WILLIE MULLINS drew a rare blank on Day Three but the great man can’t be kept down for long.
The final day of the meeting looks set to be headlined by Mullins again as GALOPIN DES CHAMPS (3.30) tries to defend the Gold Cup.
Mullins’ first Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo managed back-to-back glory.
And with a Timeform rating of 181, Galopin Des Champs is an even better chaser and just 1lb behind Douvan — the best Mullins has trained on our ratings.
Galopin Des Champs is drawing two-two in head-to-heads with chief rival Fastorslow but Mullins’ champion was imperious when they last met in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown.
That’s a better reflection of the 8lb which separates them on Timeform ratings.
Nicky Henderson’s stable is still under a cloud and the absence of Sir Gino from the Triumph Hurdle has opened that race up to the Mullins army.
MAJBOROUGH (1.30), third on his stable debut at Leopardstown last time, might be the one to profit, though Salvator Mundi, who was runner-up to Sir Gino in France last year on his only start, is also an intriguing.
Another of the Mullins clan, Willie’s nephew Emmet, has also been successful this week and could strike again in the County Hurdle with the Timeform top-rated SO SCOTTISH (2.10).
He was back to form when fourth in a big field at the Dublin Racing Festival last month on his return to hurdling and has a piece of form over fences at Ascot last season that leaves him looking even better handicapped than his hurdles rating might suggest.
TEAHUPOO didn’t need to improve on his previous form to decisively land the Stayers’ Hurdle yesterday.
That said, a provisional Timeform rating of 162 marks him out as one of the race’s better winners in the past decade.
On Timeform’s scale a performance of 165 is considered top-class and PROTEKTORAT — a provisional 168 — passed that in the Ryanair, as he has done in the past.
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