Willie Mullins Stable Tour: 'I think he's going to be a huge player' Niall Tierney visited Closutton on Wednesday and got the latest on more of the magnificent Willie Mullins team ahead of the season. Kopek Des Bordes He is every bit of the stamp of a chaser. He's a horse I'm looking forward to seeing out over fences. He's a very keen horse in his races and I think chasing will settle him back a little bit. And I think it'll be in addition to this capability, the fact that he might settle over a fence better than he would over a hurdle. I haven't seen any problems with his jumping yet. So I'm really looking forward to him in that division. I'm hoping that fences just make him stand back, to look at his fences, which will help the jockey to settle him. Final Demand Final Demand must be well over 17 hands and he's got lots of scope to jump. I’m looking forward to him starting off. In Ireland I'm never too worried where he starts. He could start off over two miles but we'll just start off wherever a race presents itself but as the season goes on and he goes up in grade I hope he will be going out in trip. Impaire Et Passe We changed tactics on that day, we held him up and he never got to the front division. And possibly looking at that race, I wonder should we be going out in trip then to three miles and maybe go for the Savills Chase. Salvator Mundi Joe Donnelly has Anzadam and State Man. I think he could be a Champion Hurdle horse. However, looking at the way he races, he's very keen. I'm going to go over fences with him and give him a chance to be an Arkle horse. He has huge ability. He has a lot more ability than he shows at home than he has on the track. And when he settles to race properly and we get the right way to ride him, I think maybe fences will bring that out. I think he's going to be a huge player. Spindleberry To me the obvious thing to do is go for the Mares’ Chase. She might start off in Clonmel, she's a lovely big strong mare and it's funny I was just looking at her form the other day. I think she's only run once left-handed and was beaten, but that was her first run in a bumper for us... so people would be looking at her form and saying, she's a right-handed mare. That's just the way the races fell. We never said she has to go right-handed, but she's won all races right-handed, but I don't think it's an issue. She could be anything. I mean, winning in Fairyhouse was a tremendous performance. Bambino Fever We'll start off in the mares’ races, but she is one that could graduate up to the to the main novice hurdles of the season and we'll see what we have in the mares division. I'm always the believer - look at the risk - you can win in Cheltenham and come home with the winner, rather than saying we're an unlucky loser and I would imagine she'd probably go the mares route. Irancy I think we're sticking to hurdling with him. That's where we are this minute now. He's been a hard horse that trained with little problems and I felt it might be easier to train him over hurdles. I'm not going to be held to that, but that's the way the thinking is at the moment with connections. He’s got a huge engine, but I'd love to go chase him, but he might be just easier to manage over hurdles. Jasmin De Vaux He won a point to point and he was great jumping when winning that point to point. I'd have to figure out if he'd be another Ballyburn. I'm going to leave the decision on him open until I have a good bit of schooling done with him, but looking at what he did last year you'd have to think that it wouldn't definitely nominate novice chasing. However, in his favour, when we went out in trip and he had more time to think about jumping, he was a lot better and horses can improve over the season. El Fabiolo Another horse that had little training problems. We'll be picking out picking races for him rather than running him at every festival and see how he goes. He's come back well. Uh, crossed our minds and might go that direction (back hurdling). Yeah. I wasn't happy with him at the start of the season and I put back his training schedule for 6 weeks. So, he won't start early. That's this season. I wasn't happy with him when he came in off grass. He didn't do as well as the other horses. He doesn’t like being out and it will probably be Christmas by the time we see him. Gameofinches He's a huge horse, he's 17 hands I think. A big raw individual and at his age he's seven now isn't he going on eight so I don't think he'd have any respect for a hurdle I think we'd better off just go chasing with him. We got him only halfway through the season last year, he won a point of point before he came to me and he's a big raw horse. I think the season's summer break has done him the power of good and we’re better off going chasing with him, that's going to be his career looking at him. Absurde He is in Werribee preparing for the Caulfield Cup. I think a mile and a half will suit him a lot better than the Melbourne Cup, but he'll run in both. Maybe when those horses come back we might either go to Meydan or Saudi is a place I'd like to go with them. Those dual-purpose type horses we're trying to look for different ways of competing with them rather than going back over hurdles. I think there's not much to be gained by going back over hurdles. Poniros I had to give him another break. I threw him out, I was disappointed with his last run. He'd been late again back, but after Christmas, for five-year-olds - it is tough on them. I think the juveniles, they usually have a hard season on the flat, and then they come jumping and it's a lot for them. I think, it gives them a little easier time because I want them as a six-year-old rather than a five-year-old. It's very hard for him to win at five.
