ITV will show the gripping conclusion to the British trainers’ title battle between Willie Mullins and Dan Skelton on Saturday after a significant shake-up to Sandown’s card was announced in an effort to maximise the climactic nature of the duel.
Mullins dealt Skelton a damaging blow on Wednesday when reducing his lead to £24,562 after Paul Townend won both feature races at Perth for the defending champion, but the title will definitely be decided on the final day of the season.
Mullins, who is as short as 1-12 with Ladbrokes and Coral to win the title, has one runner on Thursday and none on Friday, providing Skelton with the opportunity to build his slender lead with 22 runners declared over the two days.
The title rivals will finalise their teams on Thursday morning from 38 and 33 entries respectively, and Sandown’s card will build to a crescendo after the schedule was heavily changed, with the two £175,000 races on the card, the bet365-backed Celebration Chase and Gold Cup, switched to races five and six of the seven.
The card has also been moved forward 30 minutes, meaning the first race will now be at 1.20pm rather than 1.50pm with the final race scheduled for 4.45pm and ITV extending its coverage by an hour having initially been set to finish at 4pm. Before the changes, the final race of the jumps season – the 2m4f bet365 handicap hurdle – had been due to take place at 5.20pm, after ITV had gone off air and potentially with the title race still in the balance.
The changes mean the final six races on Sandown’s card will be shown on ITV, which begins its broadcast at 1.30pm. The full meeting, including the opening race, will be available on Racing TV, according to Racing Post.
Sandown clerk of the course Andrew Cooper said: “Saturday promises to be a gripping end to the jumps season and we wanted racing fans who can’t join us on the day to be able to watch all the drama unfold live on ITV Racing.
“We’re incredibly grateful to the BHA, participants and the teams at Haydock and Leicester, who have moved races to accommodate our changes at very short notice.”
Ed Chamberlin, who will lead ITV Racing’s coverage from Sandown, praised the united approach to ensure the conclusion of the meeting could be covered on terrestrial television.
“We’re delighted that everyone has worked together to move things around on Saturday, so we’ll hopefully be able to crown the 2024-2025 champion jumps trainer live on terrestrial television,” he said. “With Sean Bowen also being crowned and John Hales being remembered, we’re set for a memorable day.”
Willie Mullins is long odds-on to be crowned champion trainer for the second year running. One of Mullins’ longest-serving owners is hoping to play a part in the Closutton charge at Sandown on Saturday as Lombron, owned by the Roaringwater Syndicate, is entered in both the bet365 Gold Cup and novice handicap chase earlier on the card.
The Roaringwater Syndicate is made up of the O’Leary family, and the late Archie O’Leary owned the legendary King George winner Florida Pearl, who won 16 races, nine of them at Grade 1 level.
O’Leary’s son Anthony has kept his legacy going by keeping horses in training with Mullins and he thinks Saturday could be another special occasion.
He said: “There is a distinct possibility Lombron will run, so it will be great to be a part of it all. Willie is not sending Lombron over there for the good of his health, that’s for sure.
“We’ve been on an incredible journey with Willie all through the years. Willie always joked that my father was his luckiest owner and a lot of people would agree with that. Team Mullins is just the envy of every team, no matter what sport you’re watching.”
O’Leary has watched Mullins train horses for the family for the best part of four decades and reflected: “Willie is very matter of fact. He doesn’t try to bamboozle people with any mystery attached to what’s going on. If your horse is in good fettle, that’s as much as he’ll say.
“If the horse doesn’t perform, and there is only one winner in every race remember, I think his analysis for when a horse is beaten is what makes him that extra bit special.”
He added: “We were at Sandown for the final day last year and it was just amazing to see the whole thing unfold in front of our eyes. It was decided with two or three races to go, and to see the reception Willie got from the Brits was absolutely fantastic. He’s not someone who courts publicity and yet the whole crowd seemed to be euphoric about the whole thing.”
Sandown’s new running order on Saturday:
1.20pm – bet365 Novices’ Championship Final Handicap Hurdle (Racing TV)
1.50pm – bet365 Josh Gifford Novices’ Handicap Chase (ITV/RTV)
2.25pm – bet365 Oaksey Chase (ITV/RTV)
3.00pm – bet365 Select Hurdle (ITV/RTV)
3.35pm – bet 365 Celebration Chase (ITV/RTV)
4.10pm – bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase (ITV/RTV)
4.45pm – bet365 Handicap Hurdle (ITV/RTV)
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