Willie Mullins has his string in excellent form and may be anticipating final tweaks to his Cheltenham Festival line-up when sending four runners to Gowran Park on Saturday. Check out our thoughts on his hopefuls, along with an exclusive Paddy Power new customer offer that provides £45 in free bets when you bet £10.
SALDIER – (2:20pm Gowran, Red Mills Trial Hurdle)
Willie Mullins has taken this event with the likes of Zaidpour, Un De Sceaux amd Cilaos Emery in recent seasons and he sends SALDIER over to contest this renewal.
Consistently pitched in at the top level over hurdles for connections, this Rich Ricci owned 8yo took the Galway Hurdle back in July and supplemented that with a Grade 3 Tipperary victory later in the year, which came at the expense of the reopposing Darasso.
Saldier hasn’t added to that the last twice, yet those efforts came in Grade 1s, and his form figures over hurdles dropped to Grade 2 level or lower now read 13F11.
He lacks the scope for improvement that main market rivals Teahupoo and Quilixios possess, yet comes out a clear best receiving weight from that pair (rated almost a stone superior) and if first-time blinkers can unlock improvement, he looks sure to be in with a shout at the business end.
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MELON – (3:30pm Gowran, Red Mills Chase)
A four-time Cheltenham Festival runner-up, MELON may have missed his chance to score at the greatest stage of all but can be compensated in the feature Red Mills Chase at Gowran on Saturday afternoon.
Although now without a victory to his name in well over two years, Melon has shown clear signs that he is still in love with this game with respectable efforts in Grade 1 company in both starts this season.
Although a recent close-up fourth in the Savills Chase came over 3m, that trip always seems to stretch his stamina and it’s notable that all four career victories have come over 1m4f – 2m1f.
This intermediate 2m4f trip should prove ideal for Melon nowadays, and he comes out well clear on these terms. Those in behind certainly don’t set an overly strong assignment and therefore this should prove an ideal opportunity for Melon to gain a well-deserved second chase success.
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BLUE SARI – (4:05pm Gowran, Holden Plant Rentals Beginners Chase)
It’s easy to forget that BLUE SARI got to within a length of Envoi Allen in the 2019 Champion Bumper, yet that he did, the run coming on the back of an 11l bumper victory at this venue.
Those two horses have seen their career paths go in very different trajectories since, but Blue Sari looked somewhat unfortunate to take a final flight fall when in place contention for last season’s Coral Cup, and he was only beaten 3/4l on chase debut at Navan in December.
A subsequent distant fourth to stablemate Galopin Des Champs looks easily forgiven, and this represents a far more realistic assignment for Blue Sari.
There appears little to split him and Grand Paradis on their hurdles ratings, yet the latter has had more chances to get off the mark over fences.
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WALK IN THE BRISE – (5:15pm Gowran, Ronan Lawlor Memorial Irish EBF Mares (Pro/Am) Flat Race)
Willie Mullins unleashes the potentially exciting WALK IN THE BRISE in Gowran’s concluding mares’ bumper.
This daughter of Walk In The Park is from the family of the stables former Grade 1 winning mare Vroum Vroum Mag and also related to former Grand National runner-up Saint Are.
She represents the Mullins yard which is operating at just shy of a 30% strike rate with their bumper runners at this venue in recent seasons and is the sole ride on the card for Patrick Mullins.
Expect the market to provide plenty of clues on what to expect here first time out.
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