WHAT we might call the “Mullins factor” was very evident again at the weekend when True Self rocked to victory in the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington. It was a couple of days to remember as the Irish champion National Hunt handler Willie was joined by his flat equivalent, Aidan O’Brien, when Magic Wand earned a well-deserved success at the highest level after capturing the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes.

Both winners are granddaughters of Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer), though by very different sires and from widely different female lines. While True Self, bred by Don Cantillon, is one of 78 blacktype winners sired by Oscar, she is his first group-winner on the flat and she is a true example of a talented dual-purpose runner.