Champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins hopes to break his Group One duck on the flat with Wicklow Brave in Sunday's Palmerstown House Irish St Leger, but more immediately sends a team of seven horses to Wednesday's Galway fixture with Daisy's Gift an interesting starter in the mares hurdle.
Wicklow Brave, runner-up in last month’s Ebor at York, is among 16 remaining in the Curragh Leger and could bring off a notable double having secured a Cheltenham festival success in the County Hurdle last March.
Mullins landed the 2009 Ebor with Sesenta but secured his most important pattern success on the flat at York last month when the Frankie Dettori-ridden Max Dynamite ran away with the Group Two Lonsdale Cup. This evening's mares hurdle has two of Mullins's contenders and considering the course winner Valyssa Monterg is rated on 130, Ruby Walsh's decision to team up with Daisy's Gift looks like a hint for punters to pounce upon.
The prevailing quick ground at Ballybrit should be perfect for a mare who put up a good fist of chasing home the hugely progressive Sandymount Duke at Tipperary in July.
