Cheltenham Festival tips: Willie Mullins’ assistant’s ‘banker’ double | Racing | Sport

David Casey has served as Willie Mullins’ trusted assistant since hanging up his boots 11 years ago. The jockey partnered the Closutton maestro from the age of 17, claiming major victories including two Irish Hennessys, the Galway Plate and the Thyestes Chase, alongside the 2002 Grand Annual Chase at Cheltenham aboard Fadoudal Du Cochet and the Royal and SunAlliance Chase on Rule Supreme in 2004.

Casey’s riding career concluded with Long Dog’s triumph in a novice hurdle at Listowel on Kerry National day in 2015. Shortly afterwards, he travelled with Max Dynamite to Australia for the Melbourne Cup. The 50-year-old remains integral to the Mullins operation and holds high hopes for two stable runners at next week’s Cheltenham Festival – Fact To File in the Ryanair and Majborough in the Champion Chase.

Speaking about the latter to BOYLE Sports, who provide the latest Cheltenham odds, he said: “Majborough did at Leopardstown was pretty exceptional and I thought if he put up the same performance, he’d be very hard to beat.

“He used to be a bit keen and we put cheek pieces on him. We felt that when he was in front on his own, he used to idle and we think that’s the reason he made the mistakes.

“So, at Christmas we tried getting a bit of cover and we sent him in behind Solness, and he jumped better but we didn’t use his attributes. He stays well and he can go at a very high cruising speed. So, we put the cheek pieces back on.

“Mark Walsh was confident that he wanted to go a good gallop, he needs a good really strong even gallop and he got that the last time with the cheek pieces on.

“We just felt if he was going to be in front, then the cheek pieces would keep him focused and keep him concentrating on the fences in front of him and it appeared that way and he put up a huge performance.”

Irish Gold Cup winner Fact To File remains a potential supplementary entry for Cheltenham’s Gold Cup, though the betting markets strongly indicate he will instead defend his Ryanair Chase title. Casey is convinced he will be the one to beat should he line up in Thursday’s contest.

He added: “JP, his team and Willie will decide where they want to go but he’s obviously the reigning champion from the Ryanair last year and if he runs in the Ryanair, I think he’ll take all the beating.”