Mullins hoping to Blaze a trail in Leinster National at Naas
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Willie Mullins will lead the Irish challenge travelling to the Cotswolds next week but in the meantime, the champion trainer will field a strong team as he attempts to land the final big prize before the Cheltenham Festival, the BARONERACING.COM Leinster National.
With three of the 16 runners in the €80,000 feature, Mullins will be hoping to add to the success of Pairofbrowneyes a couple of years ago to win a second renewal of the Naas three miler.
Owner JP McManus is strongly represented with six declared runners and the Jody McGarvey partnered Blazer is a horse who has always threatened to win a big race according to assistant trainer Patrick Mullins.
Rarely will the beginning of a race have as much carnage as the Celebrating The 2020 ITBA Award Winners Handicap Hurdle at Naas today where a loose horse caused a 13-minute delay before a shambolic false start then left punters furious.
The race (set to start at 2.45), which had already been put back five minutes after a request by broadcasters, didn’t commence until 3.03 after the Noel Meade-trained Melly And Me unseated Sean Flanagan before the start and proceeded to run loose.
The eight-year-old evaded a host of pursuers before eventually being caught, but the drama was only commencing at the Kildare track with Edward O Grady s Shakeytry diving right and unseating Philip Enright before the start.
Big controversy at Naas as Ruby Walsh slams shambolic start to race
A stewards enquiry into the start of the race was later called, but there were no changes to the result.
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Punters were irate after what Ruby Walsh called a shambolic start to a handicap hurdle at Naas today.