Patrick Mullins view on Future Prospect, Kalypso'chance and Majborough

By David Ord

Sporting Life Plus

Mon December 16, 2024 · 1h ago

Patrick Mullins says the Closutton team were mightily impressed by Majborough’s winning chase debut at Fairyhouse on Saturday.

Last year’s leading juvenile hurdler was in against talented stablemates Tullyhill and Asian Master but bounded clear from the last to win by six-and-a-half lengths.

The assistant trainer told Sporting Life: “He fenced superbly. He missed one down the back but at the next one, the fourth last, Mark (Walsh) gave him a squeeze and he just took two lengths out of the field. He was in against Tullyhill and Asian Master, it was essentially a Grade Two and there have been weaker Grade Ones run, and it was interesting.

"He’s stepping out of the juvenile division taking on horses from the novice division. He’s facing a whole new pool of horses and you’re trying to find out the relative strength in depth in each one.

"So, for him to come and beat two high-class older horses like that is fantastic. We can’t believe what he’s been showing us with his physique all along and he just keeps pulling it out the bag.

"We can’t wait to find out where the limit is with him.”

Mullins had a good weekend in the saddle himself, winning bumpers on the exciting Future Prospect and Kalypso’chance.

The latter, a spare ride for Gigginstown and Gordon Elliott, took the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Future Champions Flat Race in such style at Navan that he was promoted to favouritism for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham.

“I don’t think he’s flashy at home and was a relatively cheap point-to-point buy out of England by Masked Marvel. He was plenty keen, we went a good gallop, the time was significantly faster than the hurdles races but again it’s dry ground,” Mullins said.

“It was 3.55, normally the winning times in Navan in December are 4.10, 4.15 or even 4.20, but that’s just the season we’ve had. He travelled really strongly all the way and once I’ve pulled him out, at Punchestown he looked a galloper, but at Navan he showed a turn of gear.

“He sets the standard in the bumper field at the moment and I’d love to ride him again, but I have a funny feeling Harry (Swan) won’t be choosing anything over him next time."

On Fairyhouse Saturday winner Future Prospect, Mullins added: “There was no obvious pace so I decided to let her bang out of the gate and get her settled by going forward. I actually wanted to stay down the inside and sort of duck in and out a bit but she was lugging a little left so we ended up down the middle of the track which was fine. I had to steer her around the bend after the stands because it’s a tight bend and when I had to really steer her she just cocked her jaw a little bit.

“But I kept the pace honest between the five and three whereas at Fairyhouse you’d usually be taking her back on heavy ground but when I gave her a squeeze the change of gear she showed took me pleasantly by surprise and the Elliott horse in third lends the form a good bit of substance.

“She was placed in a Listed Navan bumper and the second horse had been placed in a Naas bumper before. She’d previously had two runs over hurdles but in Ireland if you see a horse in a bumper after two runs over hurdles you can usually draw a line through the hurdle runs.

“I think the form looks very strong, she obviously has a huge engine and there’s a lot of talk about her sire Order Of St George. This is the first one I’ve sat on and he might live up to the hype.”

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