Willie Mullins has half a dozen hopes for the Galway festival’s Day 1 feature although he isn’t the only Mullins at the centre of the big-race build up.
Once again, his son Patrick continues his quest to ride the winner of the summer’s most coveted amateur prize, the €110,000 Connacht Hotel Handicap. This will be a 16th attempt by the most successful amateur jockey of all to finally break his duck in the race.
He teams up with his father’s apparent number one hope, Echoes In Rain, and won’t be able to tuck into much lunch ahead of the ‘off’ 6.40pm time having to get down to 11.3.
Bookmakers will also be aware of how Mullins’s cousin, Emmet, loves to target the festival and he saddles Crowns Major for the big race.
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The rising star of the training ranks memorably landed April’s Aintree Grand National with Noble Yeats and has become a big Galway player in recent seasons including with three winners in 2021.
Crowns Major was one of them and is back at Ballybrit with the Scottish National-winning rider Rob James claiming a valuable 7lbs.
“He ran twice there last year and will probably be kept busy. There is a two mile hurdle on the Friday that he might run in as well.
“He’s very versatile and Rob is great value for 7lbs. He’s a hardy horse that takes a bit of encouragement,” Mullins reported on Sunday.
Finny Maguire has enjoyed himself in the big race having won the last two renewals and the 2021 winner Coltor will try to become the first back-to-back winner since Gamekeeper over two decades ago.
Prior to Maguire, Jody Townend won on Great White Shark in 2019 and before her Aubrey McMahon won it back-to-back with Whiskey Sour and Uradel.
McMahon has opted for the 2017 winner again while Townend claims 5lbs off the bottom-weight Farout.
The Willie Mullins sextet also includes an intriguing starter in Lot Of Joy, a Scandinavian classic star in 2021 with a win in the Swedish St Leger and a third in the Norwegian Oaks to her credit. She has been given a mark of 92 for her first Irish start and could prove in a different league to these despite a wide draw.
Value hunters however may want to rely on more of a proven article and Foveros is back for another crack at this. The course winner was at the forefront of last year’s race from over half a mile out and ultimately proved a target for Coltor.
Derek O’Connor, who won this 19 years ago on Rapid Deployment, is on board this time and may employ a more patient approach.
Despite needing some of those ahead of him in the weights to come out, Hms Seahorse is among the market leaders for Thursday’s big hurdle.
Monday’s opening novice will be expected to allow him successfully get his eye in up the famous hill while Insane Bolt, a winner on the flat at last year’s festival, could make light of a long lay-off in another hurdle.
