Patrick Mullins will be as intrigued as everyone else to watch the second round of Fact To File and Gaelic Warrior if, as seems likely, the pair clash again in the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase on Boxing Day.
It looked like Fact To File would stay in Ireland for the Savills Chase over Christmas, but a pile of cash for the Kempton showpiece began to suggest plans might have changed.
With his Willie Mullins-trained stablemate Gaelic Warrior already at the top of the betting, the Closutton yard have a strong hand and after their humming from a clash in the John Durkan earlier this season, seeing the pair take on Arkle winner Jango Baie and The Jukebox Man is a prospect for National Hunt fans to savour.
“Frank Berry (race manager for Fact To File owner JP McManus) has said they’d like to go with Fact To File, I see. It didn’t work over five kilometers on the last day at Leopardstown (last year), so maybe that makes sense,” said Mullins, who is an assistant to his father.
“I thought the John Durkan was a great race, the way it was set up was so unusual to have the two best horses over that distance in Ireland colliding like that.
“The concern was that it would leave a mark. I ride Gaelic Warrior at home and it fuels around as it always has and they are also very happy with Fact To File.
“The point is that neither of them came off the bridle until after the penultimate and the poles were not drawn until after the last, so they actually only had to race two furlongs.”
Assessing the depth of division in the stable, Mullins continued: “We’ve also got Galopin (Des Champs). Gaelic Warrior has never shown his best form at Leopardstown, but I wouldn’t be particularly afraid to try him there over three miles. I rode him there over two miles behind Solness and Marine Nationale last Christmas, but he’s not two miles on that dry ground.”
“They’re two very good horses, it’s hard to name. They’re perhaps not what you would write as a five-mile chaser because they both like to get going. It will be fascinating to see them together around Kempton.”
King George sponsors make Gaelic Warrior their 2-1 favourite, with Fact To File at 7-2, and spokesperson Nicola McGeady said: “Gaelic Warrior has long been the leader in the King George market, but with so much continued support for Fact To File in the last 24 hours the race looks even more competitive than ever before.”
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