DESPITE drawing big fields, the BoyleSports Irish Grand National has become a contest for prominent racers in recent years and Haiti Couleurs – and those that chased him home – repeated that pattern last Monday.

This century, Freewheelin Dylan, Lord Lariat and Intense Raffles were all successful when going forward from the start, and here the first four home and the sixth were all in the first eight positions heading into the straight first time around.

The pace was relatively steady here as the runners came home from a fourth last fence in a sectional time marginally faster than the two other chases on the card, but this should not take much away from those that raced forward.

Haiti Couleurs is a likeable type that has only disappointed once in 11 starts, and he again jumped and travelled well here, his jockey saying afterwards that he felt he was only doing a ‘half speed’ on the way around.

He was winning off 141 here so has a way to go before graded races – Our Duke, for instance, won off 153 in 2017 – but his profile continues to point up.

Any Second Now bowed out with an excellent second, hitting the frame for the fourth time in a National, while mixing in plenty of graded success in between times.

From a horse that won out of the blue on debut, he has consistently delivered since and was most unfortunate to have the 2020 Grand National wiped out due to the pandemic as that was probably his best chance of success.

Feather in the cap

Quai De Bourbon did well to finish third amidst patchy jumping while the fourth Dunboyne is a feather in the training cap of Ian Donoghue.

Having looked a tricky customer with Gordon Elliott, Donoghue has gotten him back to form, winning two races this year including the Ulster National, and he went well for a long way before stamina gave out.

The WillowWarm Gold Cup was a weak Grade 1 and was further weakened by the early unseat of Ile Atlantique but even so the winner Spindleberry may not be at her ceiling. Three from three over fences, she beat more experienced rivals here with a bit in hand and a step up to three miles might see her improve again.

The Irish Stallion Farms EBF Honeysuckle Mares Novice Hurdle saw disappointing efforts from the two Henry de Bromhead runners, The Big Westerner and Air Of Entitlement, connections reporting of the former being in season afterwards.

That meant the race took less winning that it might have though Paul Townend still produced a fine tactical ride, opting to go wide on Aurora Vega when there had seemed no sort of bias in the earlier hurdle races.

The subsequent races on the hurdle track suggest he had spotted a track of better ground however, and runners that raced more down the inner in the later races like Look Me, second in the bumper, are worth upgrading.

LAST Friday, when texting with a friend about the upcoming meeting at Fairyhouse, he posed the question: ‘Can Mullins do all the spring Festivals?’

I didn’t attempt to answer, as I’m trying to give up second-guessing the Mullins machine, but the trainer responded with an emphatic ‘yes’ over the weekend.

He proved well able to continue the battle on all fronts, moving on from Cheltenham, Aintree and Ayr, to have winners at Fairyhouse, Cork and even Plumpton, and he will look to do the same at Sandown today and Punchestown next week.

His runners from Cheltenham that ran back at Fairyhouse finished: P653112P1PP0 and did well during the classier races on the first two days of the restructured meeting, with Aurora Vega, Blue Lemons and Sortudo all posting much improved efforts, the last looking a different proposition entirely when forcing a strong pace.

There were three winners from other yards at the meeting that came directly from Cheltenham, something that has been unusual recently, the later Easter perhaps helping. Maxxum and Found A Fifty stepped up markedly on their Cheltenham runs to win Grade 2s on Easter Monday while Haiti Couleurs deserves credit for showing his best form at both fixtures.

The question now is whether all this will have any cost for Mullins at Punchestown?

His successful challenge for the British trainers’ championship last season seemed to harm his Punchestown team then as he had 10 winners from 100 runners at the meeting. That was his lowest winner total since 2017 and his lowest win strike-rate since 2011 but if there is to be an impact, it seems more likely to be at lower and middle grades than the top level.

His Grade 1 team should be a strong as ever because only one of his 10 Cheltenham winners of this year, Lossiemouth, has run since, and nor have Majborough, State Man, Ballyburn, Final Demand or Galopin Des Champs had a run since Cheltenham.

AWAY from the Mullins success, Fairyhouse was an excellent meeting for the smaller yards, with a few clearly targeting the festival in the hope that some of the other bigger operations might not be at their best and so it proved.

Ted Walsh (12 individual runners this National Hunt season) ran three at the meeting, all for J.P. McManus, and they finished with form figures:212. Sticwiththeprocess went down by a short head in the first race of the meeting before Buachaillbocht landed a huge gamble from 40/1 (albeit with non-runners) to 7/2 in a rated novice chase, the trainer being a bit harsh on the poor boy by calling him ‘a bit of a monkey’ afterwards! He won an ordinary race but a 9lb hike in the weights may not be enough to stop him.

Hillsdale produced a fine front-running performance down in trip to land the valuable novice handicap chase for Philip Dempsey (23 individual runners this season) while Pat Fahy (25 individual runners this season) rolled back the years with a win for Drop The Anchor and went very close with True Testimony as well.

Best of all

There was also success for Robert Tyner (18 individual runners this season) and Conor O’Dwyer (14 individual runners this season) while Declan Queally (48 individual runners this season) is a bigger operation, he continued to mix it with best as Custom Taylor won the big staying novice handicap hurdle.

Best of all, however, was the success of Harry Rogers. He has had just 10 individual runners this season, but four of them showed up at the Easter meeting, each in a competitive handicap hurdle and they finished with form figures:13P1.

Grann’s Boy returned from an absence to chin Sticwiththeprocess, while not unlucky behind the impressive Last Kingdom, Weston was certainly better than the form, his hurdling lacking fluency on handicap debut and doing well to come from near last to take third in a steadily run race.

But nothing beats Lord Erskine, who cemented his cult hero status with a twelfth win as a 12-year-old, and if anything, seems to be getting faster with age, winning valuable two-mile handicap hurdles in each of the last two years.