Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott spearhead festive Grade 1 raid at Leopardstown It’s a great time of year to be a racing fan, as you get the best of both worlds; quality time with friends and family, as well as some excellent equine action. Leopardstown and Limerick will both provide four-day meetings over the festive season and there are several Grade 1 races taking place while the supporting events are also definitely worth your time. Big racing attracts the big names so we’ve picked out four trainers who have targeted Leopardstown and Limerick’s Christmas Festivals in recent seasons and are therefore likely to make it into the winners’ enclosure once again. Willie Mullins We’ll start with the obvious one first, Willie Mullins has farmed winners at this Leopardstown meeting in the last couple of seasons. He landed eight across the four days during the 2023/2024 season and another four during the last campaign, and his yard wasn’t firing at full capacity either. All of the top races have well fancied Willie Mullins candidates in them and we know he’s going to land plenty of them. Ballyburn, Lossiemouth, Majborough and Le Divin Enfant are among some of his better chances in the big races, whilst maiden hurdles and handicaps are also profitable sources of victories for the genius trainer. Limerick has also been a happy hunting ground for him, as he has had a total of 10 winners at their Christmas meeting in the last two years. Final Demand is set to line up in the Faugheen Novice Chase there and there won’t be many willing to take him on. Joseph O’Brien It’s worth noting that Joseph O’Brien is 2/2 with his jumps runners at Limerick so far this season and he managed to land a winner at the meeting last year. Primarily a Flat trainer these days, he has a small but select group of jumpers and is always one to watch. Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival has provided him with three winners in the last couple of seasons and he should be in the mix once again. Talk The Talk would be an intriguing outsider in the Future Champions Novice Hurdle as he is unbeaten over hurdles so far. Henry de Bromhead The County Waterford-based trainer hasn’t been in the best of form recently and one winner in the last fortnight perhaps doesn’t bode well. That being said, he’s one of Ireland’s top trainers for a reason and has had four winners at this Leopardstown meeting over the last couple of years. Stayers’ Hurdle hero Bob Olinger is among his major chances this time around. De Bromhead had two winners over Christmas at Limerick last season, one of which is the very smart mare The Big Westerner. She could return for the Grade 2 mares’ novice chase and would surely be hard to beat if turning up. Gordon Elliott If Willie Mullins doesn’t win the big races, Gordon Elliott is often the one who picks up the pieces. He has been in brilliant form for much of the season and has maintained a healthy strike-rate over a prolonged period of time. He landed six winners over Christmas at Leopardstown in 2024 and seven the year before. Romeo Coolio looks like the one to beat in the Racing Post Novice Chase and Teahupoo is a potential runner in the Christmas Hurdle. Winners at Limerick have been harder to come by but clearly Elliott is more focused on Leopardstown, which is proving to be a very successful strategy.
