'The €110,000 purchase debuts for Brassil' - A Jockey, Trainer & Owner to Follow this Weekend It's a cracking weekend of racing in Ireland as jumps fans get to feast on two days from Punchestown's Premiere Weekend — with Grade 1 action on both days. The Morgiana Hurdle and John Durkan Memorial Chase are the features at the Kildare venue, while racing also comes from Cork on Sunday. Across the channel, Haydock's Betfair Chase is Saturday's main dish, with key support races on Merseyside also joined by graded action from Ascot. We've picked out a jockey, trainer and owner worth keeping tabs on across the weekend's action in Ireland. Jockey Jack Kennedy will have fond memories of Punchestown's Premiere Weekend having ridden a treble on the opening afternoon last year. He heads back for Saturday's card with a strong book of seven rides and will be more than hopeful of getting on the scoresheet. He rides the promising Combs for Gordon Elliott in the opening 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle and has Robcour inmate Santo Sospir in the following contest for the Cullentra team. Gigginstown pair The Enabler and Prends Garde A Toi provide his rides in the Conway Piling Beginners Chase (12:32) and Boodles Florida Pearl Novice Chase (1.05) respectively, while he will be aboard the progressive Ndaawi, who takes on Lossiemouth and Irancy in the Unibet Morgiana Hurdle (2.10). On Sunday, Kennedy heads to Cork. Once more, he will be busy with six mounts, the highlights surely set to come from the 2024 Champion Bumper third Jalon D’oudairies as he makes his return in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden Hurdle (12.30) and Kala Conti, as the mare starts her career over fences in a beginners' contest over 2m5f at 2.10. Trainer Willie Mullins has been perhaps quieter than we might have expected in the opening skirmishes of the winter but the Closutton supremo tends to have this weekend marked in the calendar. On Saturday he saddles top contenders Lossiemouth and Irancy in the Morgiana, as they audition for the role of stand-in with his top two-mile hurdler State Man sidelined for the season. Earlier, the likes of Kaid D’authie and Kitzbuhel butt heads in the Conway Piling Beginners Chase (12.32) while on Sunday afternoon it is all about the sumptuous line-up in the Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Chase (3.00). Mullins, never afraid to send his stars into battle against each other, accounts for a whopping seven of the 11-strong field for this contest, with last year's winner Fact To File seemingly very much suited to the intermediate trip as he faces Gaelic Warrior as well as stablemates Nicky Rockett and I Am Maximus — winner of the last two Aintree Grand Nationals — and Gavin Cromwell's Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Inothewayurthinkin in a not to be missed contest. Owner Owners Sean & Bernardine Mulryan — the former being the Irish-born London property kingpin and founder and CEO of Ballymore — will send some of their best horses into battle this weekend. Their yellow and blue silks with red cap are not overly prominent but are associated with some good jumpers, none more so than Fastorslow as Martin Brassil's nine-year-old prepares to return from a year off in the John Durkan on Sunday afternoon. He won this very race in 2023 — one of three Grade 1s all landed at Punchestown — and he was a consistent thorn in the side of Galopin Des Champs in 2023 and 2024. He disappointed in this contest 12 months ago and has been off since. With his preference for some give underfoot, the winter months are sure to be vital to him this season. On Saturday, the Mulryan silks are carried by Therhythmofthenite in the Sebden Steel Maiden Hurdle (12.00) as the €110,000 purchase debuts for Brassil, while James’s Gate and Goldinthemountains line up in the Conway Piling Beginners Chase (12.32) for the same trainer. Sunday's card will conclude with a second racecourse outing for It's Only A Game as he looks to go one better than when finishing second in a bumper at the festival here in May.
