Dominant Willie Mullins goes into Cheltenham action with 20 runners on Day One of festival

Willie Mullins underlined the scale of his assault on this week’s Cheltenham Festival by declaring 20 runners for Tuesday’s opening programme.

They are topped by State Man, odds-on favourite for the Unibet Champion Hurdle, and jump racing’s dominant figure will be represented by fancied runners in all seven races up for grabs.

As expected at Sunday’s final declaration stage, Lossiemouth was confirmed for the Close Bros Mares Hurdle while Mullins has half the field in the opening 12-runner Sky Bet Supreme Novices Hurdle.

Paul Townend has opted to ride Gaelic Warrior from a Mullins trio in the Arkle, allowing Danny Mullins to team up again with Il Etait Temps while Daryl Jacob will be on Hunter’s Yarn.

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Townend is skipping the 22-runner cavalry charge in the Boodles Hurdle while Patrick Mullins teams up with Embassy Gardens in an eagerly anticipated National Hunt Chase clash with Corbetts Cross.

Such an overwhelming show of strength means one trainer is responsible for almost 22 per cent of the runners on Day One of National Hunt racing’s biggest meeting of the year.

Mullins is an unbackable 1-10 favourite to be the leading trainer this week as he goes in pursuit of the six winners that will take him to a century of Cheltenham Festival successes.

He is only 5-2 to break his record haul of 10 winners in a single week recorded two years ago. It included a 1,518-1 five-timer on the final day.

“All the work is now done for Cheltenham. It’s a case of crossing the fingers and hoping they all get there in one piece. We’re very happy with how the team is, they seem to be in great form, and if they perform to just half the expectations of a lot of people then that would be a very good week,” said Mullins at the weekend.

His biggest rival, Gordon Elliott, has 10 runners on Tuesday while the size of the task facing the home team is starkly illustrated by champion British trainer Paul Nicholls having just a single starter.

Shorn of Constitution Hill, unable to defend his Champion Hurdle title through illness, Nicky Henderson has half a dozen chances on Tuesday.

However, he spent Sunday combating rumours about the wellbeing of Sir Gino, one of just two cross-channel trained ante-post favourites this week.

He remains on course for the Triumph Hurdle on Friday despite speculation suggesting otherwise

“I don’t know where this has come from, I really don’t. It’s just one of those things they love to throw at you just to test your mental agility, I think — it’s crazy,” said Henderson.

“He schooled on Thursday and you wouldn’t see anything slicker. He had a nice piece [of work] on the last little bit he’s going to do. He doesn’t run until Friday, and he is 100 per cent, I can promise you, 100 per cent,” added Henderson.

Ground conditions for Cheltenham are forecast to be “soft” after a damp weekend at Prestbury Park although there is a mostly dry weather outlook over the coming days.

Top jockey Harry Cobden is set to team up again with Emmet Mullins’s 2022 Grand National hero Noble Yeats in Thursday’s Stayers Hurdle. The English man was on board when Noble Yeats scored at the track on Trials Day in January.

“I’m hoping to ride Noble Yeats in the Stayers’ and although it won’t be the busiest week I’ve ever had, there will be 12 or 13 good rides with chances. If I can nick one winner, I will be very pleased,” said Cobden.

Cobden is on course to be crowned champion jockey in Britain for the first time and warned against discounting last year’s Gold Cup runner-up Bravemansgame when he goes again in Friday’s Blue Riband.

“He feels great and worked brilliantly at Kempton last week. I’m very much looking forward to the Gold Cup and I thought he was a big price (16-1) when I looked at it. Obviously, Galopin Des Champs is the horse to beat and I would never say Galopin Des champs isn’t, because on his day, he is definitely the best horse in the race.

“It was no fluke what he did last year, and he’s been brilliant on many other occasions, so we have got to step up and we’ve got a bit to find, or we are hoping he is not at his best. But I do think he has a massive chance,” Cobden said.

It is just 9-1 with some firms about Irish-trained horses surpassing 2021′s record haul of 23 victories in the festival’s 28 races.

JP McManus celebrated his 73rd birthday on Sunday, coinciding with the same figure of Cheltenham Festival victories he has had in those famous green and gold silks.

He celebrated with a Grade Three victory at Limerick as Bioluminescence landed the Shannon Spray Mares Novice Hurdle impressively. The 7-4 shot quickened away from the last under jockey Simon Torrens to score for trainer Gavin Cromwell.

Torrens said: “It was my first time sitting on her, she is a fine big imposing mare and there is lots to like about her. The ground is bad enough, we didn’t go mad [fast] and didn’t get racing until the top of the hill, with everyone sitting watching everyone else. I was anxious to get her rolling as I didn’t want to get caught flat-footed and got good jumps at the last two. By the look of her, you’d say chasing will be her game in time.”

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