It started so well. The thunder of hooves, the excitement, the roar of the crowds as the trainer Willie Mullins and jockey Ruby Walsh stamped their authority on day two of the Leopardstown festival, winning the first race of the day.
The Mullins-trained and Walsh-ridden Meri Devie opened the list of winners for Ireland's top duo in the almost ridiculously named Paddy Power 'Only 363 Days Till Christmas' Three-Year-Old Maiden Hurdle, delighting the crowd of nearly 18,000 punters – some 200 up on day two of last year's festival.
The Mullins-Walsh partnership again claimed victory in the second race of the day, this time with Bacardys, owned by the Shanakiel racing syndicate. A young man in a too-tight blue jacket and skinny black jeans literally did a dance, beer from his plastic beaker flying skywards, miraculously landing neither on him or his young friend in a camel-hair coat, brown leather gloves and the seemingly ubiquitous skinny black jeans. They whooped and hollered even though the odds at 4/6 did not seem great.
By the third race, the racing pundit Tom Nugent, who refused to say anything but "Douvan" on his blog turftalktips.com, was describing the next Mullins-Walsh offering as "a certainty. The horse is an alien." Douvan, who has won all 12 of his last 12 races duly obliged, romping home and making it all look too easy – at a very poor price of 1/8 – and perhaps taking something of the excitement from the competition.
More interesting
“The next race will be more interesting” a woman commented to her friend as they left the stand. But she was wrong, at least from a spectator’s point of view. The €85,000 Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle was won by Saturnas, again trained by Mullins and this time ridden by Paul Townend. Even racing commentator Tracy Piggott seemed to get tired greeting Mullins in the winner’s enclosure. “It’s you again” she smiled.
“Long may it last” said Mr Mullins, but there was little else to say.
In the fifth race it was Walsh’s turn to pick up his fourth win with the Tom Mullins-trained That’s A Wrap in the Paddy Power ‘You Beauty’ Handicap Hurdle.
"The Walsh-Mullins thing totally dominates Irish racing, but whatever they put up for Cheltenham should be worth a flutter," Niall Molloy of Mount Merrion Avenue explained to a group of family and friends at the parade ring.
The excitement returned, however, in the sixth race when jockey Davy Russell on Noble Endeavor, owned by Chris Jones and trained by Gordon Elliott, stole the show from The Crafty Butcher from the Mullins-Walsh partnership.
Delighted
After the crowd roared him to victory, a clearly delighted Russell told the press: “I was worried about my weight, all credit to Gordon.”
The prize was €108,000 and if Mr Jones certainly looked delighted with his luck, the punters who backed the horse at 6/1 were all cheering and dancing.
“I came here because my friend said Ruby Walsh would win and she backs him every time. I tried to back differently and would have gone home broke if it wasn’t for Noble Endeavor, so all in all it was a good day” said Eleanor O’Rourke form Newbridge. “It’s a good day out.”
Bookmaker Paddy Power said it was not a good day for the bookies. With all the odds riding on the Mullins-Walsh partnership, it was a day of wins for the favourites. “Once again Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh proved to be the thorn in our side on a superb day’s racing at Leopardstown,” the bookie said.
Pat Keogh, CEO Leopardstown, said it was one of the best crowds ever seen at Leopardstown and "more great racing" would be had with Wednesday's Lexus Chase Day.
