The weekend action before Christmas is usually relatively humdrum but the power of Willie Mullins’s string is illustrated by him pitching in a couple of potentially top-drawer performers that most any other trainer would happily keep in reserve for next week’s festival action.
Un de Sceaux is a general 25/1 shot in ante-post betting for the Champion Hurdle and surely faces a straight-forward task against only two opponents in tomorrow's €15,000 feature at Thurles.
An impressive winner of both his starts for Mullins last season, the ex-French star is a very free-runner but a 156 rating gives him plenty to spare in this company.
Shock defeats
Admittedly the Horse & Jockey Hurdle has a history of throwing up shock defeats for odds-on shots, such as the 2/11 Catch Me in 2007, and the 1/3 Solwhit the following year, but Mullins appears immune to such surprises having won with odds-on shots in the last two years, including the 1/8 So Young.
The champion trainer has expressed a high opinion of another French import in Valseur Lido who hosed up on his Irish debut at Cork last month and who would be expected to hold his own in any Grade One novice event over the holidays.
Instead he tackles a much easier task in today's opening novice hurdle at Navan and Valseur Lido should kick off a Gigginstown Stud double with another Mullins French import, Don Poli, runner-up in an Auteuil hurdle last St Patrick's Day, looking to have the difficult-to-win-with Courage to beat in the maiden hurdle.
Another opportunity
Mullins has his own enigma to work with this weekend as Urano gets another opportunity to break his maiden at Thurles tomorrow.
For a horse that looked a potential top-notcher at one stage last season, Urano has been a major disappointment and even managed to get beaten by the notoriously tricky Giantofaman on his last trip to Thurles. However, he will hardly get a better opportunity than this one.
Competitive heat
Tomorrow's novice hurdle looks a competitive heat but a value solution could be Los Amigos, a novice chase winner at Fairyhouse last month, but beaten in a handicap since.
However, he is rated to run well in a race like this and Jim Dreaper's charge can relish the two mile-six trip on testing conditions. Miss Palm brings winning form to the Molony Cup but has to concede most of a stone to Sterling Stuff.
