Easy work for Facile Vega? Irish racing's next big thing tackles Grade 1 novice

Tuesday: 1.45 Leopardstown
Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle (Grade 1) | 2m | 4yo+ | RTE/RTV

Only one of Willie Mullins' seven Supreme Novices' Hurdle winners have won this Grade 1 contest en route.

That was Appreciate It in 2020, who was sent off 8-11 favourite for the festival opener and Facile Vega is likely to go off at even skimpier odds in March should he make it six from six in impressive fashion here.

The five-year-old has been nothing but impressive so far. He blew everything away in his first three runs, including American Mike in the Champion Bumper, and then had to display real courage for the first time when grinding out victory at Punchestown in April. He traded over 2-1 in-running there when Redemption Day loomed up on his outside but the best horses find ways of getting out of pickles and that is exactly what he did.

The winning time of his maiden hurdle win at Fairyhouse this month may have been 6.9 seconds slower than Joyeux Machin who won the first division, but all Facile Vega could do was beat what was put in front of him and he didn't have to accelerate out of second gear in doing so. That time was deceptive.

The black mark on his school report for that day at Fairyhouse was a slight jink before the third-last but otherwise it was flawless and he looked a natural over hurdles.

Facile Vega will be long odds-on but we will still learn plenty about him as stablemate Il Etait Temps is a second-season novice rated 137 and was fifth in last season's Triumph Hurdle. He was Racing TV presenter Gary O'Brien's horse to follow for the season too.

Il Etait Temps: winner last time out under Patrick MullinsCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Different tactics were deployed on him when he won his maiden hurdle at 1-7 last month as Patrick Mullins made all the running but expect him to be tucked in here. He looks easily the biggest danger to his esteemed stablemate.

Intranet rallied well to beat a useful enough rival in Belle The Lioness in a Punchestown maiden hurdle last month, and Ashroe Diamond enhanced her reputation with a fine third against the boys in the Royal Bond.

Path D'Oroux was pulled-up there so has questions to answer now, while Itswhatunitesus is sent back to the track just eight days after winning a novice hurdle at Punchestown's rescheduled John Durkan meeting. He posted an RPR of 127 and a lot more will be required to take down Facile Vega.

This will obviously be a much stiffer test than the one Facile Vega faced at Fairyhouse but a third Grade 1 victory ought to be achieved with the minimum of fuss. He is Irish racing's next big thing, so the pressure is on.

Townend: 'I'd be very disappointed if he can't come up trumps again'

He might not have beaten much but Paul Townend described Facile Vega's jumping debut at Fairyhouse as "super" and he cannot wait to be reunited with the unbeaten youngster.

Patrick Mullins partnered Facile Vega for all four of his bumper wins, so the 14-length romp at Fairyhouse 24 days ago was Townend's first ride on the five-year-old and it is fair to say he was impressed by what he produced.

Facile Vega: ante-post Supreme favourite made a winning start over hurdlesCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Townend said: "He was super in his maiden hurdle. He couldn't do anymore than beat what was running against him and I would be very disappointed if he can't come up trumps again. I loved how professional he was at Fairyhouse. We've been very happy with him since. He's exciting."

Victory on Facile Vega would make Townend the most successful jockey in the history of this Grade 1 race, overtaking Conor O'Dwyer and Ruby Walsh, who both won it three times. The current champion's three wins in the race have been on Hurricane Fly (2008), Saturnas (2016) and Appreciate It (2020).

What they say

Willie Mullins, trainer of Facile Vega, Il Etait Temps, Intranet and Ashroe Diamond
Facile Vega is in good form since Fairyhouse. I've been very happy with him and we're looking forward to seeing how he gets on. Il Etait Temps won nicely the last day, as did Intranet and they are nice horses. Ashroe Diamond ran a big race in the Royal Bond to finish third and she seems in good form.

Gordon Elliott, trainer of Itswhatunitesus
He did it well the other day at Punchestown and I thought Jack [Kennedy] was very good on him. This is obviously a step up in class and Facile Vega has looked very good, but hopefully he'll acquit himself well.

Gavin Cromwell, trainer of Path D'Oroux
Facile Vega might turn out to be unbeatable but our horse worked on Tuesday and we were delighted with him. We're putting a line through his run in the Royal Bond, nothing came to light afterwards but it wasn't his true running. He had done everything really well in the race before fading. If the real Path D'Oroux shows up then hopefully he'll run a nice race.

Read the rest of Tuesday's previews:

1.10 Leopardstown: Paul Townend: 'This is Chacun's playground and whatever beats him will win'

1.20 Kempton: Is Boothill's bid for Wayward Lad success as simple as his odds suggest?

1.29 Limerick: Can Gordon Elliott strike again? Analysis and quotes for the Limerick feature

1.40 Chepstow: He's improving, big time' - find out which huge Finale outsider is fancied

2.30 Kempton: 'This race fits in perfectly' - Edwardstone primed to play the star role again

2.50 Chepstow: 2022 Welsh Grand National pinstickers' guide: quotes and ratings for every horse

3.00 Leopardstown: Paddy Power Chase: key quotes and insight for one of Ireland's biggest handicaps

SIGN UP HERE