Equinties - Willie Mullins

Gm Equinauts

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Let’s dive in!

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

MULLINS IS A MASTER

We have so much to talk about, and we’re starting with the Breeders’ Cup, of course!

As it usually is, this year’s Breeders’ Cup was very entertaining - two nights of wall-to-wall action featuring unparalleled trackside interviews with trainers, owners and fans, and then the racing which saw both electric performances and blowouts from the best horses in the world.

We have to start with the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and wow, Willie Mullins really is one of the greatest of all time:

Almost all of the racing community had this race between MINNIE HAUK, the Arc runner-up, and REBEL’S ROMANCE, the ultimate globetrotter. Even Mullins sent ETHICAL DIAMOND to the race with the full expectation of finishing behind them.

As they rounded the bend for home at Del Mar on Saturday, it looked as if MINNIE HAUK was beaten and REBEL’S ROMANCE was going to land the Turf four-timer.

But that quickly changed in the last furlong when under a brilliant ride from Dylan Browne McMonagle, the County Hurdle fourth flew down the outside to win, and win with a course record no less!

There was something quite special at seeing ETHICAL DIAMOND win, and to see what it meant to Mullins. In the UK and Ireland, we see Mullins as the best, and he knows it, even if he is very reserved about himself and the team. He is a genuinely good guy, and most of the time, he knows when one will win and when one will not win.

Saturday completely caught him off guard, and his reaction was epic.

Post-race, he said: “I’ve always said winning the Grand National with my son Patrick [was my greatest achievement], but this might come second best. I just couldn’t believe it. I looked at where he was and the speed he was going and I said, ‘this is going to be on’.

“The tactics are a key part to him and Dylan, being the cool man he is, executed them perfectly.”

What next with the horse? To be honest, who f****** cares! He’s now won at Royal Ascot, ran at two Cheltenham Festivals, won an Ebor, and scooped up just over £2,000,000 in prize money for winning in America. He now has lifetime earnings of nearly £2.5 million, and he came about because some grandparents wanted to buy a horse to see their grandchildren more! Remarkable work.

Racehorse ownership is an exciting but often brutal experience on the whole, but the success that the HOS Syndicate have had with ETHICAL DIAMOND and ABSURDE is truly remarkable. They are two horses that anyone, literally anyone, would love to own, and they happen to be two of just a few that they own!

Just when we thought Mullins had done it all, he pulled this out and made us all remember that racing is so very cool. It was a remarkable race and story, and we send our congratulations to Mr Mullins and all connected.

What else caught our eye from the Breeders’ Cup?

Obviously, NOTABLE SPEECH was very, very good in the Mile. That turn of foot was sexy, and William Buick had balls of steel to go for the gap up the rail. He had to go for it, as the race played out that way, but it was still a stone-cold move.

The best news? He’ll be back next year! We imagine that the Mile will be his season-long target.

Guess who will also be back next year? MINNIE HAUK. We wondered whether the lads would pull her after such a good year, but they must be keen to avenge her defeats in America and France with another big year in 2026. Maybe we’ll see her back in the Arc, or even the Yorkshire Oaks?

As for Friday, with a view to next season’s three-year-olds, BALANTINA was quite impressive in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Oisin Murphy, like Buick on NOTABLE SPEECH, gave her an epic ride that won her the race, so that’s something to consider going forwards, but she has always been highly-touted. She may have disappointed a little bit after Royal Ascot, but how she is campaigned next year will be interesting. We imagine she’ll have a go at the Guineas, because why not, but she could well be a horse that connections can drop back in trip to seven, or even six furlongs. She comes from the VENETIAN SUN and FITZELLA form line of the Albany, which is working out quite nicely, and she will have to be a player to consider next season.

As the dust settled after the two day spectacle, the sad news came out that Jack Davison’s star filly SHES QUALITY had to be euthanised following her breaking down.

She was a proper horse and our heart felt condolences go out to all connected to her.

ENJOY ENVOI

We’ve spoken about the Flat action this weekend, so what about the jumpers? Well, if Willie Mullins was the story of the weekend, ENVOI ALLEN winning the Grade 1 BetVictor Champion Chase AGAIN was a short-head second.

He is now a bit of a jumps legend. 10 Grade 1s is some feat, and it just goes to show how solid the horse is. He’s won a Champion Bumper, a Ballymore, a Ryanair, three Down Royal Champion Chases, and he even fell in the Grade 1 Marsh Novices’ Chase on his first start for Henry de Bromhead from Gordon Elliott’s.

Hindsight is obviously a wonderful thing, but looking back on Saturday, his victory just made so much sense. The thing that put some people off was his age, but approaching the third and second last, he looked as sprightly as he did when winning his first in 2022. We imagine it’ll be a similar route towards the Ryanair, but winning that at 12 would be tough enough. Could they give him another try at the King George? You wouldn’t rule it out but regardless of that, the de Bromhead team will happily soak in this weekends victory for a while.

As for Wetherby, the Charlie Hall was interesting. Our fancy HEWICK never looked to be going well, THE REAL WHACKER wasn’t able to bowl out in front because of PIC D’ORHY, and it was fairly obvious that GA LAW was just having a spin (he did run well for a while there before taking a blow, and he hasn’t dented his Coral Gold Cup ambitions too much).

When THE REAL WHACKER cracked, it was just DJELO and PIC D’ORHY to fight out the finish. They both put in solid efforts, but even if you were a PIC D’ORHY backer, you probably knew your fate when Charlie Deutsch came there swinging at all the fences in the home straight.

PIC D’ORHY was very gallant on his first try at three miles, and with DJELO’s slow right-handed jump at the last, he almost stole it. But we think Deutsch knew what he had under him, and ultimately, he won nicely.

It’s interesting to see that Nicholls might have already abandoned the King George idea for PIC D’ORHY, as he looked to stay the trip. Yes, he may have been outstayed, but he didn’t do anything wrong. On his next assignments, Nicholls said: "I was delighted with him. They were a mile in front of the rest. He stayed all the way to the line.

"The winner is an improving young horse and ours is a good horse too. He'll probably either go for the 1965 Chase at Ascot in three weeks' time, he likes it there, or the other option is the Peterborough Chase. Then he'll probably go for the Silviniaco Conti Chase and then back to Ascot in the spring."

So, it’s no Kempton on Boxing Day for PIC D’ORHY, but Venetia Williams will give DJELO an entry for the King George. Right-handed, three miles, race fitness, and potentially softer ground. Those sound like four good reasons why DJELO could run a very respectable race in the Boxing Day centrepiece, even if GAELIC WARRIOR and/or FACT TO FILE come over the water. On the winner, Williams said: “He's an exciting horse. He's a seven-year-old, that's easy to forget. He's achieved a lot. Let's hope he can go on again.

"I was really thrilled. It was quite a fight. I thought he was going to win, then I thought he was going to get beaten. Pic D'Orhy is obviously very talented. It was quite a battle to the line.

"We've got to go back for the Peterborough again, haven't we? I know it's a step back in trip but there's no reason why he can't be so effective. He certainly was last year. These good horses don't usually have a specific distance."

She’s bang on. He is only seven, and what have been his three standout performances? The Peterborough Chase over 2m4f (165 RPR) the Denman Chase over three (170 RPR), and the Charlie Hall over three (170 RPR). He’s not necessarily a Cheltenham horse, but speedy races over a three miles (or something close to it) are massively his bag. Smashing horse, and we imagine he might even come on for it fitness wise.


WEEKEND EYE-CATCHERS

INDEMNITY - SATURDAY 15.10 ASCOT

Emma Lavelle has a nice improver on her hands with INDEMNITY, and we don’t think they’ve quite got to the bottom of him yet. Yes, he will have a ceiling at some point, but he’s only five, and Saturday was his first handicap loss in four outings. The horse that beat him, ALEXEI, was smashed in the market (we backed), and the Tizzards knew what they had with that horse. He was well-handicapped based on that Welsh Champion Hurdle run.

The handicapper may give him a few pounds tomorrow, but he travelled very well through the raw, and he can continue to improve.

FIRST CONFESSION - CARLISLE 12.32 SUNDAY

Another one for Tizzard here, and we’ll keep it brief, but FIRST CONFESSION is worth following. Sunday was his chasing debut, and he has some polishing to do in that department, but he stuck on well on what was his first start of the season.
Tizzard’s horses, bar ALEXEI, have potentially a bit out of form/needing the run, so he can be upgraded for the effort for this season. He was highly tried in the Grade 1 Formby Novices’ Hurdle last season as well, which is notable. A similar race in soft to heavy going will make him a bet soon.

RISK ON

No bets today yet, we’ll post on X should we see an opportunity.

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