The Willie Mullins festival bandwagon is at full steam at the halfway stage after a Cheltenham Grade One hat-trick on Wednesday highlighted by BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase glory for Il Etait Temps.
Other victories for King Rasko Grey in the Turners Novice Hurdle and Kitzbuhel in the Brown Advisory Chase brought the Irishman’s tally for the week to five, on track to potentially trump his best festival tally of 10 winners achieved both last year and in 2022.
The only reverse came when Mullins failed to land a 15th Weatherbys Champion Bumper. None of his runners made the first three and instead it was top flat jockey Colin Keane – on his first trip to Cheltenham – that landed the spoils for Noel Meade on board The Mourne Rambler.
Nevertheless, proof that the most powerful team in the sport has once again turned up in peak shape at the right time was stamped all over the day two action.
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It was supposedly time for the odds-on Majborough to land the two-mile crown only for his jumping flaws to once again come to the fore. Fluent early leaps took him to the front but a pair of minor blunders down the back allowed his pursuers to close before a major blunder at the third last scuppered his chance.
If it briefly looked like L’eau Du Sud had had the spoils dropped into his lap, rider Harry Skelton was quickly disabused of the idea as Paul Townend cruised past him on Il Etait Temps.
Having taken an exhausted fall on his last fall at Ascot in January, and taken time to thankfully rise, this was a remarkable rejuvenation by the grey star, although a bad peck at the back of the last momentarily saw him threaten to throw it all away.
Ultimately, though, for a second day in a row, the festival spotlight went to a Mullins grey with Townend on board.
“It shows how tough this lad is after that fall he took to come back and be as courageous as he was,” the rider said. “He was flat to the pan at the start, and I wasn’t going to force him to be any closer. He found his rhythm and didn’t get on the bridle until the back of the third-last and was clever enough to find a leg after the last.”
If it’s too pat to describe such moments in terms of ‘when your luck is in’ there’s a sense too that a comparatively underwhelming campaign up to now for the sport’s dominant figure is morphing into a vintage festival.
After a day one double, Mullins’s overall festival tally now is 118. It must be short odds the 120 happens sooner than later.
The only surprise Mullins had after King Rasko Grey’s victory was his 11-1 SP. The winner was Townend’s pick, although the market decided he was the third choice of Mullins’s six runners. Not for the first time, second guessing the festival’s most successful figure proved a fool’s errand.
“The price was the most striking thing. I couldn’t believe it. People were asking me for one under the radar. I never dreamt to be anything like that. He was one that I thought had a really good chance,” Mullins said.
It was superb consolation for the Turley family after Galopin Des Champs was ruled out of the Gold Cup last Friday. King Rasko Grey was also a landmark 40th festival victory for Townend, with the added pleasure of his sister Jody leading up the winner.
Harry Cobden stepped in to ride Kitzbuhel in the Brown Advisory and delivered a dashing front-running ride that saw another Mullins grey hold off his stable companion Final Demand in a tight finish.
“To make all in a Brown Advisory and then fight off what is a top horse in Final Demand – I thought Final Demand would have had his measure coming up the hill – what a brave performance,” Mullins said.
Colin Keane has won multiple Irish Classics and been Ireland’s champion flat jockey six times. He’s also got one of the world’s top jobs as No 1 rider in Europe to Juddmonte. But he enjoyed emulating another former flat champion, Jamie Spencer, who beat his jump colleagues all of 24 years previously.
“I asked a few of the lads for some advice, but I rode the individual and I’d say he’s a very good horse that could win on the flat – I hope he can!” Keane said of The Mourne Rambler after winning the Bumper on the 15-2 shot.
The day ended with Irish horses leading the home team 8-6. Nicky Henderson had a third winner of the week with Jingko Blue, while 66-1 shock winner Martator pipped Jazzy Matty’s gallant attempt to land another Grand Annual.
