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Gary Carson

Gary Carson

Appreciate impressive in concluding bumper

Sat 1st Feb 2020, 16:49

Appreciate It and Patrick Mullins go clearAppreciate It and Patrick Mullins go clear
© Photo Healy Racing

Appreciate It proved the most impressive winner on the opening day of the Dublin Racing festival when claiming the concluding Grade 2 bumper in some style.

Willie Mullins notched a double on the card when the strongly supported 11/10 favourite (2/1 in the morning) recorded a wide-margin success in the Goffs Future Stars INH Flat Race.

Patrick Mullins tracked the leaders on the Jeremy gelding before letting him stride into the lead a furlong-and-a-half from home.

The six-year-old powered clear in the closing stages to post a seven-and-a-half length winning margin over Risk Factor

Betfair slashed the winner into 3/1 from 7/1 for the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham and Mullins said afterwards:-

“It was very impressive. The way he put away a field of what looked the best bumper horses in Ireland did surprise me but Patrick had way more confidence in him than I had.

“He was keen on him all the time. I thought it was a very tough race.

“I wasn't as worried about the trip as a lot of people were. It so happened it was a two-and-a-half mile bumper at Christmas that he ran in. He didn't need the trip then, he's fast enough.

“He looked like a Cheltenham type for me anyway. It was a very good performance and I'm very pleased.”

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.