Mullins fields seven-strong Triumph Hurdle team
Lossiemouth, Blood Destiny and Gala Marceau give Willie Mullins an extremely strong hand among a field of 15 for the JCB Triumph Hurdle.
As well as having the three market leaders, Mullins also fields Zenta, Je Garde, Cinsa and Gust Of Wind giving him seven chances in the Grade One affair.
Gala Marceau turned over odds-on favourite Lossiemouth at the Dublin Racing Festival when the grey met trouble in running, but the bookmakers have Lossiemouth favoured once more.
The only runners trained in the UK are Ben Pauling’s pair of Active Duty and Jipcot, plus Gary Moore’s Jupiter Du Gite.
Corbetts Cross gets the better of Found A Fifty to land the Grade 2 Johnstown Novice Hurdle at @NaasRacecourse for Donagh Meyler and Emmet Mullins 👏 pic.twitter.com/lwCJbI3ag1
— Horse Racing Ireland (@HRIRacing) February 26, 2023
A maximum field of 20 will go to post for the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
They include the Mullins-trained Embassy Gardens, Emmet Mullins’ Corbetts Cross, Sandor Clegane for Paul Nolan and Gordon Elliott’s Favori de Champdou and Three Card Brag.
All nine have been declared in the Mrs Paddy Power Chase, in which Mullins fields three in Allegorie De Vassy, previous winner Elimay and Dolcita.
Colm Murphy’s Impervious, the Gavin Cromwell-trained Jeremys Flame and Henry de Bromhead’s Magic Daze are others with chances.
Sharjah, second in the Champion Hurdle in 2020 and 2021, will carry top weight in the McCoy Contractors County Hurdle
Elliott’s Imagine is among a maximum field in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle with Ben Harvey booked.
Last year’s winner Billaway is part of another maximum field of 24 in the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase
