“I can’t see it being anything but a success,” champion trainer Willie Mullins said at a media launch of the inaugural Dublin Racing Festival today at his yard in Closutton, as he looks forward to the first running of the big racing event next month.

The champion trainer has made 49 entries for the seven Grade 1 races and the Grade 2 Coral Dublin Chase for the Festival at Leopardstown on Saturday, February 3rd and Sunday, February 4th.

Faugheen is set to make his return in the BHP Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle, a race he won two years ago, on Saturday, February 3rd. Mullins has made five entries for the €150,000 event, including Yorkhill and the recent Cheltenham third, Melon.

Mullins also acknowledged that the Festival with it's €1.5 million in prize money is likely to play a big role in the Irish trainers' title. The title went down to the last day last season when Mullins pulled it out of the fire at Punchestown. He trails Gordon Elliott by €480,488 at the moment.

"It's looking tough at the minute but we'll keep batting, we'll have to be nailing everything."

He went through his likely team for the big contests.

FAUGHEEN

I’m as happy as I could expect to be with him at this stage. All his tests have come back fine. We were waiting for one test result to come back for a week or 10 days after the race and that came back fine.

Last week we started him back slow cantering and then gave him a couple of longer slow canters. The next step for him is to go up a gear and do a bit of fast work with him this week. If that goes well, I can’t see why we can’t kick on and aim him at the Irish Champion Hurdle. I’d like to get Melon there too.

He looked good in the parade ring, good going down to the start, the only thing I thought was his coat was a bit starey. It was a surprise to me and everyone because of the horse, for him, it was head scratching. Something must have choked him on the day. At least he came back, Nichols Canyon didn’t.

BLACKBOW

We were very impressed with him at Christmas and he looks a likely candidate for the Grade 2 bumper.

DJAKADAM

The thought at the moment is that he will run in the (Unibet) Irish Gold Cup. I was very disappointed with him at Leopardstown. It was the worst run of his career. We didn’t find anything wrong with him afterwards, which has us questioning whether we just ran him back too quickly after the John Durkan. Plenty of horses have run in those two races and been just fine, but both him and Sizing John disappointed when attempting it this season, so maybe it was a more gruelling race than we thought it was at the time.

DUC DE RENGIERE

He ran very well at Naas. He’s been very good since. That was only the second run of his life and he should improve from it. It might be too tough for him to drop to two miles and take on sharper horses. He looked like he should be able to do it based on the last day, but that was over a longer trip off a steady enough pace. Moving up a gear at championship pace will be a different story, so he might be as well off sticking to longer trips.

FOOTPAD

He’s in great shape and the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown has always been the plan for him, so we are looking forward to getting him there. He’ll probably take on Demi Sang there.

HOLLOWGRAPHIC

His performance at Punchestown was fantastic and he looks to be one of our leading hopes for the Grade 2 bumper.

Killultagh Vic ridden by Rachael Blackmore (right)

KILLULTAGH VIC

The plan at the minute is to run him and Djakadam to run in the (Unibet) Irish Gold Cup. He came out of his comeback run very well. He just really doesn’t like jumping hurdles, he has no respect for them. We are looking forward to getting him back over fences and I think he’ll jump them much better.

MELON

He was unable to work because he lost a shoe and the blacksmith wasn't here to put a shoe back on. He's fine and I'd like to run him in the BHP as well.

MIN

He is in great shape and came out of his run at Christmas well. I’m looking forward to getting him to the Dublin Chase.

SHARJAH

Both Sharjah and Real Steel will run in the Deloitte Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown as I think they could both do with more experience. They were unlucky with what happened them last time, but they were both fine after it.

STORMY IRELAND

She was very, very impressive at Fairyhouse. I don’t know what the race was like in terms of depth, but she couldn’t have done any more. She has been very good since. She’s an incredible filly really. I tried to give her a little break after Fairyhouse, but after two or three days she bucked off her rider! She looks my top juvenile at the minute and will go for the Spring Juvenile Hurdle along with Mr Adjudicator.

TOTAL RECALL

He’s in the Irish Gold Cup and we’ll have a look at it but I’m not sure whether he’ll run. I imagine the way to look at Total Recall is that he should go for the Aintree Grand National. I have to have a chat with the owners and get them to decide whether they want to aim for Graded chases with him or aim towards the National.

Yorkhill leads the string to the gallop

YORKHILL

I never thought he was a Gold Cup horse. We will go down the two mile chase route and if that doesn't work we will go back to hurdling. I'm happy for him to go for the Coral Dublin Chase, and I don't think there is much alternative.

Mullins also gave updates on some of the horses who will not be appearing at Leopardstown.

I don’t think Getabird will run at Leopardstown, we’ll focus on getting him to Cheltenham next. I was more than pleased with him at Punchestown at the weekend, he did way more than I expected him too.

Getabird (right)

Going into it, I was worried I was running him in the wrong race, but we said we’d take a chance and it worked out. He came right back to and probably beyond what we thought of him as a bumper horse. We were all amazed at the speed he showed away from the final hurdle. He really stepped up.

Douvan did not do any fast work but was out with string on the gallops.

Mullins said: “I don't know and I don't want to say what the chances are of him running this season. There was an injury there and whether that was an old injury or not he hurt himself for a few days.

Douvan (left) out in easy work

What surprised us all was his recovery, how quick it was, and then our veterinary team started looking at him from another angle and were thinking that there was a little chance (of him running again this season).

He’s back cantering and we’re just going to do that for a few weeks and see how he progresses. There is a little chance of getting him back for Cheltenham, but I’m not going to say any more than that for now.

Great Field: “He’s coming along nicely. He could make it back for Cheltenham, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Penhill: “He’s fine and will hopefully make the Cheltenham Festival.

Carter McKay: He needs another run, and over a longer distance.