Sixmilebridge upsets Ireland’s leading stables at Sandown as Dublin festival postponed

• Opening day at Leopardstown ruined by rain

• 6-1 shot Sixmilebridge wins grade one race at Sandown

Ireland’s most powerful stables were frustrated on both sides of the Irish Sea on Saturday. The postponement of the first day of the Dublin racing festival at Leopardstown was followed by a victory for Fergal O’Brien’s Sixmilebridge in the Grade One Scilly Isles Novice Chase at Sandown.

Willie Mullins’s Kitzbuhel set off as the 10-11 favourite for Sandown’s four-runner feature event, with Gordon Elliott’s Kala Conti next in the list at 2-1, but the market leader got no further than the sixth fence, where a bad mistake unseated Paul Townend, his rider. Sixmilebridge, at 6-1, was far more fluent at his fences and having made all the running, Kielan Woods’s mount stayed on well from the last to beat Kala Conti by five lengths. Continue reading...