NEXT weekend’s Dublin Racing Festival features eight Grade 1 races and Willie Mullins currently has the clear favourite for five of them.

The champion trainer’s team for Saturday’s card at Leopardstown is headed by Galopin Des Champs who will bid for a fourth successive victory in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup. He is the 5/4 favourite in the ante-post market, followed by his Savills Chase conqueror Affordale Fury at 6/1. Recent Welsh National winner Haiti Couleurs (8/1) is expected to travel but soft ground will suit the favourite more than most.

Florida Pearl won four Irish Gold Cups at the turn of the century but they were not in successive years. Jodami won three in a row in the early 1990s.

Kopek Des Bordes (5/4) is the Mullins-trained favourite for the Goffs Irish Arkle, a race which will hopefully attract dual Grade 1 novice chase winner Romeo Coolio (9/4) from the Gordon Elliott stable.

Mullins and Elliott will also go head-to-head in the Grade 1 juvenile hurdle with Narciso Has (5/6) and Mange Tout (11/4). The latter came out on top when they met at Fairyhouse in December but Narciso Has has since won well at Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival.

Saturday’s card opens with the Grade 1 Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Novice Hurdle for which the Mullins-trained Doctor Steinberg (11/4) is the current ante-post market-leader.

Sunday card

Turning to Sunday, the feature race is the Irish Champion Hurdle where Mullins’ Lossiemouth (5/4) edges favouritism over old rival Brighterdaysahead (6/4). Final Demand (8/11) is widely expected to give Mullins another Grade 1 win in the Ladbrokes Novice Chase on the same card.

Marine Nationale (10/11) heads the betting for the two-mile Ladbrokes Dublin Chase. Barry Connell’s stable star was deemed an unlucky loser behind Solness at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival.

The two-mile Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle on Sunday’s card looks a cracker. Talk The Talk (11/8) is the early favourite for trainer Joseph O’Brien, in a race which could also attract Ballyfad, The Reverend and Skylight Hustle.