Dublin Racing Festival: are we in for another Mullins monopoly?

Willie Mullins was all-conquering at the Dublin Racing Festival last year. The eight Grade One races were a tour de force. He scooped them all. And, for good measure, once the dust was settling on this achievement, he landed the concluding bumper.

The bad news for his rivals is that many of his best horses are primed for his weekend’s extravaganza, which as ever will scatter a plethora of clues for Cheltenham Festival detectives to hoover up.

Dancing City, Kargese, Il Etatit Temps and Galopin Des Champs all struck at the highest level for Mullins on the first day of last year’s meeting. And then Fact To File, Ballyburn, El Fabiolo and State Man delivered on day two. His final five winners are all scheduled to be back in action this weekend.

There are 66 entries in this weekend’s Grade One contests at Leopardstown and Mullins was responsible for 33 of them. Even I can work out that means he will field 50% of all the top-level contenders.

Clearly, the dice is heavily loaded in his’ favour, in terms of both quality and quantity, plus his horses are flying, with ten of his past 17 runners hitting the target.

But don’t assume it is easy to identify his victors in advance. Five of Mullins’ nine winners last year were not favourite, with the SPs of his victors including 16-1, 10-1 and 6-1.

So how many might he have this time? Here’s a look at his squad. 

Mullins has landed nine of the past 13 editions of this race and his team of five for Saturday is headed by Final Demand, a big bully of a horse who romped home by 15 lengths on his debut for the stable at Limerick over Christmas.

He lacks experience and will be in deeper waters, but he fits in the “could be anything” category. The bookmakers make him their general 2-1 favourite.

Supersundae, runner-up to The Yellow Clay in the Lawlor’s Of Naas, has obvious form claims and will sport a first-time hood, while Joystick and Sounds Victorius both won in tidy style last time. Champion Bumper winer Jasmin De Vaux is also engaged but his jumping is a big niggle. He's going to be wearing first-time cheekpieces.

The Gavin Cromwell-trained Hello Neighbour heads the market but Mullins has won the past three renewals and is responsible for half of the eight-runner field.

His Lady Vega Allen failed by only a short head to peg back Hello Neighbour when they met at Leopardstown over Christmas, while he also has taking Punchestown winner Sainte Lucie up his sleeve. The latter won easily despite some indifferent jumping.

Like Mullins’ past two winners of this race, Gala Marceau and Kargese (both ridden by Danny Mullins), are fillies.

Willy De Houelle and Sony Bill need to up their respective games. The former got turned over at 1-4 at Fairyhouse at the start of December and could finish only sixth in Hello Neighbour’s race. 

The market is dominated by Majborough, who created such a deep impression when winning on his chasing bow at Fairyhouse, and Ile Atlantique, a slick winner of his first two races over fences at Navan and Naas. They give Mullins a tremendously strong hand as he seeks a fifth successive Irish Arkle triumph.

Connections of Majborough have confirmed he is on course to line up, but Ile Atlantique is also engaged over a longer trip on Sunday.

Firefox and Touch Me Not give Gordon Elliott a couple of smart contenders but, surprisingly, he has yet to scoop this prize. 

It will be a shock if Mullins does not secure his 14th Irish Gold Cup. 

The outstanding Galopin Des Champs is odds-on to win for the third year in a row, with Fact To File, who chased him home in the Savills Chase after upstaging him in the John Durkan, being next in the market. 

The Mullins B Team consists of I Am Maximus, Grangeclare West, Embassy Gardens and Minella Cocooner. 

The shortest-priced contender not trained by Mullins is Montys Star, who is chalked up at 8-1. 

It is fascinating to see how Mullins has deployed his initial entries. 

The ante-post betting suggested Ballyburn and Champ Kiely would be the pair who fly the flag for Closutton, and they've duly been declared. The former has yet to convince in the jumping department but moving up in trip could well help him, while Champ Kiely bolted up at Fairyhouse on New Year’s Day after a lengthy absence. 

However, Mullins must have a few doubts about the pair as he will also run the high-class Impaire Et Passe, who had the option of instead running at Sandown on Saturday.

Elliott is again the man who stands in Mullins’ way. His Croke Park and Better Days Ahead dominated the Fort Leney Novices’ Chase at Leopardstown last time and they look like meeting again. 

WILLIE OR WON'T HE?  You'd be a brave man to bet against him. 

The Mullins K team is out in force here:  Kopek Des Bordes, Kaid D’Athie, Karafon and Karniquet. He has two others in here whose names do not begin with a K, too. 

It’s the first pair named who dominate the market, although their prominence is based more on their potential than what they have achieved. 

The Elliott-trained Bleu De Vassy arguably has the best form, albeit he was no match for Romeo Coolio last time. British challenger Good And Clever is capable of better, but I’d like to have seen him upped in trip. 

The Dublin Chase was first run in 2018 and Mullins has scooped all seven editions, with six of his winners going off favourite. 

His past two winners of the race, Gentleman De Mee and El Fabiolo, feature among his four possible runners this time, but his No 1 contender this time is Gaelic Warrior.

He fluffed his lines at this meeting last year, when meeting Fact To File in a match, but shaped well on his comeback here over Christmas, when splitting Solness and Marine Nationale after being uneasy in the betting. The trio will meet again, and many will expect Gaelic Warrior, equipped with a first-time tongue tie, to come out on top this time. 

The final Grade One of the meeting is long odds-on to be a Mullins benefit. 

State Man, winner of the past two editions, and Lossiemouth, who chased home Constitution Hill in the Christmas Hurdle, stand out among the five runners. Daddy Long Legs and Winter Fog give Mullins prospects of a 1-2-3-4, with Fils D’oudairies out of his depth.