Majborough aiming to regain winning thread in Dublin date
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Sat 31 Jan 2026
Willie Mullins has reached for cheekpieces in an attempt to solve Majborough’s jumping conundrum ahead of the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase.
The 2024 Triumph Hurdle winner looked to have the world at his feet when winning the Irish Arkle at this meeting 12 months ago.
However, he made several jumping errors at Cheltenham when third in the Arkle and even though he won at Punchestown, he jumped out markedly to his left.
This season his fencing frailties have returned in the Hilly Way and when behind Solness and Marine Nationale at Christmas, but he is the ante-post favourite for this Leopardstown contest.
Frank Berry, racing manager to owner JP McManus, said: “He’s still only just turned six. He’s never really run a bad race, it’s just he is running against very good horses.
“He’s got the cheekpieces on for the first time and you’d be hoping that if he came back to his best, he could put up a good performance.
“He’s still a young horse with plenty of time on his side.”
Joseph O’Brien’s Solness has won three Grade Ones over this course and distance and will wear a visor for the first time having previously sported cheekpieces.
“He’s been great, he loves Leopardstown and he had a very good preparation for this race,” said O’Brien.
“It looks a really good renewal of the race and we’re excited to go back there and take on Majborough and Marine Nationale again – we’ve been really happy with his preparation.
“JJ (Slevin, jockey) knows the horse well, he gets a great tune out of him so we’re delighted to have him back on board.”
Marine Nationale made a jolting error at Christmas and almost ended up facing the wrong way.
To his credit he got back on terms and drew almost level with Solness before that big effort took its toll close home and he lost by half a length.
His owner and trainer Barry Connell said: “He did his last canter this (Saturday) morning and he was in great form.
“He did a serious piece of work on the grass at the Curragh last week and the ground there was on the heavy side.
“It’s not ideal and he’s a very athletic horse who bounces off good ground, but he has won before on soft ground so I don’t have any concerns about it.
“His preparation has been very straightforward, he was just unlucky the last day when he was very fresh and took off too soon.
“He was lucky to stand up and a lot of riders would have pulled him up, but remarkably he was able to get back into it and nearly win despite losing 15 lengths at the obstacle.
“We’re confident going into the race and I think if he jumps a clear round, he wins.”
Energumene is another for Willie Mullins and the dual Champion Chase winner will have his favoured conditions.
Rider Paul Townend told Betway: “It’s a very long time since he’s run on ground like this and he definitely performs best on it, the heavier the ground the better, especially at this stage of his life. We’ve chanced having cheekpieces on him just to see if they can bring about a bit of spark in him as well. “
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