New Year but same old winning ways for Willie Mullins

Not everything went his way at the Christmas meetings, but Willie Mullins was very much back to his dominant self over the New Year period, and he sent out 10 winners over two days at Punchestown, Fairyhouse and Tramore.

None of his winners were as impressive the Sainte Lucie which made a winning start for the champion trainer in the three-year-old maiden hurdle.

Paul Townend had an easy time of it on the Susannah Ricci-owned 8/11 favourite which led or disputed for much of the way before asserting at the second-last hurdle to win by an easy 11 lengths from the Andrew Kinirons-trained 9/2 chance Luker’s Tipple.

Mullins and his son Patrick took the concluding two and a quarter-mile bumper, the final race of 2024, with 5/2 favourite Bambino Fever which carries the colours of the O’Connell Morgan Syndicate.

In contrast to the stable’s earlier winner, she came from off the pace and went clear over a furlong out to beat Sam Curling’s 9/2 shot Derryville by five lengths.

Rathvawn’s Paul Hennessy saddled his first winner since he famously landed the Coral Cup with Heaven Help Us at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival as Falcon Park won the two-mile opportunity handicap hurdle. Ridden by Tipp conditional jockey Niall Prendergast, the 16/1 chance went clear at the final hurdle to beat Ross O'Sullivan’s 100/30 shot Bishbashbosh by five and a half lengths.

Mullins landed four of the seven races at Fairyhouse on New Year’s Day and he shared them all with Paul Townend.

The pair took the opening two-mile maiden hurdle with the Hammer & Trowel Syndicate-owned Aurora Vega, the 10/11 favourite, which snugly beat Stuart Crawford’s 11/4 chance Mongibello by two and a half lengths.

The 4/11 favourite Sounds Victorius then took the two and a half-mile maiden hurdle for the Bruton Street Syndicate. He dug deep to see off Edward Cawley’s 17/2 chance Come Walk With Me by two and three-parts of a length.

The Grade 3 mares’ chase went the way of 5/4 favourite Allegorie De Vassy, a third winner of the meeting for Mullins and Townend.

Owned by Susannah Ricci, she made all the running and went clear from the fourth-last fence to score by 25 lengths from Gavin Cromwell’s 2/1 chance Limerick Lace.

The team’s four-timer was completed as the Margaret Masterson-owned Champ Kiely overcame a 20-month absence to win the near two and three-quarter-mile beginners’ chase. A 10/11 favourite, he made much of the running and scored by 11 lengths from Henry de Bromhead’s 9/1 shot Chigorin.

On the mark in the final race of 2024 at Punchestown, Willie Mullins took the first race of 2025 in Ireland when winning the opening maiden hurdle at Tramore on New Year’s Day.

The Brian Hayes-ridden 6/4 joint-favourite More Coko did the honours with a comfortable two and three-parts of a length success over the Con O’Keeffe-trained 10/1 chance Kilbarry Ce Ce.

Michael O'Sullivan won the feature Grade 3 O’Driscoll’s Irish Whiskey New Year’s Day Chase on Embassy Gardens to give Mullins his second winner of the meeting.

O'Sullivan made all the running on the nine-year-old, a 9/1 chance, and he came home a five-length winner from the Henry de Bromhead-trained 4/5 favourite Monty’s Star and Rachael Blackmore for owners Sean and Bernardine Mulryan.

Mullins saddled three winners at Naas on Sunday for three different sets of owners.

His biggest success came with Ile Atlantique which landed the first running of the Grade 2 Racing Post Novice Chase in some style.

Owned by Tony Bloom, the very well-supported 13/8 chance made much of the running under Paul Townend and went clear from the final fence to win by five lengths from the Gordon Elliott-trained 7/2 chance Firefox with Henry de Bromhead’s 11/10 favourite Inthepocket seven lengths away in third place.

Townend made every yard to take the two-mile maiden hurdle on the Susannah Ricci-owned Joystick. The 5/6 favourite led by a couple of lengths over the last hurdle and held on to beat Gordon Elliott’s 16/1 chance Honesty Policy by three-parts of a length.

The Mullins treble was initiated by victory for the Simon Munir and Isaac Souede-owned Fun Fun Fun in the opening two and a half-mile beginners’ chase. She was another to make all the running and, at odds of 7/2, went clear before the final fence to win by seven and a half lengths from her own stable companion, the 11/2 chance Karia Des Blaises with the 20/1 shot Iris Emery home in third place to give the champion trainer a 1-2-3 in the race.

Light Up The Dark ran away with the four-year-old bumper for trainer Joseph O’Brien and jockey John Gleeson. The 2/1 favourite led over a furlong from the finish and stretched clear to score by seven lengths from the Ross O'Sullivan-trained Scarriff Bridge, a 28/1 shot. There was a gap of 31 lengths back to the third horse home, Andy Slattery’s Ripsnorter.

Race Diary
Friday: Dundalk (First Race 4.30pm)
Saturday: Fairyhouse (12 noon)
Sunday: Punchestown (12.30pm)