Three Double Green horses to follow this season - 'Made the switch to Mullins' The Isaac Souede and Simon Munir ‘double green’ partnership is one of racing’s biggest ownership operations. They have had plenty of success over the years and, although historically their focus has been on jump racing, they have started targeting the Flat too. Jumps racing is still their priority and they have some exciting horses to look forward to this season. We’ve picked out three of their horses to follow, two of which are trained by the great Willie Mullins and the other hails from the Harry Derham yard. Green Splendour Green Splendour showed a significant amount of potential as a bumper horse last season and it’ll be interesting to see how he develops over hurdles this term. He made his debut in a valuable Newbury bumper for Stuart Crawford, which was won by Regent’s Stroll. Making the switch to Mullins after that, he won a Leopardstown bumper by a length-and-a-quarter over Christmas. He followed that up with a fair fifth in a Grade 2 at the Dublin Racing Festival next time, but he took a step forward to win at Aintree after that. Travelling strongly throughout, Patrick Mullins’ mount got to the front with a furlong or so to go and kicked clear to score by just shy of three lengths. The second, third and fifth have all boosted the form since and Koktail Bruit is a Grade 2 winner over hurdles. He made his hurdling debut over 2m6f at Punchestown last month and looked badly in need of the run. Significant improvement is anticipated as he’s obviously better than that and perhaps a drop in trip could be on the agenda. Le Frimeur Harry Derham is an up and coming trainer with a significant amount of potential and it’s good to see him getting support from big owners. Le Frimeur won an Irish point at Nenagh in March and did it in impressive style, scoring by a comfortable margin of eight lengths. He made his first start under rules in a maiden hurdle at Chepstow last month and it was notable that JJ Slevin made the trip over to ride. He wasn’t disappointed and the well fancied four-year-old got the job done. Doing all his best work late on, he looks like a future stayer. The front two were clear of the rest and are the obvious ones to take out of the race. Another run at this sort of level would probably benefit him, but it won’t be long until connections step him up in grade. Even if he’s not a graded horse, he could have a decent handicap in him. Mistergif Another one for Willie Mullins, Mistergif was highly regarded as a novice hurdler and even ran in the Supreme at the Cheltenham Festival. Far from disgraced back in fifth, he bolted up in a Limerick maiden hurdle before that. Mullins’ gelding got his chasing career off the perfect start when getting the better of stablemate Tullyhill in a beginners’ chase at Fairyhouse in January, but he unfortunately missed the rest of the season due to an injury setback. Mistergif will be back this season and he remains fully unexposed over fences. He should be more than capable of winning some top two-mile handicap chases and if all goes well, the six-year-old could develop into a graded chaser in time.
