in future."

Further Irish interest is provided by Midlands Grand National winner Screaming Colours, a first ride at the track for Conor Orr.

Neil Durkan, son and assistant to trainer Bill, said: "Looking back at the history of the race it looks like a slowly building pace which suits a horse like him.

"He should be in his comfort zone early on and we’ll see where we go from there. If he’s in the first three we’ll be delighted."

Conor Orr and Screaming Colours: reunited in Sunday's Grand Steeple-Chase de ParisCredit: Steve Davies

Nick Scholfield is back on board the Richard Hobson-trained Lord Du Mesnil, who unseated Danny Mullins in last year's race, but Scholfield feels the nine-year-old has enjoyed a better prep this year.

"I think he was just unlucky last year but he'd come off the back of running in the National," he said on Friday. "This year, he's come off the back of a run round Auteuil. He's had a sighter for the fences, which he didn't have going into last year's race and he's had a better preparation than last year."

While Mullins has never hidden his desire to win a Grand Steeple-Chase, France's champion trainer Francois Nicolle told a press conference on Tuesday that his failure to secure his country's biggest prize does not keep him awake at night.

Francois Nicolle entered seven and will run five horses in Sunday's Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, incluidng Niko Has (far left) and Happy Monarch (second left)Credit: Scoop Dyga/France Galop

Nevertheless he saddles five runners, with Niko Has and Happy Monarch the two the trainer believes have the best chance to rectify that omission.

Nicolle said: "It wasn't in my mind to go down the Grand Steeple-Chase route with Niko Has at the beginning of the year, I thought we’d have a more traditional five-year-old campaign. But he has really taken off.

Happy Monarch is made for long distances and if he is not too far off them jumping the Double Barriere [second-last], he'll have his say. He can make the odd error but I like him."

Guillaume Macaire already has six Grand Steeple-Chase victories to his name and, now training in partnership with Hector Lageneste, holds the two aces according to pari-mutuel punters in the five-year-old Sel Jem and Feu Follet, who got the better of a duel in the Grade 3 Prix Ingre at the end of last month. That prep race was delayed six days by industrial action and a three-week gap to the big one is far from ideal.

Macaire said: "I wasn't surprised by the result because the goal that day was for Sel Jem to avoid getting involved in a war, whereas Feu Follet hadn't run over fences for six months and he needed to show his wellbeing to justify running in the Grand Steeple-Chase."

Charlie Deutsch: has won twice from six rides for Emmanuel Clayeux in FranceCredit: Harry Trump

British and Irish jockeys are on board half of the 16 runners, with Emmanuel Clayeux entrusting Gex to reigning French champion James Reveley, while he has called up Charlie Deutsch for a first Auteuil ride on Enjeu D'Arthel.

"He is a talented jockey and he's won races for me before both in Britain and France," said Clayeux. "We'll walk the course together and watch the earlier races and if the horse is in form, he'll adapt pretty quickly."

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