Willie Mullins horse favourite for THREE Cheltenham Festival races as monumental gamble builds

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A NEW Willie Mullins horse is now favourite for THREE Cheltenham Festival races – after being the subject of a monumental gamble.

The JP McManus-owned French recruit Kopeck De Mee has been put in the Coral Cup, County Hurdle and Martin Pipe at next month’s Festival – despite never actually racing for Mullins.

JP McManus and Willie Mullins at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival.
Have JP McManus and Willie Mullins unearthed a future star in the shape of the heavily-punted Kopeck De Mee?

Kopeck De Mee is currently 6-1 fav for the Coral Cup handicap hurdle on the Wednesday.

And he is 6-1 joint-fav in Friday’s County and Martin Pipe handicap hurdles alongside McLaurey and Wodhooh respectively.

The surge of cash for the five-year-old came amid confusion over whether he would actually be eligible for the handicaps.

The number of runs horses need to qualify for certain races has changed this year – with Nicky Henderson’s Joyeuse one of those falling foul.

And some websites showed Kopeck De Mee having only one career run.

This was not accurate, however, and the horse has raced five times, meaning he has qualified for all of the races entered.

Billionaire racing legend McManus bought Kopeck De Mee last summer.

He was trained by Joel Boisnard in France and won three of his five races over hurdles.

The most recent was in May last year when he took a Listed contest at Auteuil.

His French rating of 68kg means he is likely to be given a rating of 136 for Cheltenham, if handicapping gurus follow their usual pattern of doubling the French rating.

Traders at William Hill, who sponsor the County, are petrified of the hammering they could take after laying a load of cash on the relatively unknown horse.

Lee Phelps from the firm said: “While JP McManus’s William Hill Hurdle winner Joyeuse can’t run in the William Hill County Hurdle as it stands, it seems like punters are siding with another green-and-gold charge for this Cheltenham handicap.

“New McManus recruit Kopeck De Mee caught our attention when backed at 20-1 in January and has been all the rage since – now the 6-1 joint-favourite for our sponsored race at the Festival.

“While we won’t find out the handicap weights for Cheltenham until a week’s time, there’s no doubt that this Mullins fancy will be carrying plenty of punters’ money in the William Hill County.

“However, it’s worth noting that he does also hold entries in the Coral Cup and the Martin Pipe, and should he run there instead of the County, William Hill customers who backed him on or after January 1st 2025 will get their money back thanks to our Non-Runner Money Back concession.”