Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LORD HAS WILL IN 7TH HEAVEN
Slick Blue gives trainer another Oil win
WINNING the race for the seventh time in 10 years, Willie Mullins supplied a 1-2 in yesterday’s Grade 2 Clonmel Oil Chase as 5/6 favourite Blue Lord came from last to first to foil stable-companion and last year’s King George winner Tornado Flyer.
A dual Grade 1-winning novice last season, Blue Lord jumped to the front at the second last and held the rallying runner-up on the run-in to score by a neck. Mullins was uncertain about immediate plans for Blue Lord, although suggested “we’ll stick at two and a half miles for now” while runner-up Tornado Flyer will be heading for the John Durkan at Punchestown before attempting a King George repeat bid at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Blue Lord was the second leg of a big-race double for Mullins and stablejockey Paul
Townend, initiated when Dolcita came from off the pace to deny frontrunning Ballyshannon Rose in the listed T A Morris
Memorial Mares Chase.
Meanwhile, Henry de Bromhead’s (inset) impressive
Cheltenham Gold Cup victor A Plus Tard will face just four rivals when he bids to repeat last year’s win in the Betfair Chase (Grade 1) at Haydock Park tomorrow.
A 15-lengths winner of the Gold Cup, the eight-year-old is now rated 180 and will be expected to make a successful seasonal debut as he starts on the road to Prestbury Park.
The five runners for the Betfair Chase are: A Plus Tard (Rachael Blackmore), Bristol De Mai (Daryl Jacob), Eldorado Allen (Brendan Powell), Frodon (Bryony Frost) and Protektorat (Harry Skelton).