Florida Pearl goes into the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Sunday aiming for an historic fourth successive win. The Willie Mullins-trained horse is the ante-post favourite for the €160,000 event, and will be aiming to beat Jodami’s record of three straight wins in Ireland’s most prestigious race.
“It would be great if he could win. It would be fantastic for the horse and for his owners,” said Mullins, before adding that the horse and fellow stablemate contender Alexander Banquet “are both in good shape”.
After a ten-day washout in Irish racing, it is hoped Sunday’s race will escape the recent inclement weather. “The going is heavy at the moment and the forecast is for more rain today but for a reasonably good day tomorrow then more rain on Sunday. There is no inspection planned. We will continue to monitor the situation but we should be ok,” said racecourse manager Tom Burke.
However, with the likely heavy conditions, there are now just three horses going to post with the Mullins' duo. Behrajan is the only British challenger and he will be joined by recent Pillar Chase winner Rince Ri from the Ted Walsh Stable and Francis Crowley's hugely promising Sackville at the starting line.
Filed by Tom Grealis
