The biggest splash at Leopardstown on Wednesday came from Meetingofthewaters, who landed a bumper pay-day in the €200,000 Paddy Power Chase.
The Willie Mullins-trained horse, having just a fourth start over fences, and his first in handicap company, looked a winner well before the straight and ultimately ran out a comfortable 6-1 winner of the 27-runner highlight.
At the line, Meetingofthewaters was over four lengths in front of Panda Boy, while last year’s winner Real Steel kept on for third in what’s usually one of the most competitive handicaps of the season.
At a rain-lashed, muddy Leopardstown, the sun came out just in time for the big race and especially for owner Paul Byrne, whose colours Meetingofthewaters carried for the first time.
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The man who sold the 2022 Grand National winner Noble Yeats, as well as masterminding the emergence of other Emmet Mullins-trained stars such as The Shunter and Feronily, has emerged as a distinctive if inscrutable figure in recent years.
The ex-Racing Post employee has interests including the members only betting group Fitzwilliam Sports. However, it is a capacity to identify unlikely and relatively inexpensive talents that have made other bookmakers wary of his light blue colours.
Much of that success has been in tandem with Emmet Mullins. But Patrick Mullins, who won Wednesday’s bumper on Joystick, and used to own Meetingofthewaters, is another long-time friend and this latest big pot had the feel of a plan having come together in style.
Danny Mullins did the steering and delivered his uncle a third Paddy Power victory on a card where the champion trainer bounced back in style from a first St Stephen’s Day blank at Leopardstown in 14 years.
As well as Meetingofthewaters and Joystick, the Mullins team also landed the Grade One Rewards Club Chase when Dinoblue led home a JP McManus-owned clean sweep of the three finishers.
Meetingofthewaters doesn’t hold Grade One ambitions of his own anytime soon but underlined his owner’s ability to snap up emerging talent to profitable effect.
“It’s a fantastic result for Paul Byrne. Patrick has a lot to do with [training] this fellow,” Mullins said.
“It’s great prize money and a tremendous prize to win with a horse like that. Paul is great at seeing gaps in the market when buying horses. He’s able to spot horses rather than paying big money.
“He has an eye for a horse and is able to put a deal together. He probably looks for horses in places that other people don’t.
“It’s a bit of a lottery when you go into a race like this but when you get in at those weights it’s always worth having a crack,” he added.
Mullins trumped his Leopardstown tally with a four-timer in Limerick highlighted by Hauturiere in a Grade Two chase.
However, it was Dinoblue that secured a valuable first top-flight success in a two-mile contest that torrential rain turned into a gruelling test.
It proved too much for the 6-4 favourite, and sole non-Mullins hope, Captain Guinness, who was pulled up and reported ‘clinically abnormal’ afterwards.
It left Dinoblue to track her stable companion Gentleman De Mee into the straight and then go clear under Mark Walsh. The latter doubled up for McManus on One Last Tango in a handicap hurdle.
Wednesday’s other Grade One, the Future Champions Novice Hurdle, resulted in more evidence that Gordon Elliott’s team of youngsters might hold an edge this season.
Mullins’s favourite Daddy Long Legs could never land a blow and try as Predators Gold did to overhaul Caldwell Potter, the Elliott-trained grey thrived in the mud to win at 6-1.
Elliott indicated a step up in trip could be in the offing but on a day when stamina was vital, Jack Kennedy was in confident mood.
“Once I saw all the rain coming, I really fancied him. I thought he would take plenty of beating and he proved us right.
“Handy away, he stays really well. He is probably a horse you will see over further in time, so he was able to put horses under pressure on that ground,” said the rider.
Caldwell Potter is a general 12-1 shot for Cheltenham’s Ballymore Hurdle in March.
In terms of star turns, however, there was little disputing Marine Nationale’s faultless debut over fences in a Beginners’ Chase.
Last season’s Supreme winner is already an evens favourite to follow up at Cheltenham in the Arkle in March as he made light of the mud to jump with the finesse of an old pro.
“He’ll come back here for the Irish Arkle, then the Arkle and hopefully on to Punchestown. The script writes itself this year,” said his owner-trainer Barry Connell.
“He’s the horse of a lifetime and I’m just blessed that he came into our yard. They are one in ten thousand these horses.”
Leopardstown’s official day two festival attendance of 17,713 was reported up about 400 on last year’s equivalent.
