Mullins still on a high after Fly success
The brilliant hurdler improved his own record for number of wins in Grade One company to 21 and also made it nine starts unbeaten at his beloved Foxrock venue as he got the better of reigning Champion Hurdle hero Jezki in the Ryanair Hurdle.
Mullins yesterday reported his pride and joy to be none the worse for his exertions and he is now on course to bid for an historic fifth victory in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown in late January.
“It’s getting to the point with him now where I just let him do the talking,” said Mullins. “He’s just a fantastic horse with fantastic ability.
“He has won (Champion Hurdle) twice at Cheltenham but maybe because he has disappointed once there it affected his followers, I don’t know. There’s certainly something about Leopardstown that suits him, though.
“He’s just a horse with huge ability but also with a tremendous amount of guts.
“It’s onwards and upwards for the Irish Champion Hurdle next.
“Ruby (Walsh) mentioned that going down to the start he didn’t seem as geed up as normal and I’m not sure why that was, maybe something was too tight, I don’t know but once he got warmed up he was fine.
“He then got a bit of gorse stuck in his girth and that must have been sore, but he ignored that and was very brave.
“That’s just one of those things that happens in races, it’s not an issue now and he came home and ate up well. He’s some horse.”
Mullins, meanwhile, is keen to keep his two top-notch novice chasers apart with Don Poli and Valseur Lido in the mix for the Dr PJ Moriarty Chase.
Valseur Lido was last seen winning the Drinmore Novice Chase by eight lengths from Apache Stronghold, while Don Poli beat the same Noel Meade runner by three lengths in the Topaz Novice Chase on Monday.
In recent seasons the Moriarty has been a good pointer towards the RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival a month later.
Speaking of Valseur Lido, who like Don Poli is owned by Gigginstown House Stud, Mullins said: “He’s a fair sort too and could be an RSA horse.
“The Moriarty is a race I had set out for him but I wouldn’t want to put him and Don Poli together.”
