It is, writes Brian O’Connor, “Willie Mullins’ Cheltenham and everyone else is just living in it”, jump racing’s dominant figure securing “a once inconceivable 100th festival success” on Wednesday. And, fittingly, it was his son Patrick who helped his dad reach the century mark, riding Jasmin De Vaux to victory in the Champion Bumper, a win that completed the trainer’s second Grade One hat-trick in successive days. “What once beggared belief has become routine,” says Brian of the achievement, noting that, in cricket parlance, it’s a century that is very much not out, judging by the depth of Mullins’ emerging talent.
The only dampener on his day was El Fabiolo pulling up in the Champion Chase, thereby delivering “one of the great upsets of modern times”, but Rachael Blackmore took full advantage of the favourite’s woes by steering Henry de Bromhead’s Captain Guinness home – having already won a pair of Champion Hurdles and the Gold Cup, that was Blackmore’s Cheltenham Festival Triple Crown complete.
Brian previews today’s races, at least one of which English-based Tipperary trainer Fergal O’Brien is hopeful of winning to give him his maiden Cheltenham triumph. “I feel it’s only a matter of time. It will come. Mind you, I’ve been saying that for eight or nine years now!”
In rugby, a fit-again Garry Ringrose is expected to be the bench for Ireland on Saturday, alongside Conor Murray who, Gerry Thornley reports, has agreed a new one-year deal with Munster and the IRFU. The indications are that Andy Farrell will revert to a 5-3 split for the visit of Scotland, which could see Iain Henderson miss out on the match day 23. “I feel like I have slipped down the pecking order,” he tells Johnny Watterson, “but it’s exciting to be pushing for a position and being involved in a unit of players that are individually world-class at what they do”.
Your complete guide to all the festive sporting action including TV details
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In Gaelic games, Gordon Manning hears from Kilkenny goalkeeper Eoin Murphy while Ciarán Murphy talks GAA jerseys, notably the trend for commemorative kits. His favourite? “A quite frankly hilarious Dublin tribute jersey that featured a burnt-out GPO and a complete reproduction of the 1916 Proclamation to “celebrate” the centenary in 2016 – “a history lesson on a football shirt”.
And in golf, Philip Reid previews The Players which starts today at Sawgrass, Shane Lowry in the type of form “that should again put him in contention”, but Rory McIlroy needs to sort out his iron play if he’s going to get back to winning ways.
TV Watch: It’s day one at The Players Championship (Sky Sports Golf, 11.30am-11pm) and day three at the Cheltenham Festival (Virgin Media One and UTV, 1pm-4.30pm). Later, there’s a bunch of Europa League and Europa Conference League games to choose from, eg West Ham v SC Freiburg (TNT Sports 1, 5.45pm), Aston Villa v Ajax (TNT Sports 1, 8pm), Liverpool v Sparta Prague (TNT Sports 2, 8pm) and Brighton v Roma (TNT Sports 3, 8pm).
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