MULLINS SET FOR AYR RAID
IT’S L’EAU DU GOOD TO BREAK DAN DUCK
THE last time Willie Mullins had a chance of winning the British trainers’ title, Paul Nicholls landed the Coral Scottish Grand National with Vicente before going on to secure top spot in the table at Sandown.
This time around, the all-conquering Mullins is throwing everything at it, with 18 runners on the big card at Ayr on Saturday, as he attempts to emulate the legendary Vincent O’Brien, something the Closutton handler’s son and assistant Patrick acknowledges would be “incredibly special”.
While the victory of I Am Maximus in the Grand National put Mullins in the driving seat, the team are taking nothing for granted, based on what happened in 2016.
Battle
This year, they are involved in a three-way battle with Dan
Skelton joining the fray, and Mullins Jnr thinks if any of the three manage to win either the National or the Scottish Champion Hurdle this weekend, it will go a long way to deciding the outcome.
“We find ourselves in a position we weren’t particularly expecting, so we’re going to be putting everything we can towards it now,” he said.
“It’s 70-odd years since Vincent O’Brien was the only Irish trainer to win the British jumps title, so to emulate him would be something incredibly special.
“In 2016, we actually came into this weekend ahead as well, I think, but Paul Nicholls pulled a rabbit out of the hat and won the Scottish National with Vicente at 14-1 and that was the difference.”
Despite Mullins’ total dominance over the
National Hunt scene, his victory last weekend was only his second Grand National, 19 years after Hedgehunter provided him with his first.
“There were a few sore heads on Wednesday after the parade, but you have to celebrate the good days,” Mullins said.
“It was 19 years since we won the Grand National and to win a second is great. We had seven runners, but if I Am Maximus had come down, we wouldn’t have had any in the first six, so you need a bit of luck. I wasn’t sure if he’d adapt to the course, but he did very well.
“We’ve celebrated but we’re back on track now and focussed on Ayr, trying to bring home some sterling.”
There has never been an Irishtrained Scottish National winner since the race moved from Bogside to Ayr and Mullins has never had a winner at the track either.
Break
He went on: “It’s an incredible statistic. I can’t wait to come over to Ayr, it always looks a brilliant crowd for the big racedays there.
“Every year, I watch the Scottish National and it looks a fantastic race with a huge crowd, we’re very excited to be coming over and hopefully we can break one, if not two of those statistics.
“If we can get out of Ayr still ahead, that is going to be huge for us.
“If Paul or Dan win the Champion Hurdle or the National, that’s going to make it squeaky bum time.” 1.15 - UNCLE PHIL
1.50 - MONTGOMERY 2.25 - L’EAU DU SUD 3.00 - LARCHMONT LASS 3.35 - MY SILVER LINING (EW)
1.30 - HAMISH 2.05 - REGAL JUBILEE
DAN Skelton is banking on a big run from L’Eau Du Sud in the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle to keep him in with a chance of claiming a first trainers’ title.
Runner-up in two of the most competitive handicaps of the season, the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury and the County
Hurdle at Cheltenham, the sixyear-old has been aimed at this ever since.
Cheltenham went swimmingly for Skelton and co-owners Alex Ferguson and John Hales, but the feeling was L’Eau was mugged by the Willie Mullinstrained Ebor winner Absurde.
“He’s in good order and this is the race we’ve had in mind since Cheltenham, when he was second in the County Hurdle,” said Skelton.
“That was a very good run considering Absurde came from nowhere and showed great Flat speed late on.
Perfect
“The ground will be perfect for him, the track is no issue, he travels very well and I’d say he’s a very big player, but the prices reflect that.
“If we’ve any chance of (left) overhauling Willie, we need L’Eau Du Sud to figure well.
“It looked like we had it won at Cheltenham, but (Paul) Townend had different ideas and used all the Flat speed, so fair play to them, they picked up on the day but we’ll be looking to collect on Saturday.”
Skelton is battling with his old boss Paul Nicholls and Irish champion trainer Mullins, who runs Westport Cove, Bialystok and Alvaniy.
His son and assistant Patrick feels the middle one of that trio may be their best chance.
“Westport Cove is a horse with an awful lot of ability, but