'They're so far ahead of the game' - Paul Byrne hails Mullins team after Meetingofthewaters plunders lucrative pot

A decade after Paul Byrne pulled many of the strings behind Rockyaboya's short-head triumph in the Paddy Power Chase, the shrewd owner again had his fingerprints all over Willie Mullins' third winner of the €200,000 showpiece as Meetingofthewaters defied his inexperience to sluice home under Danny Mullins.

Panda Boy, third last year, went one better this time in second, while Real Steel, victorious in the dramatic race 12 months ago, ran his heart out to be third this time. However, on just his fourth start over fences and for Mullins, and on his handicap debut over the bigger obstacles, Meetingofthewaters surged clear to blow this deeply competitive handicap apart.

It was yet another startling demonstration of the acumen of Byrne, former manager of the Racing Post's commercial department in Ireland and a keen gambler who is also the driving force behind bookmaker Fitzwilliam Sports. 

The plot with Rockyaboya was the first time he happened across the racing public's firmament, but since then he has shown a deft capacity to unearth unpolished gems and turn them into priceless diamonds. 

He and Emmet Mullins have conspired to farm impressive yields with horses such as Tornado Watch (in America), Fujimoto Flyer (France), The Shunter (England and Scotland), Corbetts Cross, Feronily (Ireland) and Slate Lane (Wales and England). 

JP McManus has snapped up several of those along the way, while Noble Yeats was another he offloaded for a princely sum to the Waley-Cohens before famously winning the 2022 Grand National as a novice. Remember, too, that another of Byrne's syndicates came close to taking out the 2016 Paddy Power Chase when The Crafty Butcher was second.

The one common denominator about everything he hatches is the unorthodox. Somehow, he is regularising the irregular. 

Willie Mullins: saddled a trebleCredit: Patrick McCann

His old sparring partner Patrick Mullins was also involved with Rockyaboya, and he was central to this latest coup as well. Having acquired Meetingofthewaters from Eugene O'Sullivan – also the source of Corbetts Cross – the leading amateur's selling plans were foiled when the horse failed to pass the vet.

He and Byrne instead negotiated a deal to keep the now six-year-old, relocating it to Closutton this season, similar to what happened with Corbetts Cross to Emmet's stable.

From a 112-rated hurdler a few months ago, he has now plundered a €110,000 prize off a mark of 130, scoring here by four and a half lengths as a well-backed 6-1 shot. 

"I was sort of advised not to buy him but wanted to buy him," Byrne said of the ailments that prompted the vets to knock Meetingofthewaters. 

"When you are working with the Mullinses it makes me look sharp. They're so far ahead of the game, and I guess we chase the prize-money and the weights. Getting them in at the right weights is what we try to do." 

A tilt at the three-mile handicap hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival could now be on the agenda, but Byrne was happy to savour the moment. 

"It's a great kick," he said. "You have to try and source them differently because – look at the bumper today – the fancied horses are two and three hundred grand. If you're trying to have a go in the game, you have to look elsewhere." 

Mullins, who ended the card with a treble after he and Patrick took the bumper with 11-8 favourite Joystick, has long been friendly with Byrne and his late father Davy. 

"It's fantastic," he said. "Paul has a great way of seeing little gaps in the market rather than having to pay big money for horses. He is able to spot them and then he can put the deal together. He probably looks for horses in places other people don't." 

Eoin Griffin: best season in more than a decade

McManus double

McManus and Mark Walsh, having taken the feature race with Dinoblue, doubled up when One Last Tango won the two-mile handicap hurdle for Eoin Griffin. 

The trainer was saddling his ninth winner of the season, his best in more than a decade.

“I was a little bit concerned about the ground, but he handled it well and it’s brilliant to get a winner here at Christmas for JP," he said. "It’s been a while since we had a Christmas winner and we’re over the moon."

Before Marine Nationale's superlative chasing debut, the juvenile hurdle went to the Joseph O'Brien-trained Intellotto, a convincing winner under Daryl Jacob for Simon Munir and Isaac Souede. The hurdling debutant was given a quote of 25-1 for the Triumph Hurdle by Paddy Power.

"Daryl taught him plenty out there and he looks a smashing horse for the spring," O'Brien said of the 10-1 shot. "The logical thing would be to come back here [for the Dublin Racing Festival] next."

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