Ben Linfoot reports from the track on day one of the Dublin Racing Festival as Gordon Elliott denied Willie Mullins a Grade One clean sweep with Conflated.
Leopardstown Reports
Today could have been about Henry de Bromhead. A man who has been struggling for form this season after sweeping all before him in the last one. He had some great chances. Today could have been about UK raider Paul Nicholls. A man who didn’t even give Cheltenham Festival-winning Frodon a Cheltenham Festival entry – but pointed him here, at the Dublin Racing Festival, instead, for the Irish Gold Cup. He had a great chance.
But today was all about William Peter Mullins, with a little bit of Gordon Elliott thrown in for good measure. That is so often the case, of course, but Mullins is in tremendous form at the moment, even for him. In December and January he had 54 winners in Ireland – his best mid-winter total in those months since 2016, when he had a preposterous 44 winners in December alone. So his team wasn’t in bad nick coming into the €2.1million DRF.
On a cold and windy day, the sight of Mullins holding in place the trademark dark brown fedora in the winners’ enclosure at the Foxrock venue was a common one. He didn’t have the favourite for the first Grade One, or the second Grade One, or even the third Grade One by the off, but he won them all and then it was down to his squad in the feature Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup for the G1 clean sweep, where he did have the favourite, the second favourite, the fifth favourite and an outsider.
You fancied Team Mullins, put it like that, but it was Elliott who won the big one with 18/1 outsider Conflated, a horse who did all of his learning in a hood, and all of his improving with the headgear removed. Behind Janidil and Asterion Forlonge at Fairyhouse last spring, he finished in front of both of those rivals here, powering home under Davy Russell for an emphatic success on the back of winning the Foxrock Handicap Chase at Navan in December, over 2m4f, from a mark of 145.
The Foxrock wouldn’t be renowned for producing future stars, but it was a pitstop on the road to the Grand National for Minella Times and it might well have found another big-time performer in Conflated. There was certainly no fluke about this and while all of the field had some sort of question to answer, it was only Conflated who replied with any conviction. Could he take the next step up – a huge one on form? Yes he could. He’s now as short as 7/1 for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Earlier on there was a huge roar from the crowd when the Arkle field ran by the main grandstand after a furlong. They hadn’t mistook the finish by a circuit, but were just revelling in the pure joy of it all. Seeing the horses, being with friends, getting giddy. It was at that point the Guinness came calling. Just to get warm from the biting cold and in the name of research, you understand. When the headlines are all about rising inflation and astronomical energy prices the leisure pound becomes precious and I have to let you know the price of a pint, just in case you’re planning a trip. The answer is €5.60 – and in today’s context it was worth every cent.
The Dublin Racing Festival has quickly established itself in the racing calendar and has largely basked in the positives since its inception. It’s like a mini-Cheltenham, so for all those racing folk who yearn for a three-day Cheltenham it’s perfect – eight Grade Ones in two days, bulked up by massive-field handicaps – there’s barely time to spend €5.60 on a pint of Guinness in between races, though most completed that mission.
But the one negative has been the ground. Ever since 2019, the year there were six non-runners in the Irish Gold Cup, following earlier drainage alterations, there have been rumblings and both Elliott and Mullins put pressure on the Leopardstown officials in the build-up to the meeting. Extensive watering, 7mm of unexpected Thursday night rain and then more precipitation on day one meant there was no ground chat today. But it has put off A-listers. Horses like A Plus Tard, Al Boum Photo and others were never going to run here. Leopardstown have got away with it after a crazily dry January, but the situation probably needs more than monitoring.
But back to the story of the day. Mullins won his three Grade Ones this afternoon with potential stars of the future. Minella Cocooner, Vauban and Blue Lord kicked the meeting off for him in fine style. A tip of the fedora for that. Four Grade Ones in a row would’ve been sensational, but in the feature there came the reminder that there are two powerhouses in Irish racing and in Conflated, Elliott has another Gold Cup horse. His bread and butter.
Horse to Follow - RIVIERE D’ETEL (Gordon Elliott)
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It might’ve been Mullins’ day and he won the battle that was the Irish Arkle with Blue Lord, but it was the runner-up, Elliott’s RIVIERE D’ETEL, that could win the war in the Sporting Life Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival. A bad mistake at the last cost her, the slight interference that the stewards’ looked at cost her, and she was closing again at the line to get within half a length of the winner. She might’ve been beaten by Ferny Hollow and Blue Lord on her two attempts at the top-level, but she looks a mare of serious ability and with the mares’ allowance at Cheltenham she might well be the one they all have to beat. As for Blue Lord, I’m still not convinced and he might just struggle to get up the hill at the Festival – either way, Riviere D’Etel is fancied to reverse the form next time.
Performance of the day – VAUBAN (Willie Mullins)
Of all Mullins’ Grade One winners, VAUBAN was the most impressive, by far. A comfortable three-length winner of the Spring Juvenile Hurdle, he had too many gears for previous Triumph favourite Fil Dor, displaying his Flat pace in abundance. The scary thing is there still looks more to come. If he can settle better that turn of foot could be even more potent and no wonder he’s been promoted to in and around joint-favourite for the Triumph with his Punchestown conqueror Pied Piper. They look the two dominant horses in the division now and a rematch at Cheltenham is a mouth-watering prospect.
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