Blue Lord team seeking another Arkle double

Blue Lord and Paul Townend, right, win the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown. Picture: Healy Racing

Connections are hopeful Blue Lord can tread the same path as Footpad and complete and the Irish-English Arkle double following victory at Leopardstown on Saturday.

The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old was one of six Grade One winners for the Closutton handler at the Dublin Racing Festival over the weekend.

The Paul Townend-ridden Blue Lord had to survive a stewards’ inquiry after his half-length victory over Riviere D’Etel in the Irish Arkle Novices’ Chase.

The pair came close on a couple of occasions in a thrilling finish to the two-mile contest but after deliberations, the result stood.

Blue Lord remains unbeaten in three starts over fences and retained his place at the head of the market at a general 5-2 for the Arkle on March 15.

Anthony Bromley, co-founder of Highflyer Bloodstock and racing manager to owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, feels the gelding still has a bit to learn.

“Simon and Isaac were really pleased to be there to witness him win a first Grade One,” said Bromley. “Paul Townend felt he was idling a bit up the run-in and was still a bit green.

“He seems fine after the race and all roads lead to the Cheltenham Arkle.

“The owners won the Irish Arkle with Footpad (2018) and he went on to win the English Arkle. While Footpad was more impressive than Blue Lord, the one thing Blue Lord has in his favour is that he is lightly raced and still learning.

“He still has a tendency to race a bit keenly and I’d say there is still more room for improvement.

“I think the horse is getting better and you wouldn’t swap him for anything else in the race.” 

Lily Du Berlais maintained her unbeaten record when landing a 40-1 surprise in the Grade Two Coolmore NH Sires Santiago Irish EBF Mares INH Flat Race.

The Munir and Souede-owned six-year-old, who got up to win by a nose in a blanket finish for trainer Stuart Crawford and his amateur jockey brother Ben, may now head to Aintree for the mares’ bumper at the Grand National meeting in April.

Bromley said: “It was a great piece of training and a great riding performance, because she is not a straightforward mare — she has two ways of going: Steady and flat-out. The whole plan was to sit last, have her switched off and come with one, sustained run.

“The gaps opened for Ben quite well and it did get a bit tight, but she battled hard and finished with a bit of a flourish. I think her momentum got her home.

“She has come out of the race fine this morning and I would envisage we will try to get her to the mares’ bumper at Aintree. That would be the likely plan.” 

Meanwhile, Paul Nicholls insists he will “crack on” as he battles to come through a rare dry spell since the turn of the year.

The champion trainer has suffered some high-profile disappointments in recent weeks and his usually impressive strike-rate is down at just 5% for the last fortnight.

Frodon and Greaneteen failed to give their true running in Ireland at the weekend while Pic D’Orhy also disappointed in the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown.

Nicholls has no planned runners until Thursday at the earliest, however, he says until test results tell him something is definitely wrong with his horses, all he can do is run them when they are giving him the right signs at home ahead of another big weekend coming up at Newbury.

“What is the right thing and what is the wrong thing to do? If I had a good reason not to run them, if they showed they weren’t right, we wouldn’t entertain running them,” said Nicholls.

“We won’t turn the corner if we keep ducking the issue. If the guys who ride them every day say they are well, then we should be running them.” Frodon and Greaneteen had already won Grade Ones this season but Nicholls felt rain on watered ground did not help their causes.

“Looking at the way they ran, it wouldn’t have mattered what the ground was, but both like decent ground and it was one of the reasons we targeted those races,” he said.

“Obviously they watered quite a bit, naturally to keep it right for that meeting, but then they had rain on Thursday and Friday and I thought we’d be in trouble a little bit.

“Both horses hit their jackpot earlier in the season. Frodon won in Down Royal and we won the Tingle Creek with the other one. If they didn’t win another race this season, they’ve had an amazing time.”