Willie Mullins’s dominance was underlined with a vengeance on Sunday as State Man completed the champion trainer’s unprecedented clean sweep of the Dublin Racing Festival’s eight Grade One races.
Following Saturday’s 713-1 top-flight four-timer, Mullins mopped up Sunday’s four Grade Ones with Fact To File, Ballyburn, and El Fabiolo teeing up State Man to successfully defend his Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle crown.
He then capped the weekend with another winner, Fleur Au Fusil, in Sunday’s finale that completed a 99-1 five-timer. Mullins finished the festival winning a record nine of the 15 races up for grabs.
Such supremacy was reflected in State Man’s big-race display as the 2-5 favourite proved much too good for three opponents and is set to take on Constitution Hill again at Cheltenham in just over five weeks.
The bird-shaped obsession that drives James Crombie, one of Ireland’s best sports photographers
Vintage Durkan clash in prospect at star studded ‘Premiere Weekend’ in Punchestown
Irish star Auguste Rodin to receive historic retirement ceremony after his final race in Japan Cup
Racing’s reaction to coverage of Cheltenham deaths shows worrying insecurity about nature of the sport
England’s pride and joy will be an overwhelming favourite for the Champion Hurdle but El Fabiolo won’t be far off such status himself in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, while Ballyburn is one of a squad of other likely Mullins festival favourites.
If Mullins has long since transformed the face of racing’s biggest meeting, he is set to go into it in an unrivalled position this time.
With a record 94 Cheltenham Festival winners under his best, the Irishman is all but certain to pull off a century next month, a feat that once would have seemed unimaginable.
On home turf however, the €2 million Dublin Racing Festival has quickly turned into Mullins’s personal fiefdom.
The weekend action saw him bring his overall DRF tally in its seven-year history to 47 winners. A remarkable 34 of those have been Grade Ones.
It underlines how at 67, Mullins’s career graph continues remorselessly upward, and his overarching supremacy appears nowhere near peaking as the game’s most powerful owners queue up for his services.
“It’s extraordinary, everything has come together. We have tremendous owners that invest in Irish racing, and they love it,” Mullins said after State Man’s success.
“It’s tremendous to have people like that bringing in money from abroad to put into Irish racing. We’re the beneficiaries and we’re very lucky.
“He [State Man] is a lovely racehorse. Himself and Galopin Des Champs, Fact To File and El Fabiolo have beautiful temperaments and that’s what you need, it’s half the battle in a horse.
“It means the trainer can train them the way he wants to, and the jockey can ride them the way he wants to. It makes life a lot easier for people involved,” he added.
With life getting only tougher for his rivals, the Mullins factor alone will convince many that State Man has a shot at reversing last year’s Cheltenham form with Constitution Hill.
“State Man is going to go there in tip-top order and it’s all to play for. I’m sure they’re not too worried and they’re going to be confident enough that they have enough in the locker to beat us no matter what we do.
“I don’t think there will be too many runners in it and a change of tactics might make all the difference,” Mullins said following State Man’s dismissal of Bob Olinger.
El Fabiolo will renew rivalry with Jonbon in the Champion Chase and goes into it unbeaten over fences. His superiority over stable companion Dinoblue in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase was clear, no mean feat considering she is favourite for her Cheltenham target too.
“He did his job well because Dinoblue had worked very well during the week, and I thought if he made any mistake then she would definitely give him a race.
“Mark [Walsh] was very happy with her, so it was a good test and not a freebie by any means. She was getting 7lb from him and she is a good mare,” Mullins said.
Ballyburn dominated the Tattersalls Novice Hurdle to such effect he tops betting lists for both the Supreme and the Bingham next month.
His trainer quickly placed him in the ‘could be anything’ category and added: “He did everything right over the minimum trip which is good. He has a very low head carriage which is usually a good sign in a horse.”
There was some room for others outside the top-quality contests, particularly the popular veteran Lord Erskine who pulled off a 40-1 shock in the handicap hurdle. The El Fabiolo colours were also successful on the 20-1 Brucio in the opener.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our In The News podcast is now published daily – Find the latest episode here
