16th time lucky! Patrick Mullins jubilant after landing big Galway handicap

Monday: Galway

At long last, he’s done it.

He was second aboard Limini in 2018 and third in it twice, but Patrick Mullins finally got it right in the Connacht Hotel Q.R. Handicap courtesy of Echoes In Rain.

With 23 Grade 1s on an already illustrious CV, the biggest amateur race on the Irish calendar was one of the few big prizes that had eluded Mullins. At the 16th attempt he now joins his father and winning trainer Willie on the roll of honour of Galway’s opening day highlight.

The daughter of Authorized, recording her first win since landing a Grade 1 over hurdles at the 2021 Punchestown festival, exploited a Flat mark of 87, kicking clear in great style to run out a length-and-a-half winner with an ecstatic Mullins punching the air.

There was even time for a Frankie Dettori-esque flying dismount in the winner’s enclosure, much to the delight of the opening day crowd.

Winning rider Mullins said: “There’s a few other ones to get as well but it’s brilliant to get this. My father won it a long time ago and I’ve been knocking on the door for so long. Aubrey [McMahon] picked my pocket one day on Uradel but sure look, sixteenth time lucky I suppose.

“It was a long last furlong, but a great sense of relief getting over the line.

“She travels very strongly and doesn’t quicken like you think she will but I got the rub of the green, and was glad to see the line at the end of it.”

Patrick Mullins poses for a picture after victory on Echoes In RainCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

It was a fourth success in six years for the winning trainer in the 2m1f handicap, and he was also responsible for three of the first four with Maze Runner finishing second and Lot Of Joy fourth.

“He was waiting a while and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to win, my wife owned the second, so I wasn’t sure which one to shout for coming home,” Mullins snr quipped.

“I’m delighted he won it and delighted for winning connections, Barnane Stud. I hope they’re celebrating in Templemore.”

He added: “She’s a high-quality filly. She’s a little bit temperamental in her race. Patrick said they just went fast enough that he was able to get her settled and then he kept out of trouble.

“It’s been a fixture at Galway for years and Galway have made a great race of it. We're delighted.”

Royal reigns

Gordon Elliott made the perfect start to the Galway festival in the opening 2m½f novice hurdle, but while he had plenty of supporters in the market with As Tears Go By, it was 18-1 outsider Royal Eagle who landed the spoils.

The daughter of Free Eagle was suited by the lack of pace and showed speed from her Flat days in the closing stages to stretch three lengths clear under Jordan Gainford.

Hot 1-2 favourite HMS Seahorse set a leisurely pace and a couple of erratic jumps opened the door for his many rivals, with Paul Nolan’s charge fading into third late on.

Elliot said: “I thought she’d run all right with the weight she was getting. I knew she’d like the ground and she jumped well. It played into Jordan’s hands with that little bit of Flat speed.

“It’s nice to have a winner on the board so whatever happens now is a bonus.”

Darkened delivers again

Darkened gained a second Galway festival success when landing the Easyfix Handicap Hurdle for trainer-rider Denis Hogan.

The versatile six-year-old added to the 2m contest to his victory in a 7f handicap at the 2020 meeting and may reappear quickly over 1m4f on Thursday.

Darkened was forced very wide throughout but that didn’t seem to faze him as he responded to every urging to defeat Listentillitellya by a nose in a pulsating battle.

Hogan said: “We lined up ten abreast and I was the tenth. I was loving it. I was happy to commit sooner than normal off a slow gallop because I knew he’d have the gears to kick off the hill. I can’t knock him this year.”

Harrington team flying

Jessica Harrington’s team continued their recent run of good form and bagged a scintillating 122-1 treble on the opening night of the festival.

Pivotal Trigger, sent off at 2-1, got the Moone trainer’s evening off to the perfect start in the 7f maiden, before Dairerin (9-2) and Irish Lullaby (13-2) made it three on the night for Harrington and stable jockey Shane Foley.

Pivotal Trigger made virtually all under Foley, backing up his promising third at Tipperary with a length-and-a-half success.

Harrington said: “It went to plan. We were always going to go out and make the running and we knew he was going to stay. Shane said he got an easy lead and we knew he’d love that bit of ease in the ground. He probably needs a mile and quarter now – he stays well.”

Attendance at Ballybrit came to 15,179, which was down significantly from the last comparative opening night figure of 20,397 in 2019.

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