Welcome to the Dublin Racing Festival: the weekend inexorably linked to one seemingly unstoppable superpower
Deputy Ireland editor David Jennings sets the scene for a huge weekend at Leopardstown
Willie Mullins has done some wonderful things during his 37 years as a licensed trainer, but single-handedly ruining Irish jumps and rescuing it on the same weekend is still quite an achievement, even for him.
Mullins has turned the Dublin Racing Festival into a Closutton mini-league. Closutton A plays Closutton B in every Grade 1 at Leopardstown over the next two days and even the C, D and E teams are getting a run out in some of the matches. He has 23 runners on Saturday and 31 on Sunday. He's ruining the weekend, isn't he?
Just imagine how the weekend would look without him, or if he just played his A team in each of the matches. No Fact To File for Galopin Des Champs, an open goal for State Man that even Antony would score, Ballyburn would breeze around in his own time and the two Grade 1 novice hurdles would be glorified handicaps. He's actually rescuing the weekend, isn't he?
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- 'He has the potential to be one of Britain's top novices' - trainer quotes and two key horses for a quality card at Ascot
- Ben Pauling unleashes his 'speediest novice hurdler' - plus an infrequent visitor to Cheltenham who it pays to follow
- 3.52 Clonmel: Rexem the one to beat for John McConnell but plenty of runners hoping the rain stays away
- 'He might prove a bargain buy' - it's time to deliver for Amo's Ā£2m 'nearly horse'
- 3.35 Sandown: Sosie on parade at Sandown as master trainer Andre Fabre targets first Eclipse - but opinions differ whether ground will suit