Fact To File could yet enter the King George picture, says Willie Mullins

The JP McManus-owned second-season chaser confirmed the big impression he made as a novice when holding off another McManus runner in Spillane’s Tower, with dual Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow further behind.

No decision needs to be made until December 20 and with Mullins keen to stick to what he knows with Galopin Des Champs, meaning the Savills Chase at Leopardstown, Fact To File could yet head to Kempton Park after his Punchestown triumph.

McManus does, however, already have the ante-post favourite for the King George in Corbetts Cross, trained by Mullins’ nephew, Emmet.

“Fact To File wasn’t in the King George. It was discussed, but we left him out. Now it will have to be discussed if he’ll be a supplementary entry, everything is open at this stage,” said the champion trainer, as he hosted the media on Wednesday morning.

“He ran at Christmas and the Dublin Racing Festival last year, whether they (owners) want to change, I don’t know. They have Spillane’s Tower (to think about) as well.

“He learned an awful lot the other day, the way he was held in by Fastorslow, and it was tough racing being marked the whole time. He raced on again when the other horse came to him, he’ll have learned an awful lot and that will bring him on.

“Hopefully he can bring that sort of class to the Gold Cup. That’s (King George) up for discussion. JP could either have two at Leopardstown with Spillane’s Tower or two at Kempton with Corbetts Cross if they are all hopefully sound. If Corbetts Cross didn’t make it then you’d have to have a double think about supplementing.”

The previous ante-post favourite was last year’s Arkle winner Gaelic Warrior, but Mullins withdrew him on Tuesday as he was not in favour of the idea of running him over three miles first time out this season and he will stick to two miles for the foreseeable future.

“We went through all the other horses and the biggest one I thought was Gaelic Warrior and I said if we weren’t going to run him over three miles on his first start of the season, take him out now because we can go straight to Leopardstown over two miles which I think will suit him better,” said Mullins.

“All the rest I think will go to Leopardstown or wherever.

“Gaelic Warrior missed a bit of time, but he’s back again. He’ll go over two miles at Christmas and then the Dublin Racing Festival, I imagine.

“We could look at the Clarence House, Energumene has gone there before over two-one as right-handed at Ascot would suit him, but it’s more than likely we’ll go Leopardstown, Leopardstown, Champion Chase (at Cheltenham).

“We took him out of the King George because I wasn’t going to run him over three miles on his first run of the season. If he’d had a run in the Durkan we would probably have looked at the King George, but the way things have panned out we are looking at Christmas, the DRF and then Cheltenham.

“I enter them in many different races because they might pick up a foot bruise or something and then you have to go to plan B and we’re lucky enough (to be able to do it). If you keep your options open it makes it easier for the benefit of the horse rather than rushing for a race and they run bad and then you are plan B or C.”

Another towards the head of the King George betting was Il Etait Temps but he is set to miss the first half of the campaign.

“He was ready to run, I had him in the John Durkan but he got a little infection last week. Infections can be so sore it can look like a fracture, I thought he’d broken a bone in a front leg, but it was an infection which had to be washed out,” said Mullins.

“He’ll miss three weeks so he’ll miss Christmas, but hopefully be back for the Dublin Racing Festival. When I saw him in the yard last week, I thought he was out for the season but the vets have said it’s fine, it’s just an acute infection which should come right.”

So much to take for Mullins from return of Galopin Des Champs

Willie Mullins knows he is in a privileged position having both the current dual Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs in his yard and the young pretender to his throne, Fact To File.

Fact To File got one over on his older stablemate when they met for the first time in Sunday’s John Durkan Memorial at Punchestown, but Mullins was delighted with the performance of Galopin Des Champs, particularly as he had suffered a minor setback in the build up to the race.

“We know (we’re privileged to have two Gold Cup contenders), but look at JP (McManus, Fact To File’s owner), he has Spillane’s Tower (Punchestown runner-up) and he’s in everyone’s mind, too – that was a fantastic run,” said Mullins.

“It’s amazing to have two horses like that in the stable, but every morning you wake up wondering if the two of them are feeling OK – after every run, after every work, will they pull a muscle that will put them out of Cheltenham because with these staying horses, if they miss two or three weeks, our rule of thumb is that for every week they miss, they have to go back. So if they miss three weeks, they won’t run for three or four weeks after that. Fingers crossed they all stay sound.

“Fact To File still has to get up there and do it, Galopin Des Champs has done it.”

He went on: “Galopin Des Champs didn’t race until he was four, so a lot of people might say the French horses tail off but he had an easy early life, like an Irish bumper horse. Even though he’s French, he had like an Irish preparation so I think he’s still on top of his game and I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles this year.

“I probably said it all the other day about his run in the Durkan. I thought he ran a cracker, he did all the donkey work while the rest cruised in behind and had a go at him at the second-last, but he was still there going to the last.

“I thought for his first run it was a hell of a run and I took a lot out of it. We were beaten by two good novices, but it’s easier to challenge when you’ve cruised behind than been up in the van.

“He’d had a corn in a joint so had a little hold up as well. Missing those few weeks were crucial, but I wanted a run before Christmas and took a chance.

“Myself and Paul (Townend) are very happy where we are. Grangeclare West was fitter than Galopin Des Champs and he took it out with him, but he couldn’t finish the race which tells you the pace they were going.

“Over that trip (two and a half miles) it is lovely to get a run into them rather than over a gruelling three miles, it was a lovely place to start all the horses and tell us where they fit in the scheme of things. I think we’ll stick to the plan with him and do what we did last year.”

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