Major festive season success for Mullins and O'Brien

It was another fantastic festive period of equine action as Leopardstown and Limerick took centre stage at the end of December.

Not surprisingly, Kilkenny trainer Willie Mullins continued to dominate the training sphere over the days after Christmas as he saddled 16 winners, of which were five Grade 1’s.

In total Mullins had 73 runners over the four day extravaganza between December 26 and 29 and added to the 16 winners, the Closutton maestro also had 14 horses finish second.

Mullins total prize money for the week fell just short of €710,00 and with the Thyestes Chase at his local track Gowran Park, the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown and the Cheltenham Festival in March all coming into view in the next few weeks then it may be fair to say that Mullins may well only be getting going and that is a stark warning to the likes of Gordon Elliott, Henry De Bromhead etc.

While the five Grade 1’s certainly jump off the page, even they almost got overtaken by a remarkable run of success by the stable on Day 2 at Leopardstown.

There was only seven races on the card and the Closutton stable had the winner of 6 of the races.

Ironically, the one winner Willie Mullins didn’t have proved to be a former housemate of the stable with Real Steel claiming a thrilling victory in the feature Paddy Power Steeplechase.

Facile Vega and Blue Lord took the big Grade 1 victories on the day while Tekao (Paddy Power "I Have No Idea What Day It Is" 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle), Dysart Dynamo (Paddy Power "From The Horse's Mouth Podcast" Beginners Chase), Winter Fog (Paddy Power "Je Suis Une Baguette" Handicap Hurdle ) and Fact to File ("Paddy Power Flat One" INH Flat Race ) all finished with their head in front.

The emergence of a couple of talented youngsters will be something to keep an eye on over the spring but as ever it was the graded wins that took prominence.

It all started on Day 1 at Leopardstown with the Rich Ricci owned Lossiemouth cruising to victory for Mullins and jockey Paul Townend in the Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle as the ante-post Triumph Hurdle hope further enhanced his reputation.

Just over an hour after that Grade 2 win, the ultra talented Saint Roi finally made good on his talent at the top level when Mark Walsh rode the Mullins star to a commanding victory in the Brand New Racing Post App Novice Chase with the Gordon Elliott pair of Fil Dor and Hollow Games disappointing in defeat.

As well as Lossiemouth, Dark Raven also took a maiden hurdle on Day 1 at the Foxrock track but it was December 27 when the champion trainer really stepped into overdrive.

The superb six at Leopardstown was crowned by big displays from Blue Lord and Facile Vega.

Mullins looked to have a strong hand ahead of the Grade 1 Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase over 2m1f and that strong hand proved to be a reality with 2-1 shot Blue Lord claiming a first grade 1 victory in open company as Mullins made it three wins from three on the day.

Stable favourite Chacun Pour Soi finished in third spot after a mistake at the second last fence put paid to his chances of winning.

Next up was the unbeaten Facile Vega and while the son of multiple Cheltenham Festival winner Quevega didn’t blow your eyes away like he maybe did on his hurdling debut in Fairyhouse last month, it was still easy as you like for Paul Townend as he guided the Supreme Novice Hurdle favourite to a four length win in the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle.

Mullins then went into Day 3 at the Dublin track on a high but surprisingly it took until the final race for him to get off the mark as Willie’s son Patrick drove the odds on favourite Ile Atlantique to success in the Midland Legal Solicitors Flat Race.

The concluding Day 3 victory was one of two bumper wins at Leopardstown for Patrick with the JP McManus owned Fact to File also coming by the winning post in front.

If the Wednesday at Leopardstown was a bit solemn by Willie Mullins’s very high standards, it didn’t take long for a return to normality as he trained both Grade 1 winners on Day 4.

Despite being still only a maiden over fences prior to the off in the Neville Hotels Novice Chase, Gaillard Du Mesnil still came home with the spoils as he took advantage of a hectic three mile contest to finish ahead of Churchstonewarrior and Frontal Assault.

Gaillard Du Mesnil was placed in last year’s Irish Grand National and while it’s taken time for him to adapt over fences, the seven year old now looks to be finding his groove and he is sure to contend in all the big staying novice chases at the spring festivals.

The second of the Day 4 Grade 1 contests saw the Mullins trained Sharjah aiming to win a fifth Matheson hurdle in succession but he wasn’t fancied in the market with Cheltenham festival winners and stablemates State Man and Vauban both aiming to lay down a marker in open company.

The Closutton trio went on to dominate the two mile hurdle contest with Paul Townend and State Man ultimately prevailing ahead of Vauban who is sure to improve after his seasonal debut with Sharjah going out on his shield in third spot.

From a Kilkenny point of view, it certainly wasn’t all about Willie Mullins with Joseph O’Brien also claiming Grade 1 success when Home By the Lee took home victory in the Jack De Bromhead Christmas Hurdle on Day 3 at Leopardstown.

Joseph’s nephew JJ Slevin steered the eight year old to success as the Sean O’Driscoll owned stayer backed up his victory in the Grade 2 Lismullen Hurdle at Navan in November.

It wasn’t the only notable success for the Piltown handler after the 29 year old trainer led the odds on favourite Comfort Zone to victory in the Grade 2 Coral Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow.

The three year old youngster was ridden by Jonjo O’Neill jnr and he did enough to hold on to a neck win ahead of the Paul Nicholls trained Dixon Cove.

The JP McManus son of Churchill is likely to be now heading for the Dublin Racing Festival before a tilt at the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

O’Brien also saddled High Definition and Scarlett and Dove to notable wins over the festive period.

Away from Mullins and O’Brien, Dunnamaggin’s Ray Cody trained the 2-1 favourite Eye Van to victory in the I .N.H. Stallion Owners EBF Maiden Hurdle at Down Royal on St. Stephens Day while the father and son duo of Tom and Charlie Mullins took the concluding bumper at the Leopardstown Festival when Fascile Mode ran out a worthy winner of the Plusvital INH Flat Race at odds of 16-1 with Tom’s brother Willie saddling both the second and third in the race.