Tag Archive for: Blue Lord

Blue Lord part of ‘double green’ raid on Dublin Chase

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Blue Lord is widely expected to provide Willie Mullins with a sixth successive victory in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase at Leopardstown on Sunday.

The champion trainer has claimed each of the previous five runnings of the Grade One contest, with Min claiming back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019 before Chacun Pour Soi completed a hat-trick.

Blue Lord, winner of the Irish Arkle on this weekend last season, appears to have taken his game to another level this winter, with a comeback success in the Clonmel Oil Chase followed by a comprehensive defeat of Chacun Pour Soi over the Christmas period.

With his Champion Chase-winning stablemate Energumene beaten in the rescheduled Clarence House at Cheltenham last weekend, this year’s renewal of Cheltenham’s two-mile chasing showpiece has a more open look to it and connections of Blue Lord are hopeful he can cement his status as a leading contender.

Anthony Bromley, racing manager to owners Simon Muir and Isaac Souede, said: “It is a great engagement for him. It is nice to go back to the course and distance he won over at Christmas.

“I understand he has trained fine for the race. We are really looking forward to seeing him again over two miles and hopefully all roads lead to the Champion Chase at Cheltenham after the weekend.

“The proviso is we have the option of the Ryanair at Cheltenham as an entry if we wish to try that instead. The Champion Chase division is now looking open and let’s hope for a good display like we saw at Christmas.

“He seems to have improved from his novice days a bit as well.”

Sceau Royal has been a fantastic servant to his connections
Sceau Royal has been a fantastic servant to his connections (Alan Crowhurst/PA)

Blue Lord is one of two runners set to carry the ‘double green’ colours of Munir and Souede, with Alan King’s stable stalwart Sceau Royal crossing the Irish Sea to take him on.

A high-class operator over fences and hurdles, Sceau Royal is not getting any younger at the age of 11, but will at least encounter his favoured conditions on the outskirts of Dublin.

“He is in the twilight of his career, but he had been running well over hurdles,” Bromley added.

“You can put a line through his last run in the Christmas Hurdle as he made a mistake down the back and Sam (Twiston-Davies) looked after him that day.

“But he is in good form at home and likes going left-handed over fences, which is why we wanted to go to Leopardstown – he was never even entered for the Clarence House at Ascot.

“We always do hurdles for the first half of the winter with him and then he goes chasing. Normally, the Game Spirit is where he gets his first chase run of the season, but I just thought this race wouldn’t have a big field and there is much more prize-money on offer than there is at Newbury.

“He is quite old to be making his Irish debut, but it is sporting of the owners and of Alan King to bring him across and he is in nice form and will like the ground.”

Mullins has a second string to his bow in the form of Gentleman De Mee, but he finished 41 lengths behind Blue Lord at Christmas and clearly needs to improve.

Dunvegan (Pat Fahy) and Fastorslow (Martin Brassil) are the other hopefuls.

Grade One Rewards for Blue Lord at Leopardstown

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Blue Lord emerged as a potential threat to Queen Mother Champion Chase-winning stablemate Energumene following an impressive success in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase at Leopardstown.

The seven-year-old was in the top rank of novice chasers last season for Willie Mullins, with Grade One wins at Leopardstown and Punchestown sandwiching a third place in the Arkle at Cheltenham.

Having made a successful reappearance in last month’s Clonmel Oil Chase, Blue Lord dropped in trip and stepped up in class for this Grade One contest and was the 2-1 second-favourite behind his top-class stablemate and multiple Leopardstown winner Chacun Pour Soi.

The two-mile-one-furlong contest was run at such a pace that Chacun Pour Soi, who will officially turn in 11 in a few days, appeared to be struggling to go the gallop.

He managed to get himself into contention approaching the second fence from home, but a bad mistake put him on the back foot once more and he ultimately had to make do with minor honours in third.

Blue Lord on the other hand travelled strongly throughout under Daryl Jacob and after battling his way to the front early in the home straight, he powered 11 lengths clear of Captain Guinness.

Coral reacted by trimming his Champion Chase odds to 10-1 from 20-1, with Energumene the 4-5 favourite, while he is 6-1 from 12s for the longer Ryanair Chase.

Mullins said: “That was very smart, I thought they’d go too fast for him here and they did go fast.

Blue Lord in the Leopardstown winner's enclosure
Blue Lord in the Leopardstown winner’s enclosure (Gary Carson/PA)

“I was looking at two and a half miles for him this year, but it looks like he could be a Champion Chase horse after that performance. Certainly the dial is coming back to two miles now rather than going out to two and a half. It just means he’s improving.

“I haven’t thought about where he goes but I’m sure there is a programme there for those two-mile horses.”

Of Chacun Pour Soi, he added: “I was absolutely delighted with him – he started to put in some tremendous jumps down the back.

“He just met the second-last all wrong and it knocked him out of the race at a crucial time, but I was very heartened by his performance.

“Maybe he just needs to go out a bit longer in trip at his age. Paul was very pleased with how he was going, but he made the mistake and it cost him whatever chance he had.”