Mullins tees it up for favourite punters in the first-day feature
IT might be slightly unfair to describe Emmet Mullins as a maverick trainer, but he has an unorthodox if successful way of doing things as was again evident on the opening evening of the Galway Summer Racing Festival at Ballybrit.
Having been catapulted into racing folklore by saddling Noble Yeats to land the 2022 Aintree Grand National as a novice, Mullins often has the bookmakers diving for cover when one of his string is targeted at a big race, especially after an unusual preparation.
Once thing for sure, Mullins is no training conformist, but it doesn’t stop him from delivering for his owners as the local Mee family will testify after the heavily supported course specialist Teed Up landed Monday’s feature, the Connacht Hotel Handicap, in the style of a good thing.
Sure, The Very Man was closing at the line but the 7/2 market leader and jockey Raymond Barron had made a winning move around the home turn after travelling smoothly down the hill in this prestigious two-mile contest for amateur riders.
Already a four-time course winner, Teed Up was picked up by the Mee family for €3,500 last year and this bargain buy quickly showed his liking by Ballybrit by taking a handicap hurdle on the closing day of the 2022 summer festival.
The six-year-old was the ‘talking horse’ and ante-post plunge ahead of Monday’s €110,000 contest, and Teed Up justified all the hype in delivering again on the rain-softened ground in a race in which his main market rival, Lots Of Joy, finished a never nearer sixth.
Pictured: Victoria Ward and Karen Jones present the winning trophy to Limerick hurling manager John Kiely after Mystical Power landed the Galwaybayhotel.com & the Galmont.com Novice Hurdle at Ballybrit on Monday. Also included are winning owner JP McManus, Dan Murphy, Chief Executive of the Galway Bay Hotel, and Stefan Lundstrom.