Talking Horses: Willie Mullins bids for Flat success on top of jumps mastery

Content, Ryan Moore’s choice from three entries from the Aidan O’Brien yard, is the likely favourite for the Irish Oaks. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Willie Mullins is already the champion trainer over jumps in both Ireland and Britain and he will attempt to extend his success to one of the Flat’s seasons most prestigious races when Lope De Lilas goes to post as one of the favourites for the Irish Oaks at the Curragh on Saturday.

Mullins’s father, Paddy, won the same Classic in 2003 with Vintage Tipple, and Lope De Lilas will set off at around 7-1 after a convincing success in a maiden at Leopardstown in May, when she carried the colours of Mullins’s wife, Jackie. Lope De Lilas has since been sold to race for the Qatar-based Wathnan Racing operation and will be ridden by its retained rider, James Doyle, on Saturday.