Ballyburn steps up for Brown Advisory mission

Ballyburn will lead a four-strong Willie Mullins team into battle in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham on Wednesday.

The Closutton handler has saddled a record six previous winners of the extended three-mile contest, with Florida Pearl (1998), Rule Supreme (2004), Cooldine (2009), Don Poli (2015), Monkfish (2021) and last year’s victor Fact To File all featuring.

A brilliant winner of the Turners Novices’ Hurdle at last year’s Festival, Ballyburn appears the stable’s first string this time around following two wins from his first three starts over fences.

The seven-year-old was no match for Sir Gino over two miles in the Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase at Kempton in December, but was a decisive winner over two miles and five furlongs at the Dublin Racing Festival and Mullins does not view a further hike in distance as an issue.

“If I hadn’t got Impaire Et Passe we’d have gone to Limerick over two and a half with him over Christmas, so we went across the water and normally he might have won the race in Kempton, but I think we just came up against a fantastic horse in Sir Gino,” he said.

“I think Ballyburn learnt a lot and his pedigree has lots of stamina in it. I think he’s a potential Gold Cup horse in the making.

“I was very pleased with how he came out of his race in Leopardstown. He would need to settle a little bit as he was fairly keen that day, but that experience will be good.

“At Kempton he had to gun him down to every fence and when you are doing that it gets into the horse’s head. It was a two-five race the last day, he was trying to replicate the pace from Kempton and Paul (Townend) was doing the opposite in trying to settle him.

“I think the size of the Cheltenham fences will help.”

Ballyburn’s biggest threat could be his stablemate Dancing City, who has already proven his stamina as a dual Grade One-winning hurdler over three miles and he is three from three over fences.

With Townend sticking with Ballyburn, Danny Mullins comes in for the ride on Dancing City, while Sean O’Keeffe partners Lecky Watson and Patrick Mullins is aboard Quai De Bourbon.

Mullins added: “Dancing City prefers softer ground. He’s a four-wheel drive horse, he just gallops and jumps – he’s a nice type for that sort of race.

“Lecky Watson will take his chance as well. He’ll probably need a bit of luck to win it, but that’s what happens around Cheltenham and he is there with his chance.”

With no British-trained horses declared, the seven-strong field is completed by Henry de Bromhead’s Gorgeous Tom and Gordon Elliott’s pair of Better Days Ahead and Stellar Story.

Mullins has won the Weatherbys Champion Bumper more than any other Festival race, claiming five of the last seven renewals and 13 overall.

This year he will be represented by five runners, with son Patrick partnering the impressive Navan scorer Copacabana rather than Gameofinches (Paul Townend). Sortudo (Danny Mullins), Aqua Force (Mark Walsh) and Bambino Fever (Jody Townend) are his other chances.

Elliott will rely on Kalypso’chance, who is two from two in the bumper sphere and has been kept fresh since landing a Listed prize at Navan in December.

“I was delighted with the bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival because we ran a couple in it that weren’t beaten far and Kalypso would be a better type of horse,” he said.

“I’m happy with where he is. I thought he showed a good attitude when Patrick (Mullins) rode him and he’s done nothing wrong.”

The pick of the home team could be No Drama This End, whose trainer Paul Nicholls said: “Willie and Gordon have the first five or six in the betting and I’m sure they will be hard to beat, but he’s a nice horse and won his only point-to-point and then won really tidily at Warwick, but I just wouldn’t want the ground to dry up too much.

“If it dries and it’s good ground on Wednesday that could be an issue as he’s very good on soft ground.

“How he runs in the bumper will not determine his future because he’ll be a smart horse when he goes novice hurdling next year.”