Willie Mullins sends one horse to Lingfield and Ryan Moore is booked for the ride 😲

We’re used to Willie Mullins coming over to plunder the top prizes over the jumps. His six winners at last month’s Cheltenham Festival briefly propelled him into fourth in the trainers’ championship. Closutton’s maestro loves to send stayers over on the Flat as well. One such runner is due to go to Lingfield on Friday and he’s unsurprisingly well-fancied. Ryan Moore is one of the finest jockey’s in the world and he swerves the All-weather Championships at Newcastle to ride here. This could be a deadly combination. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.

2.05 Lingfield

Mr Escobar has earned a rating of 80 in Britain, after just three starts in Ireland. He’s a progressive sort that has shown clear improvement with every start. This is his debut for the Mullins yard, having been trained by Joseph Murray before making the switch to Closutton. It was a reasonable effort on debut at Dundalk, despite finishing seventh by almost six lengths. That was an unusually strong maiden for the time of year so that effort can probably be marked up.

Clear improvement was evident when second over the same course and distance a month later, as he was beaten by under three lengths that day. He got off the mark when last seen, back in January, and it was a smart performance to win by a length-and-a-quarter. With such a lightly raced and progressive profile, you would expect there to be more improvement to come.

This is his handicap debut and if all goes well here, you could see Mr Escobar again on these shores in races like the Ebor and the Cesarewitch. The style of his victory last time out suggested that the step up to two miles could suit. He outstayed the runner-up and the front two pulled clear of the third.

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