Ballyburn team still deliberating Festival target
Willie Mullins has a wealth of novice options at Cheltenham.
Willie Mullins is still to decide how he will shuffle some of his novices’ hurdle pack, with Ballyburn looking his ace card to play amongst a team brimming with talent. The master of Closutton has won the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle a record seven times, while the following day’s Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle has gone his way on six occasions, including last year when scoring with Impaire Et Passe. The handler is blessed with an array of riches in both races this time around, with many of his Closutton inmates double entered – including high-class pair Ballyburn and Mystical Power, who are dominant in the ante-post lists for both races. Owned by Ronnie Bartlett in conjunction with football agent David Manasseh, Ballyburn laid down his claim to be Mullins’ Supreme number one with a faultless display at the Dublin Racing Festival.However, the Irish champion trainer is willing to bide his time before firming up final running plans. Mullins said: “Ballyburn has been very impressive. He’s in the Supreme and Baring Bingham, pedigree-wise you’d say Baring Bingham but looking at his races you’d say Supreme. His owners haven’t shown a preference and they’d be very happy to go wherever we go. I’ll leave that one open for the time being. “Mystical Power is another one, owned by JP who is good pals with Ronnie Bartlett and will they want to take each other on?” “I’ve been very pleased with what he’s shown over two miles as on pedigree I thought he’d want further but he’s shaped more like a two-miler.” Mystical Power comes with a champion’s pedigree being a son of Galileo out of Champion Hurdle winner Annie Power and having done his early winning last summer, served a reminder of his potential when landing the Grade Two Moscow Flyer last month – a race that has served Mullins well in the past.
UPSET in the feature! 🟢🟢
Readin Tommy Wrong leads home a 1-2-3 for @WillieMullinsNH in the Grade 1 @LawlorsNaas Novice Hurdle as he runs down better-fancied stablemate Ile Atlantique close home. What do we make of that form?@Dazjacob10 | @simon_munir pic.twitter.com/1fUbQTIicT — Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 12, 2024
High Class Hero is made to work on hurdles debut but makes it two from two for Willie Mullins and could be a smart novice for Closutton.
Five winners this @Galway_Races week and counting for the champion trainer 🥇 pic.twitter.com/E6LPEAgfU5 — Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 2, 2023
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