This article is from page 86 of the 2008-12-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 86 JPG
AHEAD of the four day National Hunt Festival at Leopardstown, which begins on Friday, St Stephen’s Day, trainer Willie Mullins has con- firmed he could run_ stablemates Cousin Vinny and Hurricane Fly in the same race for the second time in a month.
The possibility of the two meeting could arrive on Saturday as over the weekend, Mullins said that there was “every possibility” that Cousin Vin- ny will run.
Last year, Cousin Vinny was the first horse to complete the Chelten- ham and Punchestown bumper dou- ble and Mullins confirmed that is he does go on Saturday, it wouldn’t pose a problem to the trainer if he and Hurricane Fly run in the same race.
“Cousin Vinny’s hurdling debut was very pleasing and he obviously has loads of speed as you need that to win three bumpers,” said Mullins. ‘“He’s won on good ground and on soft ground but his best form is on good ground.”
Mullins also stated that Hurricane Fly has had some invaluable experi- ence of late. “He had a lot of expert- ence form his runs in the spring,” he continued. “He stepped back to two miles last time but two and a half miles isn’t a problem either as he was second in a Grade One and won a
Grade Three over that trip.”
Meanwhile, over the weekend, the big news from Thurles was that odds on favourite Solwhit failed to land the Jockey Hotel Hurdle on Sunday.
With Paddy Flood on board, Nine- tieth Minute was steered to success despite Charles Byrnes’ Solwhit go- ing to the track priced at 1-3.
To Flood’s credit, though, Ninetieth Minute looked to be in control of the race from start to finish and despite a strong fight from Solwhit, he was un- able to get ahead in the race and ulti- mately lost by three parts of a length at the line.
However, it wasn’t a total negative experience for Byrnes as Dromin Hill Echo, with Lenny Flynn on board, landed the Molony Cup Handicap Chase in emphatic fashion.
Afterwards, Byrnes also confirmed that he will go at Leopardstown and Limerick and will most likely go to Limerick under a mandatory pen- alty.
There was further positive news for Byrnes when his 50-1 shot Bit of a Devil took the INH Stallion Owners’ EBF Maiden Hurdle.
Two out, Bit of a Devil took control of the race and bombed home in what was a first winner for jockey Justin AY Lora) ens