Mullins' bold buying strategy and a Grade 1 breakthrough for a sire on the up

A memorable renewal of the Dublin Racing Festival featured 15 races, eight Grade 1s and no shortage of high-octane action. We have run the results under microscope and pulled out the key talking points from a fascinating weekend of National Hunt racing.

Mullins' open-minded approach paves the way

There were 15 races at this year's Dublin Racing Festival. No fewer than nine of them went the way of a horse trained by Willie Mullins. Those results not only speak of Mullins' immense skill and awesome firepower, but also highlighted that he and his team will look just about anywhere for a good horse.

Long-serving bloodstock agents Harold Kirk and Pierre Boulard are Mullins' trusted eyes and ears on the ground, and with their help the champion trainer has unearthed some major talents with a diverse range of backgrounds.

His six Grade 1 winners included four French-breds, namely Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle scorer Gaillard Du Mesnil, impressive Ladbrokes Dublin Chase victor Chacun Pour Soi, Patrick Ward & Company Solicitors Irish Arkle Novice Chase hero Energumene and all-the-way Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup winner Kemboy.

Chacun Pour Soi and Kemboy were sourced privately having shown form in France, the former over obstacles for Emmanuel Clayeux and the latter on the Flat for Francis Matzinger, while Gaillard Du Mesnil was signed for at €250,000 at Arqana after a campaign in AQPS bumpers for Isabelle Gallorini.

Energumene: returns to action in the Bar One Racing Hilly Way Chase at CorkCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Although French bred and now trained in Ireland (as well as having initially been sold for €50,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale), Energumene advertised his credentials with a win in a British point-to-point at Larkhill for Tom and Sophie Lacey. As an interesting aside, the unbeaten chaser shares his sire, Denham Red, and damsire, April Night, with Mullins' ten-time Grade 1 winner Un De Sceaux.

Mullins' Irish point-to-point recruits were also seen to good effect at Leopardstown over the weekend, with Appreciate It, trained between the flags by Pat Doyle, landing the Chanelle Pharma Novice Hurdle and the mightily impressive Monkfish claiming the Flogas Novice Chase, having graduated from Cormac Doyle's branch of the Monbeg Stables empire.

That pair were among a quartet of former Irish pointers to strikes at the highest level over the weekend, with Honeysuckle routing the field in the Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle and Sporting John producing a strong staying performance in the Virgin Bet Scilly Isles Novices' Chase at Sandown.

Paul Townend and Willie Mullins pose with Monkfish after the £235,000 point-to-point recruit landed the Flogas Novice ChaseCredit: Patrick McCann

Mullins has mined other seams for future talent, too. Kilcruit, who created a deep impression when sauntering to a 12-length success in the Grade 2 Goffs Future Stars bumper, came via his brother Tony's stable, for whom the six-year-old ran second in a Clonmel contest on debut.

Maze Runner, a 40-1 winner of the William Fry Handicap Hurdle in the colours of Mullins' wife Jackie, has spent his entire career at Closutton and started out on the Flat, having been signed for by Peter and Ross Doyle at 24,000gns at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale.

The team's final winner of the weekend was Grangee, who got back on the up to land the concluding Grade 2 mares' bumper. She was sourced by Jack Cantillon's Syndicates.Racing operation through Emerald Bloodstock, who signed for the daughter of Great Pretender at last year's Arqana February Sale at the bargain sum of €25,000.

Harold Kirk (left) and Willie Mullins at the sales: 'We'd die for Willie Mullins.'Credit: Tattersalls Cheltenham

There is no doubt that Mullins is an absolute master of his craft when it comes to getting the very best out of the horses he trains.

But training at the elite level involves navigating its share of fine margins, and Mullins' open-minded approach to sourcing stock from many different avenues, and from both ends of the market, unquestionably has its part to play in his ongoing dominance across a broad range of disciplines and distances.

Stowaway and Saint Des Saints double up

Late Whytemount Stud resident Stowaway topped last year's Cheltenham Festival sire standings with two winners and two third-placed finishers. The son of Slip Anchor, who died in February 2015 at the age of 21, repeated the feat during the Dublin Racing Festival with another brace of winners.

The first of those was the hugely exciting Kilcruit, who vaulted to the head of the Champion Bumper with a jaw-dropping display in the Grade 2 Goffs Future Stars National Hunt Flat Race on Saturday.

The six-year-old was not only trained by Willie and ridden by his son Patrick, but was bred by the matriarch of the family, Maureen Mullins, mother of Willie and grandmother of Patrick.

Maureen Mullins: bred exciting bumper performer KilcruitCredit: Caroline Norris

Kilcruit, who is from the final crop of his sire, is out of the Listed-placed Not Broke Yet, a homebred daughter of Broken Hearted who in turn is out of another homebred in Can't Think What, a daughter of Saher born in 1987.

Stowaway's second winner was the upwardly mobile Flogas Novice Chase scorer Monkfish, who also contributed to his sire's tally at Cheltenham when landing the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle. The seven-year-old was bred by Cyril O'Hara from the Old Vic mare Martovic, who the breeder purchased through BBA Ireland for just £9,000.

Three-time Grade 1 winner Monkfish is among seven top-flight scorers by Stowaway, with the septet completed by Champagne Classic, Champagne Fever, Fiddlerontheroof, Outlander, Put The Kettle On and The Worlds End.

As well as his two winners, Stowaway also had five runners hit the frame at Leopardstown. Stattler, Blackbow, The Shunter and Telmesomethinggirl all finished third in their respective races, while Julies Stowaway was fourth behind Maze Runner in the 22-runner William Fry Handicap Hurdle.

The Maureen Mullins-bred Kilcruit storms to success in the Grade 2 Goffs Future Stars National Hunt Flat RaceCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

The only other stallion whose name appeared in the first two generations of more than one winner at the Dublin Racing Festival was Haras d'Etreham stalwart Saint Des Saints.

The 23-year-old son of Cadoudal, who will stand for €15,000 in 2021, began the meeting with a bang when Gaillard Du Mesnil took the step up to Grade 1 company in his stride with a comfortable victory in the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle.

The five-year-old, who was bred by Ecurie Cerdeval from the Al Namix mare Athena Du Mesnil, is the 11th Grade 1 winner by Saint Des Saints and joins a list including former Mullins-trained runners Djakadam and Quel Esprit.

Appreciate It (green and blue) wins the Chanelle Pharma Novice HurdleCredit: Patrick McCann

Saint Des Saints was also represented as the sire of Ladbrokes Hurdle third Saint D'Oroux and Saint Sam, who showed plenty of promise when runner-up in the Tattersalls Ireland Spring Juvenile Hurdle.

He also had a big hand in the success of Chanelle Pharma Novice Hurdle scorer Appreciate It, as the son of Jeremy was bred by Barmakin Ltd & South Lodge Stud from a daughter of Saint Des Saints in Sainte Baronne.

Appreciate It is among a growing - and already impressive - list of Grade 1 winners out of a Saint Des Saints mare, sharing his damsire with the likes of Adrien Du Pont, De Bon Coeur, Douvan, Envoi Allen and Saint Roi.

Maxios marches on

Irish National Hunt breeders gave Maxios a warm reception when Coolmore announced the Group 1-winning son of Monsun was being added to the Castlehyde Stud roster for 2020, as the switch from Gestut Fahrhof saw the Niarchos family's homebred become the most popular stallion standing in Britain and Ireland last year with a book of 298 mares.

Maxios had an unmistakably promising profile when he arrived at Castlehyde, having already supplied a number of promising jumps winners and as a well-bred son of stallion who made a significant impact upon the National Hunt world.

Quilixios and Jack Kennedy after the Grade 1 Tattersalls Ireland Spring Juvenile HurdleCredit: Patrick McCann

Since then, Maxios's National Hunt career has maintained a steep upward curve, with Aramax providing his sire with a breakthrough Cheltenham Festival success in last year's Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle, while classy performers such as Ecco and Wild Max have continued to progress through the ranks.

The action on Sunday saw Maxios pass another major milestone when Quilixios maintained his unbeaten record in the Tattersalls Ireland Spring Juvenile Hurdle, a success that provided his sire with a first Grade 1 winner over obstacles. That result saw Quilixios join the likes of Sir Erec, Footpad and Our Conor on the Spring Juvenile Hurdle roll of honour.

Maxios: Grade 1-winning sire son of Monsun stands at Coolmore's Castlehyde StudCredit: Marc Ruehl

Bred by Gestuet Faehrhof and owned by Cheveley Park Stud, the Gordon Elliott-trained four-year-old has won three races over hurdles since being imported from France, where he also notched a success at Compiegne for Francois Nicolle.

He was picked up in a private deal by bloodstock agent Tom Malone, who has also sourced the likes of Envoi Allen on behalf of Cheveley Park Stud.

Maxios has now supplied elite winners over obstacles and on the Flat, having been represented by 2019 German Oaks heroine Diamanta, who hails from his second crop. With such results already in the book and with the promise of much more to come, Maxios looks sure to be popular again at his upgraded 2021 fee of €7,000.

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