We’re used to Willie Mullins ripping up the Dublin Racing Festival and he’s likely to again this year. However, his younger brother Thomas has a real contender for the Grade 2 bumper this year to threaten Willie’s dominance of the race. The horse in question made a very good impression on debut and is currently 7-4 favourite for the race. Mullins believes he has a very smart horse under his belt who could go to the very top. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.
Fascile Mode (7-4, Paddy Power) looked very promising when winning a good bumper at Leopardstown over Christmas. It has to be noted that he was getting plenty of weight from most of the field. Nonetheless, it was a smooth performance which has caused him to shoot to the top of the market for the Grade 2 Future Stars NH Flat Race. “He’ll go to the Dublin Racing Festival all being well,” Mullins said, in reference to the aforementioned race.
Mullins was impressed by the time his charge clocked on debut. “The time on his debut was very good as it was six seconds faster than the Grade 1 hurdle on the card. To do that first time out was impressive and we were very happy with what we saw,” he added. It certainly looked like a strongly run race and that has been backed up by the clock.
The horse has certainly caught his trainer’s eye who speaks about Fascile Mode in glowing terms. “He definitely could be special but he’ll have to back it up in two weeks’ time. We knew we had a good horse going there,” the trainer stated. He’ll certainly be one to look out for at Leopardstown next month and maybe even Cheltenham and Punchestown in the spring if all goes to plan.
“He will likely go to Cheltenham if all goes well in Leopardstown but it is not the be-all and end-all. The Champion Bumper is a tough race but hopefully he can go there and then is well enough to finish off his season in Punchestown, that’s the plan.” As Fascile Mode is being targeted at all the right races, you can’t help but see how highly Mullins regards him.
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