Patrick Mullins is on his travels again this weekend, heading to Kelso for one ride on Saturday.
The horse in question is Chart Topper in the bet365 Premier Novices' Hurdle and the six-year-old is among the leading fancies for the Grade Two contest having won his last two starts.
“He’s a horse my mother bred and we’ve always thought an awful lot of him but he had a setback and disappointed in his bumpers and we thought maybe he wasn’t the horse we hoped he was going to be," Mullins told Sporting Life.
“But his two wins at Downpatrick and Wetherby have both been quite eyecatching. Saturday is a big step up in grade into a Grade Two, but it’s fantastic prize-money and Kelso deserve huge credit for that, and not just in the novice hurdle.
“The Morebattle is worth more than the Thyestes or Troytown for example, it's fantastic prize money. Emmet (Mullins) has been there before and says it’s a bit like our Thyestes day with a great atmosphere and crowd and I'm really looking forward to getting to ride around it."
Closer to home El Fabiolo bids to get his season back on track in the BoyleSports Webster Cup Chase at Navan.
He fell on his belated reappearance at the Dublin Racing Festival and steps up in trip in calmer waters on Saturday.
"We thought it was probably going to be hard to go to Cheltenham off a long time off and then a fall. So he's going up to two-and-a-half miles an back in grade. Navan is a tricky track to jump around, they’re big fences, but we’re hoping the fall will have taught him to just have a little more respect for his fences," Mullins added.
“It appeared the more racing he had over them the less respect he had so it will be interesting to see how he jumps. Obviously he has to give away the Grade One penalty but we’d be hoping he should jump, settle and win. We’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t."
And could Cheltenham still be on the radar for El Fabiolo?
“You know what Willie is like, nothing is very off the table, he’s still in so it’s still a possibility but it is a case of just getting a good result here at Navan and working forward from that. The season has not gone to play at all for him so far so we’re not thinking too far ahead."
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