Battling a bad back hasn’t interfered with Willie Mullins’s eye for detail and what he spotted about King Rasko Grey’s tummy could be crucial to the outcome of Cheltenham’s Turners Novice Hurdle on Wednesday.
After travelling like a winner for much of a Grade One contest at last month’s Dublin Racing Festival, King Rasko Grey emerged worst in a memorable three-way finish behind Talk The Talk and Ballyfad. A short head and half a length were the margins.
Ballyfad is in the mix again, along with his Grade One-winning stable companion Skylight Hustle, and there are prime home hopes in No Drama This End and Act Of Innocence. I’ll Sort That also brings Grade One-winning form to the mix.
Mullins has six shots at notching an eighth victory in the race, none of which can be lightly dismissed, although there’s little surprise in King Rasko Grey’s status as the stable’s top hope.
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Amid the relentless festival run-up of media briefings and preview nights, perhaps the most notable nugget of information to emerge was an almost casual aside from Mullins.
King Rasko Grey’s physical condition at Leopardstown he said reminded him of “a mare in foal”. It was backed up by indications he felt those who finished in front of him at the DRF wouldn’t do so again. It also suggested King Rasko Grey has been working for his living in the five weeks since.
An impressive winner on deep ground at Limerick over Christmas, he has decent bumper form on a better surface. That Limerick form has been boosted since by another of today’s runners, Shuttle Diplomacy.
“He was right up their tails [at Leopardstown] and he’s way more backward than they are,” Mullins reported. “So, I think he can improve more than they can.”
Jack Kennedy opting for Ballyfad over Skylight Hustle suggests that Leopardstown contest represents the best of the Irish form. The British headline act is No Drama This End, winner of the Challow on his last start and a horse who has earned comparisons to the former Gold Cup hero Denman. He memorably got beaten in this race by Nicanor 20 years ago.
A 22-runner field suggests an open contest, although No Drama This End might be among a select few that could ultimately put their stamp on it. A peak fit King Rasko Grey might be able to trump them all.
Mullins also has six hopes as he pursues an eighth win in the Brown Advisory Novice Chase too. The enigmatic Final Demand and the horse that punctured his balloon at the DRF, Kaid d’Authie, are the Closutton squad’s headline names in a contest where just three of the 16 runners are British trained.
Gordon Elliott’s Romeo Coolio brings triple Grade One winning form this season but makes a dramatic jump in trip, not a factor with another Mullins hope, Kitzbuhel.
Lecky Watson’s 20-1 victory in this a year ago underlined the danger of ignoring Mullins’s depths in reserve, although the race record generally underlines the importance of Grade One competition before the festival. That could be a black mark against the promising Koktail Divin whose stable companion The Big Westerner is the sole mare.
Predators Gold is a Mullins outsider that may confound big odds. The lightly raced horse has had just two runs over fences but beat Slade Steel in the first of them and he should relish stepping up to an extended three miles for the first time.
No Grade One race can compare for Mullins dominance to the Weatherbys Champion Bumper, which he has won a remarkable 14 times.
Five chances for a 15th are topped by Patrick Mullins’s pick, Love Sign d’Anou, who’s coming back in trip from a wide-margin success at Naas. Paul Townend has opted for the four-year-old Quiyn, while Harry Cobden has come in for the spin on the impressive Navan scorer, The Irish Avatar.
Famous names like Dunwoody, Walsh and Blackmore have landed the Bumper for Mullins and it might be his nephew, Danny, this time. Gaelic Warrior’s brother Our Trigger impressed on his Gowran debut and might be up to becoming the first four-year-old to win since Cue Card in 2010.
The former Fred Winter winner Puturhandstogether should relish the step up in trip for the day’s big handicap hurdle judged by his lucrative Irish Cesarewitch success on the flat last autumn. Desertmore House gets plenty of weight from the top two in the ratings for the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase.
Inthepocket is a leading player in the Grand Annual Chase although ground conditions might swing things towards Paul Nolan’s Release The Beast at the other end of the ratings. He found only Addragoole too good at Leopardstown over Christmas.
Brian O’Connor’s Wednesday tips
1.20pm: King Rasko Grey; 2pm: Predators Gold; 2.40pm: Puturhandstogether (Nap); 3.20pm: Desertmore House; 4pm: Il Etait Temps; 4.40pm: Release The Beast; 5.20pm: Our Trigger.
Nap and Double: Puturhandstogether & King Rasko Grey.
