Patrick Mullins reflects on last season's bumper crop and provides insight on how they might fare in novice hurdles this season.
Ballyburn
Both times he ran really keen - he puts his head down on the ground and just lies on you - but what he is doing is he's breathing while he's doing it. Some horses, like Westport Cove, would have just run up the straight without taking a breath, panicking, but this fellow isn't panicking he's just being a bit ignorant and is still breathing. You can be that kind of keen and get away with it, which is what he does.
Both times he's looked beaten when the race has developed at the two marker but when I've pulled my stick and used it he's dropped a gear and the turbo's kicked in and he's flown away. He has that turn of foot and he's not slow, but I think two and a half will be where he's most effective. He'll have to settle a bit better but having a jump in front of him - he's won a point-to-point - will make him put his head up and help him settle.
We didn't take on A Dream To Share with him - we took him on with Tullyhill - and maybe in hindsight we got that call wrong. I wouldn't have minded changing that around after the week in Punchestown. He's not majorly flashy here and doesn't give everything until you really ask him, but what he does when he hits top gear is pretty special.
Captain Cody
He surprised us last year and kept improving and improving. Not an overly-big horse, you can maybe see why his point-to-point form wasn't anything to write home about and he doesn't show a huge amount on the gallops at home, but Jody Townend got a great tune out of him a few times and he ran really well in the big Festival bumper in the spring. He's big enough to jump a fence but to look at him he looks like more of a hurdler than a chaser.
Chapeau de Soleil
He was probably the biggest disappointment of our bumper crop last year. I won a schooling bumper on him at Thurles very easily and he obviously won a point-to-point very well, so we went to Fairyhouse at the Royal Bond meeting expecting to win and he just ran like his tail was on fire and hung badly left all the way. Coming around the home bend I thought for two or three strides he wasn't going to take the bend and I don't know why he did that as he hadn't done it in his point-to-point or in his schooling race or at home.
We weren't really happy with him afterwards and nothing came to light but he wasn't pleasing us in his work and didn't look as well as he could so we backed off him. We got him to Cheltenham but it was a big ask. For whatever reason he didn't train on as we hoped last year but he's back in now and looks well and hopefully we can keep him looking well and strong and he could be the forgotten horse from the crop. I think he has as much ability as anything else but he has to put it together now.
Chosen Witness
A massive, big strong horse - probably the biggest of our bumper crop last year. He won really well with Jody Townned at Limerick on bottomless ground but never really rediscovered that form. I think he's probably a horse for really soft ground and going out in trip. He'll go hurdling but with his physique chasing will be what he's best at. Really soft ground could be the key to him.
Fact To File
I was pleasantly surprised with what he did last year. I thought he might lack a gear for bumpers to be a top-class bumper horse but Willie was adamant that he would be and he was right. A Dream To Share, with his Flat pedigree, outspeeded him twice at Leopardstown and then again at Cheltenham. I think we'd have finished closer to him at Cheltenham without the interference we suffered but A Dream To Share was coming past us anyway. For me, when he steps up to two and a half miles, even three miles, he's going to improve. With the size and scope he has - he's a point-to-point winner - chasing is going to be his game.
Fun Fun Fun
Myself and my mother bought the dam and I got a great kick out of Fun Fun Fun winning at the Dublin Racing Festival. Breeding one is good and we have a couple of brothers and sisters coming along, though we did lose a Doctor Dino brother which was unfortunate. She won really well at Leopardstown. She does race a bit keenly so I dropped her out, but then coming out of the back straight I had to get down and bump her along - she relaxed too much.
In the Champion Bumper Daryl [Jacob] said she didn't really handle the track on the day - she just got a bit unbalanced. She ran well at Punchestown but went down to the start like her tail was on fire and ran far too keenly, never taking a breath, and that told in the last two furlongs. That might have been the end of a long season. This time she's had a proper summer holiday and will start off with the rest of the winter horses and with her pedigree jumping should be no problem - I'm hoping she'll develop into a mares' novice hurdle horse.
It's For Me
He won really well at Navan and was plenty keen for me that day. I said to Paul [Townend] at Cheltenham he'd need to drop him out and Paul tried the Ferny Hollow route but I think this year's race was hard to come from as far back as he did. When you see how he raced at Punchestown you can see how Paul rode him that way as he got keen coming down the hill early on at Punchestown and ran his race in the first mile. He's a horse with an awful lot of ability. He's not over big or over strong but hopefully jumps will help him settle. You often see in hurdle races they go a stride faster than in bumpers which will help him, and if he does settle I think he should be running in Grade 1s later in the season.
Lecky Watson
I don't know how I didn't manage to win a bumper on him - well, we won one bumper but I lost it in the stewards' room! He's a horse with an awful lot of ability as he showed at Cheltenham when he was fourth. He ran a cracker at Leopardstown at Christmas when he was second on the very fast inside track - that's a real speed track, we just got done for a bit of toe - and he ran a cracker then at Cheltenham where he again probably would have finished closer but the Nicholls horse [Captain Teague] wiped us all out between the wings of the last. At Punchestown it might just have been the end of a long season for him. He's a horse with a lot more ability than his form figures suggest.
Loughglynn
A very relaxed horse and only does enough. Won well at Naas in a ding-dong battle with Jamie [Codd] and the second horse franked the form. I was a bit disappointed with him at the end of the season - he's better than that - and I think he's a three-mile horse on soft ground and galloping tracks. He's a tall horse - not massively strong, quite slim. The fact he's so relaxed will be an asset to him when he steps up in trip.
Mirazur West
A full brother to Ferny Hollow and a fine, big strapping horse with lots of size and scope. Not quite as ignorant as his brother but he has that streak in him! He has loads of ability and is still a big baby mentally. He'll need to improve that way but he did everything very easily for Derek [O'Connor] at Naas and while it's hard to think he could be as good as his brother he has us all very excited here.
Tullyhill
He's a tall horse with plenty of strength. He travels very strongly and is a beautiful ride, you can put him wherever you want in a race which is a great advantage for a horse. He'll give you everything on the bridle. It's not that he won't find much off the bridle but if you just squeeze with your heels he'll give as much as he can, and that's what it looked like when he took on A Dream To Share. It looked like we had A Dream To Share beaten but he pulled out more and showed another side to him. It wasn't that we didn't find anything. He handles very soft ground even though he wears a tongue strap - he won at Gowran on bottomless ground - and I think because of how easy he is to ride he could go three miles, but he has the speed for two and a half.
Westport Cove
He has lots of speed - he's a smaller, slighter faster type - and works really well at home. The occasion got to him at Cheltenham and he ran his race up the straight the first time. You see that happen with horses there every year. I'd just draw a line through that. He's back in now and I think he's a horse with an awful lot of ability. Jumping will be no problem to him.
Western Diego
He’s a typical Westerner. I think Westerner is a fabulous sire as they have lots of ability, but they can be difficult – I’m thinking of Total Recall, Ferny Hollow and a couple of others. He’s quite keen and wears a hood. He was keen with me when he won at Naas and was again doing too much in Rachael Blackmore's hands from the top of the hill to the home bend at Cheltenham, taking her into the race earlier than she wanted. That's his Achilles' heel, he can race enthusiastically, but sometimes when these horses get a jump in front of them it puts them back on their hocks and they can settle better.
He'll run over hurdles but fences will probably see him at his best. Being a Westerner he probably wants further, but it depends on how well he settles. If he's still keen he'll stay at two miles but if he settles we can step him out in trip. If he does settle going out in trip will improve him.
Patrick on this season’s bumper contenders
Aurora Vega
Facile Vega's little sister and a small mare who didn't show an awful for the first while she was here, but she's just kept improving. Her first two races there was nothing special to beat but the way she did it was fantastic and she then won a listed bumper with seven or eight winners in it. She keeps improving and is hardy. She's a bit like her mother Quevega - small, can be temperamental, not tall like Facile Vega - and I'd imagine you're looking at those graded and listed bumpers in the spring. You've got lots of options.
Chart Topper
We have a home-bred horse called Chart Topper by Walk In The Park out of Pink Hat who goes very nicely. He'd be a brother to Pink In The Park. He's a horse who has caught my eye a few times.
C'Est Ta Chance
He's a point-to-point winner and is a smaller, sharper, maybe faster looking horse rather than the big 17-hand typical pointer, so I'm looking forward to getting a go on him.
Magic Mccolgan
A nice mare closely related to Tornado Flyer, which is the Hurricane Fly pedigree. She could be a mare to look out for. She's a beautiful mare to catch your eye but we haven't pressed any buttons yet to really know.
Sounds Victorius
He has the physique and would catch your eye on the gallop, but again we haven't looked under the bonnet. It's also a good name so maybe that's why it stuck in my head!
Read the Willie Mullins Stable Tour
Part One: The novice chasers
Part Two: The novice hurdlers
Part Three: Open chasers and hurdlers
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