Willie Mullins takes aim at day one of the Punchestown Festival in Irish Champion Trainer title bid
Majborough on his way to winning at Punchestown last year. He'll be looking to repeat the trick on the first day of this year's Festival Photo: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Heading into the first day of racing at the Punchestown Festival, Closutton maestro Willie Mullins finds himself €156,060 behind rival Gordon Elliott in the Irish Champion Trainer standings.
Mullins, who has won 18 titles in a row and is well-placed to land a 19th, has aimed his big guns at Punchestown to overhaul Elliott to land yet another trainers’ title this campaign and has plenty of chances across the week.
Below are Mullins’ day one Punchestown runners and some selected odds for their races courtesy of BetVictor Online Casino:
Rakki
Davy Crockett, Larzac, Kalix Delabarriere, Karbau, Murcia
Sober, Too Bossy For Us, Free Spirit
Kappa Jy Pyke, Kitzbuhel, Predators Gold, Spanish Harlem
Altesse du Luy, Tacograph
Majborough, Blood Destiny, Energumene
Delamotte, Mr Ragstone, Summer Bee
In the feature race of the day, the Grade 1 Champion Chase at 6.05, Mullins is responsible for four of the five runners. Il Etait Temps, Majborough, Energumene and Blood Destiny will line up with only Barry Connell’s top-class chaser Marine Nationale providing competition outside of the Closutton yard.
Il Etait Temps took advantage of Majborough’s poor jumping to land the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and is an 11/10 favourite to repeat the trick, with Majborough second in the betting at 5/2 alongside Marine Nationale.
Energumene is a massive 25/1 chance off the back of winning a Grade 2 at Fairyhouse last time out, while Blood Destiny is the 80/1 outsider of the field.
