Hot favourites or surprise successes, it was always King Willie who was smiling at Leopardstown

The classy races at the Dublin Racing Festival fell into one of two camps. Half of them were just as predictable as the betting market had imagined, but in the other half there was a Willie Mullins runner able to scoop up the spoils as the favourite (in almost all cases a stablemate of the winner) faltered.

Hopefully, some folk remembered how Danny Mullins rode a Grade 1 hat-trick at the meeting last year, including a surprise success on Il Etait Temps, because then they might have put his day one mounts in a few multiples. The jockey steered home the first three winners on Saturday, all in top-class races, including Il Etait Temps in the Irish Arkle. The treble (surely someone had it?) paid 534-1 at SP.

A lesser man than Paul Townend might have been grinding his teeth by that point, considering he'd been on a more fancied runner for the Mullins yard in all three races. But it didn't seem to affect his composure and he ended the weekend with four Grade 1s of his own (at accumulated odds of just under 4-1), most notably the Irish Gold Cup with Galopin Des Champs.