Willie Mullins disappointed with Clonmel result
Willie Mullins was dejected after his horses, The Midnight Club and Cooldine, failed to make an impression at the Clonmel Festival Week Chase in Ireland on Thursday, February 2, 2012. They finished third and fourth, respectively.
Both these horses are lined up for the Grand National at Aintree in England on Saturday, April 14, 2012. They have got good records in chase events, but were unable to fight for victory yesterday.
Surprising one and all, Leanne, ended up winning the test at Clonmel. The bookmakers did not have much confidence in her, thus she was given a starting price of 6 to 1 for the event. However, she displayed complete class yesterday, and would have even
surprised the punters.
The 10-year-old mare started off steadily, but gradually increased her speed. She ran pretty well towards the end of the race, and managed to get ahead of the rest of the pack.
Jockey, Bryan Cooper, who partnered Leanne in the race, was extremely happy with the outcome. After winning the race, he stated, “I rode her to be placed and she travelled very well for me. She jumped well and she picked up nicely when I asked her.”
On the other hand, rider of The Midnight Club, Ruby Walsh, was disappointed with the race. He expected to be win the race, but ended up being the third fastest on the day. He has been enjoying a lot of success over the past few months, and was hopeful
of a strong show at Clonmel, but things did not go well for him in the end.
According to Walsh, the track was not ideal for The Midnight Club, which was the reason why the 11-year-old gelding failed to make an impression.
This result also did not please veteran trainer, Mullins, who was expecting one of his two horses to win the Clonmel Chase. He was expecting Cooldine to struggle though and had admitted that the horse was struggling for form.
According to Mullins, “Cooldine appears to have lost his form. We're just hoping he might do better this time but he just isn't the horse he was. If he fails to win before the end of the season he will probably go hunter chasing next season.”
The veteran trainer will now be hoping that one of his horses manage to put up a strong show in the Grand National.
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