Ground conditions could be suitable for Kempes

THE IN-FORM Willie Mullins will be doubly represented when he pursues a seventh Hennessy Gold Cup success at Leopardstown on Sunday, but while last year’s runner-up, Cooldine, came in for support yesterday, ground conditions could end up suiting Kempes more.

Mullins admits to having a major task on his hands in turning Cooldine’s form around, as the 2009 RSA winner hasn’t had success since that memorable Cheltenham Festival victory two years ago.

He was pulled up in December’s Lexus Chase, and yet the red-hot form of the champion trainer’s team means Cooldine has already been cut to 11 to 2 by some firms for Sunday.

“He has to turn his form around and it is proving to be difficult,” Mullins said yesterday. “Maybe it could be that that Cheltenham win left its mark on him, I don’t know. It was a huge performance on the day. But he had been an easy horse to train and now it’s hard getting him to find his form.”

Cooldine carries the Violet O’Leary colours which Florida Pearl carried to four Hennessy victories, and Mullins’s record haul in the €180,000 highlight was also boosted by Alexander Banquet (2002) and Rule Supreme (2005).

He will also be represented on Sunday by another Grade One winner in Kempes, and ground conditions could end up suiting the JP McManus runner rather than Cooldine.

The going was officially “yielding to soft” at Leopardstown yesterday, but early forecasts of 20mm of rain this week at the track have been revised to just half that, and manager Tom Burke reported: “The track is in really good condition and it is conceivable the ground could dry a little if the forecast is correct.”

That would be good news for Kempes, and Mullins reported: “He was running a fantastic race in the Lexus (unseated rider at the second-last) and drier ground would suit him. If it rains, it will suit Cooldine. If it doesn’t, it will suit Kempes.”

Sunday will be critical for many of Mullins’s top Cheltenham Festival hopes, with Mikael D’Haguenet and Quel Esprit dominating the Dr JP Moriarty Novice Chase market and Zaidpour on top of the Deloitte Novice Hurdle betting.

Mikael D’Haguenet is bidding to get his Cheltenham preparation back on track after disappointing at Leopardstown over Christmas, just two weeks after falling at the last in the Drinmore.

“We took a chance on running him back so quick and it backfired. He hadn’t run in over a year-and-a-half and then I ran him back-to-back in two weeks. It’s not normally something you would do, but it was the way the season was then. It was the same with Zaidpour.

“We were very happy with the way Mikael worked the other day and the plan is for both him and Quel Esprit to run. There are races at Navan the following week, but we would like to run them sooner rather than later,” Mullins said.

Britain’s champion trainer Paul Nicholls won the Hennessy two years ago with Neptune Collonges and he will be hoping to score again with the 2 to 1 favourite Pride Of Dulcote, who will be ridden by the young Nick Scholfield.

“He’s a horse on the up and you know what you’ve got with the others,” Scholfield said. “Paul thinks a lot of him. He did well at Newbury the last day, although unfortunately the form hasn’t been backed up. But he’ll be better in a better race with a stronger gallop. He’s a very good horse and improving.”

Another cross-sea raider on Sunday will be the 2008 Hennessy winner The Listener, who will be making his 13th start in Ireland at the weekend.

Trainer Nick Mitchell was pleased with the veteran grey’s return to action after a leg injury and is hoping ground conditions stay soft at Leopardstown.

“We had a great day there a few years ago, although we were a bit annoyed when Beef Or Salmon bumped him on the line the year before!” said Mitchell.

“He’s 12 now but his main weapon is that he jumps off real soft ground like it was good to firm.”