Blue Lord and Daryl Jacob bid for Dublin Racing Festival success on Sunday © Photo Healy Racing
Blue Lord is widely expected to provide Willie Mullins with a sixth successive victory in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase at Leopardstown on Sunday.
The champion trainer has claimed each of the previous five runnings of the Grade One contest, with Min claiming back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019 before Chacun Pour Soi completed a hat-trick.
Blue Lord, winner of the Irish Arkle on this weekend last season, appears to have taken his game to another level this winter, with a comeback success in the Clonmel Oil Chase followed by a comprehensive defeat of Chacun Pour Soi over the Christmas period.
With his Champion Chase-winning stablemate Energumene beaten in the rescheduled Clarence House at Cheltenham last weekend, this year’s renewal of Cheltenham’s two-mile chasing showpiece has a more open look to it and connections of Blue Lord are hopeful he can cement his status as a leading contender.
Anthony Bromley, racing manager to owners Simon Muir and Isaac Souede, said: “It is a great engagement for him. It is nice to go back to the course and distance he won over at Christmas.
“I understand he has trained fine for the race. We are really looking forward to seeing him again over two miles and hopefully all roads lead to the Champion Chase at Cheltenham after the weekend.
“The proviso is we have the option of the Ryanair at Cheltenham as an entry if we wish to try that instead. The Champion Chase division is now looking open and let’s hope for a good display like we saw at Christmas.
“He seems to have improved from his novice days a bit as well.”
Blue Lord is one of two runners set to carry the ‘double green’ colours of Munir and Souede, with Alan King’s stable stalwart Sceau Royal crossing the Irish Sea to take him on.
A high-class operator over fences and hurdles, Sceau Royal is not getting any younger at the age of 11, but will at least encounter his favoured conditions on the outskirts of Dublin.
“He is in the twilight of his career, but he had been running well over hurdles,” Bromley added.
“You can put a line through his last run in the Christmas Hurdle as he made a mistake down the back and Sam (Twiston-Davies) looked after him that day.
“But he is in good form at home and likes going left-handed over fences, which is why we wanted to go to Leopardstown — he was never even entered for the Clarence House at Ascot.
“We always do hurdles for the first half of the winter with him and then he goes chasing. Normally, the Game Spirit is where he gets his first chase run of the season, but I just thought this race wouldn’t have a big field and there is much more prize-money on offer than there is at Newbury.
“He is quite old to be making his Irish debut, but it is sporting of the owners and of Alan King to bring him across and he is in nice form and will like the ground.”
Mullins has a second string to his bow in the form of Gentleman De Mee, but he finished 41 lengths behind Blue Lord at Christmas and clearly needs to improve. Dunvegan (Pat Fahy) and Fastorslow (Martin Brassil) are the other hopefuls.
