22 runners headed to the start of the first race on day 2, the starter took his time to get them in an order he was happy to let them go in and eventually; they were off, and day 2 of Leopardstown began. The race wasn’t short of drama, Gary McGill’s horse ‘Dollys Destination’ took a hard tumble at the 1^st, followed by Mark Walsh taking a nasty fall at the 5th in the famous green and gold colours of JP McManus from Risk Belle and bringing down Rachael Blackmore and Rioga Choice. Mark was taken to hospital for precautionary X-rays but was conscious and moving all limbs when he left the track, and I’m hoping to see him back on the racecourse soon. The race was taken by JP McManus 2^nd string horse Ballybawn Belter under Simon Torrens for the Liz Doyle yard, a stewards enquiry made for a stressful few minutes for connections and punters alike after a bit of rough and tumble at the last fence, Paul Townend was squeezed out of a gap by the winner and the mount of Danny Mullins edging towards each other, however, the winner had jumped slightly left in the air, and Danny had done more moving than he had and, as unfortunate as Paul undoubtedly felt, the stewards deemed that it had no effect on the result of the race and the result remained unaltered.

The second race saw a smaller field of 6 head to the 2m5f start. The Ladbrokes Novice chase of 6 runners, 5 from the Willie Mullins stable and 1 from the Gordon Elliott stable, saw Davy Russell cruise to an impressive 8.5 length victory ahead of the least fancied of the Closutton squad in second, adamantly chosen under a patient ride from Brian Hayes. 

Race 3, The Dublin Chase, threw a lot of the ante post betting community into panic mode when it opened up the Cheltenham Champion Chase a little, The green and gold hoops of Gentleman De Mee crossed the line 7 lengths clear of the short favourite, stable companion, Blue Lord. Steered by Man of the moment, Danny Mullins, who replaced Mark Walsh after his earlier fall, and could seem to do no wrong in Leopardstown this weekend. 

Race 4 saw 4 fallers, and 1 horse and rider combination part company. The most ironic of which was Gavin Cromwell’s Vanillier falling, hampering Simon Torrens on stable companion Ilikedwayurthinkin and ending that partnership. Danny Mullins, Richie Condon and Brian Hayes all hit the deck too throughout the race, all walking back into the weigh room afterwards looking none the worse. The race went the way of the Gordon Elliott team with Davy Russell getting the Goffer over the line 2 lenghts clear of Paul Gilligans 50/1 shot in second place and the English raider Top Ville Ben from the Yorkshire based Phil Kirbys yard, under a confident front running ride from Tommy Dowson. 

The Chanelle pharma Irish Champion Hurdle. The one everyone had been waiting for all day. Honeysuckle. The support this mare gets wherever we go is astonishing, the public love her, as do we. Rachel Robins was leading up stateman as I stood at the end of the parade ring waiting to remove Honeys sheets, as she passed me with the undeniably gorgeous stateman in her hand, she stretched out her hand and grabbed mine as we wished each other luck, as competitors, we’re still ‘a team’. Honeysuckle ran her race, she tried her heart out and galloped to the line, she ran a magnificent race, but there’s a new kid on the block in the Willie Mullins trained stateman. He was faultless, and I wish them all the luck with him, he looks very exciting. After the race, Jackie Mullins called me as I passed her in the parade ring and gave me a hug, congratulated me on behalf of team Knockeen on everything that Honeysuckle has achieved, and told me how wonderful she thinks she has been. I worked for Willie and Jackie before I started at Henry’s, and those little touches from our competitors, the same as Rachel prior to the race, make racing what it is. An industry, that’s more like a family, and a privilege to be a part of.

There was no time to get wrapped up in what had just happened as Inthepocket headed out for the next race under Rachael in the green and gold colours that she crossed the line in front on Minella Times in the Aintree Garnd National. Facile Vega, the son of wonder mare Quevega, was the red hot favourite, but it wasn’t to be for him. ‘Supersub’ Danny Mullins pocketed another Grade 1 victory aboard Il Etait Temps for Willie Mullins, followed into second by Henrys charge for the race, under Rachael. Facile Vega finished 5^th of the field of 6, with JJ Slevin parting company with High Definition on their way around. JJ walked back into the weigh room, seemingly, non the worse. 

Another big field head down to the start of the Festina Lente Charity Liffey Handicap Hurdle, 17 partnerships of Horse and Jockey looking to claim a victory at Dublin’s highlight of the racing calendar. Unsurprisingly at this stage, victory went the way of the Willie Mullins camp with Gaelic Warrior and Paul Townend taking the winners spot. Tony Martin’s horse finished a gallant 2^nd at 40/1 in the betting, with Henry’s Ballyadam finishing third, in colours once again familiar to Rachael, the Red, white and blue of Chevely Park which she crossed the line in front aboard A Plus Tard in last years Gold Cup in Cheltenham. 

The bumper wasn’t long coming around, the final race of the 2 day spectacular. This time was the turn of Patrick Mullins who had been denied victory so closely on day one, and was back on day 2 for another stab at the board, and no doubt a fire in his belly to ensure he got a slice of the cake today. He crossed the line on the brilliantly named Fun Fun Fun an impressive 9.5 lengths clear of the Crawford trained Lily Du Berlais in the green colours of Simon Muir & Isaac Souede that have been seen quite regularly over the past 2 days. 

If you weren’t at the Dublin Racing Festival, then you better believe, that you missed out! 

All roads lead to Cheltenham now, we won’t feel it coming around. See you all in the Cotswolds!!