04 February 2024 , 17:58
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Willie Mullins enjoyed a game of “fantasy horse racing” with a history-making clean sweep of the Dublin Racing Festival’s eight Grade 1 races.
Galopin Des Champs’ repeat Irish Gold Cup success at Leopardstown on Saturday had added to the earlier top-level triumphs of stablemates Dancing City, Kargese and Il Etait Temps.
And on Sunday State Man backed up his Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle victory of 2023 to complete the Mullins monopoly of the eight Grade 1s.
“You can’t get much better - it’s fantasy horse racing,” said Mullins, who saddled 29 of the 48 runners to contest the meeting’s top prizes.
“They are all coming here on their merits for different owners - may the best one win on the day.”
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State Man’s five-and-a-half-length victory prompted William Hill to clip the seven-year-old’s Champion Hurdle odds to 11-4 (from 3-1), while El Fabiolo is the Leeds firm’s 2-5 hotpot for the Queen Mother Champion Chase after humbling stable-companion Dinoblue in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase.
Mullins’ Fact To File heads the Turners Novices’ Chase betting at 6-4 after finishing alone - sole rival and stablemate Gaelic Warrior was beaten when unseating Paul Townend at the final fence – in the Ladbrokes Novice, while Ballyburn is the market leader for both the Supreme and Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdles on the back of a seven-length romp in the two-mile Tattersalls Ireland 50th Derby Sale Novice Hurdle.
“The horse did everything right over the minimum trip - I’m going to talk about today and leave it at that,” said Mullins.