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Willie Mullins column: Aintree and Fairyhouse

By Willie Mullins

Horse Racing

Fri April 05, 2024 · 2y ago

Our star columnist on his Aintree team and reflections on big-race success at Fairyhouse.

I Am Maximus is great and his preparation has been going fantastically for the Randox Grand National on Saturday week. I’m very, very pleased with him and I’d imagine this weather is going to be a big plus for us too.

Meetingofthewaters is another who has soft ground form and looking at the forecast you’ll need that. He’s another horse who looks in a very good place going into Liverpool.

I’m looking forward to all my entries. Our horses have been running well on this ground all season and I’d be hopeful the prevailing conditions at Aintree will suit more of our team than they won’t this time around.

We’ll have runners on the other days of the meeting too. Impaire Et Passe worked well earlier in the week and he’s all set for the William Hill Aintree Hurdle on Thursday. It looks like Sir Gino might rock up to the Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle on the same card but even so Kargese must have a great chance after her run in the Triumph Hurdle last time.

Jade De Grugy was very good in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Honeysuckle Mares Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse despite not looking all that happy through the race.

Between Paul giving her a good ride and the heart she showed in the last half furlong, it proved she’s a way above average mare. We’re very happy with her. We’ll take a look at Punchestown but I’d like her in better form as she made tough work of it the other day, but she was one of the very few horses that ran at Cheltenham to run back at Fairyhouse.

The standard of the race Mirazur West won was a lot lower than he had been contesting of late but the change in tactics from the previous run seemed to show him in a different light.

Jody Townend got a great spin out of Captain Cody in a race where Anotherway was very unlucky but it was bittersweet to win a Grade Two because he was in the Connollys Red Mills Final worth double the prize-money and winning at Fairyhouse has ruled him out of that. It was great to win but I thought he had a great chance in the Punchestown race too.

Charlie McCarthy and his family look to have a very exciting recruit in Kopek Des Bordes who has always been a lovely horse to look at and is by No Risk At All from a good family.

The first time we worked him he flagged up he might be a little better than average and sure enough that showed up in the very valuable Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper. I’m not sure we’ll go to Punchestown, its not what I like to do, I prefer to have one target but because he won so well, and it doesn’t seem to have taken a lot out of him, we’ll keep it in the back of our minds and see where we go. He’s a nice individual.

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