Quick ground at Leopardstown forces Willie Mullins to abandon schooling session
Alongside many others, Willie Mullins decided to cancel Sunday’s schooling session for the Cheltenham-bound chasers, as the ground at Leopardstown was too quick.
With only a few days left in the Cheltenham Festival, every trainer is working hard to make his contestants ready for the big battle.
However, Leopardstown’s unsuitable track curtailed the post racing action, as the trainers decided to abandon the exercise on Sunday.
In order to avoid any mishap, Mullins opted to cancel the schooling session for his 12 runners. Dermot Weld's trained, Merchant Royal and Daffern Seal, went out for a leisurely lap.
Paul Flynn's County Hurdle candidate, Moon Dice, also make a brief outing, but most of the trainers didn’t take any sort of risk.
"We came to school the chasers but decided against it as the ground was quite quick," Mullins said.
On his Cheltenham plans, he shared:
"Roger Loughran said The Midnight Club pulled his arms out which pleased me because he hasn't shown anything in his last few races and it might just have sparked his enthusiasm back up. I'll talk to his owners and we might let him take his chance along with
Quel Esprit in the Gold Cup. One or two jockeys commented on how well their horses handled the quick ground, Raptor especially and Nina [Carberry] said Up The Beat (Kim Muir) flew on it.”
Mullins is in great position to dominate the Cheltenham festival. Most of his high profile horses will be ridden by Ruby Walsh, a veteran jockey who has terrific track record under his belt.
Including Simenon, Allure Of Illusion, Sous Les Cieux and Terminal, Mullins will be represented by nine contestants in the William Hill Supreme Novices' Hurdle, a Grade 1 meeting that will start the festival on March 13, 2012.
Besides this, Mullins has a strong representation in every big contest. With most of his trainees in good rhythm, it will be no surprise if Mullins takes the award of Top Trainer.
The handler himself is pleased with the preparations for the imminent extravaganza, saying that all of his trainees are in good shape at the moment.
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