Ladbrokes Dublin Chase (Grade 1)

EVEN before the tapes went up, this was a race that had Willie Mullins written all over it and the champion trainer duly reeled off a one-two as Chacun Pour Soi bested the established star Min to fulfill the expectation that he would be all the better for his comeback at Christmas.

The absence of A Plus Tard due to the ground left this race at the mercy of Mullins and Chacun Pour Soi justified his position as the 6/5 favourite to confirm his position as a contender for Champion Chase glory next month. As the highest-rated runner in the race and a dual winner of this contest, Min set the standard here, but throughout the race the eye was continually drawn to Chacun Pour Soi and Paul Townend.

Prodigious

The market leader produced one prodigious leap after another in Leopardstown’s famed backstraight and it was all looking quite ominous when Chacun Pour Soi loomed upsides Min on the run to the second last. Townend soon sent his mount on and the son of Policy Maker duly took several lengths out of his stablemate, but to his credit Min kept on well and Chacun Pour Soi was forced to work hard for a three and three quarter-length victory. There was a further gap of 24 lengths back to Ornua who took third after a race that saw the other two Mullins runners, Cilaos Emery and Duc Des Genievres, come to grief. Castlegrace Paddy was the only other finisher.

Electric

“I thought that his jumping was electric. He was so slick at his fences and with no effort he seemed to be taking a length or even a length and a half out of the others at every fence,” reflected Willie Mullins. “He’s beaten a very good horse in Min and he’s showed that he has improved since Christmas. I thought that Paul had a very tough choice to make between him and Min but in Chacun Pour Soi he went for the horse with potential.

“Maybe Min is more of a Ryanair Chase type these days but he is still a very good two-miler and I think we may have gotten the tactics wrong with him in the Queen Mother last year. We’ll keep our options open with him and see what the Champion Chase and the Ryanair are looking like before deciding where he might go now.”