Facile Vega has a lot to prove at the Dublin Racing Festival and could benefit from stepping up in trip, according to Ruby Walsh.
After a mixed novice hurdling campaign that included a defeat to Marine Nationale in the Supreme, the son of the mighty Quevega was expected to improve for a fence but the bubble has somewhat burst after trailing home last in the Racing Post Novice Chase over the Christmas period.
It has sparked talk of Facile Vega trying his luck over an intermediate distance at Leopardstown this weekend, with an entry being held for the Ladbrokes Novice Chase as well as the Irish Arkle.
Paddy Power horse racing expert Ruby Walsh is a regular at trainer Willie Mullins’ yard after being the stable’s number one jockey for many years and he revealed on the latest episode of our Cheltenham Countdown podcast series that everyone at Closutton has an opinion on the gelding.
And our main man reckons it might be worth connections taking advantage of the dam’s pedigree in order to get the most out of Facile Vega. You can listen to the show in full below.
Ruby Walsh:
He’s a lot to prove – he’s got to step back up.
He’s going to run at the weekend – whether he’ll run two miles or two miles and five, I don’t know. He’s been in work and has plenty of work done.
I don’t know if there would be a strong difference of opinion maybe about Facile Vega among the quarters in Closutton. Everyone has their own opinion, but there’s only one opinion that counts!
It will be interesting to see what they do with him and I suppose pedigree wise, to me it’s starting to look like he’s more his dam, but I think most pedigrees are and people are so quick to look at stallions purely out of fashion.
It’s what’s on the dam’s side that’s most important and Facile Vega’s not out of a two miler so maybe he’ll step up in trip and that’ll be the making of him.
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