Willie Mullins column: Aintree reflections
Rachael Blackmore enjoyed a fantastic win in the Randox Grand National at Aintree on Saturday. She and Minella Times made it look so easy.
It’s tremendous for Rachael to do what she did at Cheltenham, then do this at Aintree, it’s absolutely fantastic for her. She rides out for us any spare time she gets and we use her as much as we can at times, but she has a lot of other commitments. I’m delighted for her and she deserves all the success.
Henry De Bromhead has had a fantastic season too. He had a Cheltenham that was second to none and then to have a one-two in the National, well that’s unbelievable stuff.
Patrick got a great ride from Burrows Saint but he just didn’t quite see out the final quarter-of-a-mile, but all four of ours finished the race and came out of it well. We were very happy.
Cabaret Queen will be going to stud now and gave her owners tremendous fun throughout her career, winning big races and running well in many others. She’s been a great servant to Jack Cantillon and his team.
We’ve yet to make a firm plan for Burrows Saint. We ran him in the Grand Steeple-chase De Paris in 2019 and he finished fifth that day. It could be on our radar again but we haven’t decided what we’re doing with him at the moment.
Livelovelaugh was very good in winning the Randox Topham Chase. He’s a horse who loves jumping and seemed to be very much at home around Liverpool.
Patrick got him away in a good position after a couple of false starts and he jumped from fence to fence. He really enjoyed himself around there and that’s the big difference. When you have a horse who loves jumping those Aintree fences it just makes everything so easy for the rider. He was one of those.
We found a nice opportunity for Stratum at Gowran Park and Seamie Heffernan was very good on him. He did what he had to do, the conditions of the race suited him and the horse won nicely. I’m hoping it will set him up for a nice summer and we can go to the big festivals at Royal Ascot and York, places where he’s run well previously. Hopefully we’ll get Tony Bloom to a few good meetings with him.
It’s a case of so far, so good with the Punchestown team. We’ve started cranking up the horses for that fixture. It looks like being relatively dry leading up to the week but I hear they’ve started watering and they usually do a really good job there.
We’re looking forward to what will be the end of our season and hope to have a nice team in action. Paul Townend is making good progress but I doubt he’ll ride this week. We’ll try and get him right for Punchestown.
We’ve a small team heading to Tramore on Sunday.
13:30 Gelee Blanche
We might have found an opportunity for her here. She finished third to Belfast Banter at Galway in October. If she brings that sort of form to Tramore it might be her turn. Drying ground will be a help.
14:03 En Beton
A Cheveley Park horse and very much a chaser not a hurdler. He’s not exactly built for Tramore but I need to get him out and run him as the ground is drying up. I felt two-and-a-half miles might suit him and if he gets around here and shows a bit of that form that would suit me. The track will be sharp for him but I hope be runs well.
15:13 Bapaume
It’s a tough little race but I thought it might be a chance for him, staying down country rather than going to the big tracks. The conditions suit him here, he was just unlucky when meeting a specialist two miler at Cork last time and back over fences around this track it could give us a day out.
16:55 Memorable Daise
This is a lovely filly, nice and strong and she’ll win her bumper and has every chance here, but we’re hearing through the grapevine there are others fancied and if she finishes in the first three we’ll be very pleased. She’s stronger than her sister Daisy’s Gift who was a nice mare that I trained. We’re looking forward to getting her started.
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