Forget the Six Nations, jump racing's big two nations are ready for battle

After months of anticipation it is finally here. There has been the odd big name ruled out, one or two surprising tactical choices, and the betting markets are due an almighty shake-up for the second week in March when it all comes to a dizzying conclusion.

No, it is not the Six Nations, it is racing's blockbuster weekend of nine Grade 1s headlined by the Dublin Racing Festival.

It is simply one of the best sporting weekends in the calendar. The Six Nations starts as the Australian Open tennis climaxes, major clashes in the Premier League pit Leicester against Chelsea and Tottenham against Manchester City, the United States gets ready for the Super Bowl, and the racing is as good as it gets outside of Cheltenham with Sandown's excellent Scilly Isles card supplementing two mouthwatering days of action at Leopardstown.

Over €2.1 million in prize-money has made this not just a crucial weekend in the Cheltenham preparations of Ireland's biggest hopes but of vital importance in Willie Mullins' annual title tussle with Gordon Elliott. To that end Mullins is attempting to hoover up as much of that prize-money as possible and fires four at the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase, including the potentially monstrous Chacun Pour Soi and Min, who has won the last two runnings of the race.

He is similarly four-strong in the ERSG Arkle Novice Chase and PCI Irish Champion Hurdle, in which Sharjah and Klassical Dream further emphasise the depth of the Mullins string. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them could have been condensed to a five-second film with Eddie Redmayne simply standing outside the gates of Closutton pointing to Mullins' yard.

In all three races Elliott is unrepresented. His €112,642 lead in the championship will in all likelihood become a deficit by day's end, even if Henry de Bromhead's battalions – A Plus Tard (Dublin Chase), Notebook (Arkle) and Honeysuckle (Champion Hurdle) – can deny Mullins the biggest bucks.

This weekend could be pivotal for Henry de Bromhead as he saddles four horses with major chances in Grade 1sCredit: Patrick McCann

With Rachael Blackmore aboard all three of the De Bromhead big guns, this could be a pivotal weekend for the pair, who also have Aspire Tower to look forward to on Sunday.

For so long Mullins and Elliott have dominated Ireland's top table – between them they have won 70 per cent of Irish Grade 1s since the start of 2015 – but this weekend could be the moment the big two becomes the big three. It could just as easily be yet another drive back to Knockeen where De Bromhead ponders just what he has to do to break their stranglehold.

Laurina fights on second front for Mullins

It is not a case of too much of a good thing for Willie Mullins but rather too many good things, as Ireland's champion trainer has more superstars than the 15 races of the Dublin Racing Festival can accommodate. He may be mob-handed in most races, with 23 runners across Leopardstown's eight Grade 1s, but that does not mean there is room for a talent as bright as Laurina, who travels to Sandown instead.

Only once in the last ten years has Mullins deemed the Betway Scilly Isles Novices' Chase a suitable and necessary target. The horse in question, Gitane Du Berlais, was a French-bred mare – and she won.

This time he sends another French mare and she will be partnered by Nico de Boinville. This will be only the second Mullins mount for De Boinville, who rode one of his ten runners in the Ballymore Handicap Hurdle at last year's Punchestown festival. It is safe to say there is more pressure this time.

Laurina (Paul Townend) jumps the last on her way to a successful chasing debut at Gowran ParkCredit: Caroline Norris

Jonjo O'Neill jnr may also be feeling slightly more pressure than usual. Fresh from landing the Native River ride, he will be keen to establish his big-race bond with the Tizzards with four strong rides.

He partners course-and-distance winner Eldorado Allen, who has been redirected from the Betfair Hurdle to put his Champion Hurdle credentials to the test in the Listed Nicky Henderson Benefit Hurdle – registered as the Betway Contenders Hurdle – for which Henderson's Call Me Lord is odds-on to give the trainer a seventh win in the last ten runnings.

O'Neill jnr and Tizzard also team up with Vision Des Flos in the Scilly Isles, Mister Malarky – who enjoys a drop in class and to the same mark off which he was second at Aintree last April in a much more competitive handicap chase – and the well-fancied Ambion Hill in the novice handicap hurdle.

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