English Grand National-winning trainer Emmet Mullins will bid for more big race success this weekend when saddling The Shunter in Sunday’s Grade 3 BARONERACING.COM Chase but will need to fend off another Grand National winner if he is to be celebrating again.
The 2021 Aintree hero Minella Times is a notable inclusion in Cork’s feature race on Day Two of the Easter Festival in a race which also features the 162-rated Melon for champion trainer Willie Mullins.
Rachael Blackmore and Minella Times only got as far the ninth fence in Aintree but Blackmore will be in Mallow on Sunday in search for some compensation in what promises to be a fascinating contest.
Mullins turns to Simon Torrens to partner The Shunter, who was a Cheltenham Festival hero last year but pulled up over hurdles at that meeting last month.
Mullins said of the JP McManus-owned runner: “It’s back to the drawing board a bit after Cheltenham, he was very disappointing but I’d be willing to put a line through the form with the day that was in it and all the rain. “He’s proved in the past he’s as versatile over fences as hurdles and hopefully he can show it on Sunday.
“He usually comes to himself in the spring so we’ll draw a line through Cheltenham and put it down to the deluge on the day. He will enjoy the ground they look like having at Fairyhouse more and I’m happy enough with where we are at the moment. “It’s a strong race but that’s what you expect and we’re looking forward to him showing his true form on Sunday.”
Reflecting on an amazing experience at Aintree when he saddled Noble Yeats to victory in the most famous jump race of all with his first ever runner in it, Mullins added: “Noble Yeats has come out of the race really well. He’s bouncing. “It probably hasn’t sunk in yet. We’re kept busy all week with racing so I haven’t had a chance to sit down and take it in yet.”
Sunday’s line up for the main event also includes the Noel Meade-trained Daly Tiger, while the field of seven is completed by Cusp Of Carabelli, Doctor Duffy and Darrens Hope.
Elsewhere on the card, John McConnell’s Scottish Champion Hurdle winner Anna Bunina will look to add to that recent Ayr victory in a very good renewal of the BARONERACING.COM Hurdle.
Willie Mullins sends the 154-rated Cash Back over hurdles and the Charles Byrnes-trained Turnpike Trip is a course and distance winner that adds intrigue.
Speaking earlier this week, McConnell said: “Anna Bunina is great right now. We gave her plenty of time to freshen up after Ayr and she seems fine. “She loves the better ground at this time of the year. We’ll probably give her an entry in the Swinton in Haydock as sometimes it turns into a small field. So we’re keeping an eye out on opportunities like that for her and I think she would hold her own in mares’ black-type races.”
The Grade B BARONERACING.COM Handicap Hurdle is headed by the Gavin Cromwell-trained Wolf Prince and also features recent winners Bois De Clarmart and Plains Indian.
Tickets can be purchased online in advance on www.corkracecourse.ie to beat the raceday queues and avail of a 10% discount.
A free shuttle bus service is provided from Mallow Train Station and Mallow town. Runners go to post for the first race, the Dermot Casey Tree Care Maiden Hurdle, at 1.10pm.