Leopardstown review: Blue Lord part of Mullins six-timer
Blue Lord won the Paddy's Rewards Club Chase at Leopardstown. He was the second favourite behind his stablemate Chacun Pour Soi. Chachun pour soi finished third. Coral has trimmed his Champion Chase odds to 10-1 from 20- 1. Energumene is the 4-5 favourite. Enerumen is 6-10 from 12s for the longer Ryanair Chase. Willie Mullins was looking at 2.5 miles for Blue Lord this year. The horse is improving. It is coming back to 2 miles now.
Facile Vega won the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown. Willie Mullins' horse was outstanding in the bumper sphere last season. Facile Vero won at the Dublin Racing Festival, the Cheltenham Festival and the Punchestown Festival. He made a smooth transition to jumping at Fairyhouse earlier in January. Faciles Vega is an evens favourite with Betfair to provide Willie Mins with a record eighth win in Supreme Novices’ HURDLE at Cheltonham in March. The longer Ballymore Noviced”s Hurry is also an option.
Dysart Dynamo won the Paddy Power “From The Horse’s Mouth Podcast” Beginners Chase at Leopardstown. The Willie Mullins-trained gelding won last season‘s Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle and the Supreme at Cheltenham. He was the 2-5 favourite at the betting shop. Betfair cut the winner s Arkle odds to 5-1 from 11-2. He is 12- 1 for the longer Turners Novices“ Chase. at The Cheltonham Festival. Closutton handler Mullin is considering a return to Leopardtown for Irish Arkles in February.
Tekao won the opening Paddy Power 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle at Leopardstown. It was trainer Mullins' sixth win in a six-timer. Tekao was beaten into third place on his Irish debut at Navan last month.
Winter Fog and Fact To File made it six wins for trainer Mullins. Blue Lord and Facile Vega were also successful. Mullin's team is very grateful to the owners. The planning department at home deserves all the credit for this. The head travelling man, Ben Delmar, also deserves credit. He picked out the horses for different races and got them ready for the race. It's a huge team effort.
Real Steel won the €200,000 Paddy Power Chase for trainer Eric McNamara's son Conor. The horse was a 33-1 shot for the race. Real Steel was trained by Paul Nicholls and spent two years in England before being bought by Eric for £27,00. He was beaten seven and a quarter lengths in a Cheltenham Gold Cup.
