Welcome to the Dublin Racing Festival: the weekend inexorably linked to one seemingly unstoppable superpower
Deputy Ireland editor David Jennings sets the scene for a huge weekend at Leopardstown
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Willie Mullins has done some wonderful things during his 37 years as a licensed trainer, but single-handedly ruining Irish jumps and rescuing it on the same weekend is still quite an achievement, even for him.
Mullins has turned the Dublin Racing Festival into a Closutton mini-league. Closutton A plays Closutton B in every Grade 1 at Leopardstown over the next two days and even the C, D and E teams are getting a run out in some of the matches. He has 23 runners on Saturday and 31 on Sunday. He's ruining the weekend, isn't he?
Just imagine how the weekend would look without him, or if he just played his A team in each of the matches. No Fact To File for Galopin Des Champs, an open goal for State Man that even Antony would score, Ballyburn would breeze around in his own time and the two Grade 1 novice hurdles would be glorified handicaps. He's actually rescuing the weekend, isn't he?
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