‘He might be good enough’ – Could this horse be Willie Mullins’ next State Man? 🌟

Willie Mullins after a six-timer at Punchestown

At last season’s Cheltenham Festival, State Man won the County Hurdle as a novice, off a mark of 141. It was an impressive performance to deal with the hustle and bustle of a race like that, having won a maiden hurdle on his previous start. Clearly much better than a handicapper, he went on to win a Grade 1 novice hurdle at Punchestown and become a huge contender for the Champion Hurdle this year. Willie Mullins has a handicap contender this year that could follow a similar trajectory and develop into a Grade 1 horse.

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Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle

Willie Mullins came close to winning this race in 2022. Gaelic Warrior was beaten by his own immaturity when second by a short head. Tekao hasn’t gone under the radar this year so you won’t be getting any fancy prices. The gelded son of Doctor Dino is currently the 4-1 favourite for this competitive race.

Finishing third on hurdles debut, the winner of that race has since gone on to win two British Grade 2 races and is a major contender for the Triumph Hurdle. Tekao got off the mark at Leopardstown over Christmas, despite travelling freely. Perhaps he wasn’t quite ready for the step up to Grade 1 company at Leopardstown last time as he was a well beaten third.

Mullins has given him a huge vote of confidence which suggests the best is yet to come. He said: “I’d imagine he’ll go to the Boodles. He could go for the Triumph, and he might be good enough.” With that in mind, if he was to win here impressively off a mark of 135 and then go back into Grade 1 company at Punchestown or Aintree; we could see a gold standard performance.

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