C’Est Ta Chance turns up at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday as a late‑developing French‑bred who has quietly climbed the ranks for Willie Mullins.
He now finds himself pitched into one of Ireland’s great staying handicaps with a profile that demands a closer look.
Racing in the familiar green and white Munir & Souede silks, on paper, he has a nice blend of stamina and toughness, and in practice, he has raced very much like a horse who improves with distance, experience, and a proper test of ground.
Early in his career, he was more work in progress than headline act, running up a sequence of placed efforts and the odd backward step as he learned his trade.
That patience is starting to look well spent now that he is a 7‑year‑old with a solid base of experience, yet still young enough to be on the upgrade in staying chases.
Recent Form That Matters
If you are looking for reasons to take him seriously at Fairyhouse, his recent form is a decent starting point. Those figures tell a neat little story: an unpromising run, a couple of runs that hinted at something better, and then two wins that arrived once he found his groove over fences and over a trip.
One key moment came on Thyestes day at Gowran Park, where he landed a beginners chase in testing winter ground and showed that stamina was very much his friend.
That win set him up for a much tougher assignment next time: the Grade 3 Pierce Molony Memorial Novice Chase at Thurles in early March.
Sent off at 4/1, he travelled strongly for Paul Townend and pulled four and three‑quarter lengths clear of Nowwhatdoyouthink, with stablemate Jalila Moriviere back in third and the well‑fancied Soldier In Milan only fourth.
It was the feature race on the card and completed part of a four‑timer for Mullins, but C’Est Ta Chance’s performance stood out for the way stamina came to the fore in attritional conditions.
As the Irish Examiner put it, he “backed up his Gowran Park win on Thyestes Chase day” and did it in a way that suggested there is more to come as the distances get longer.
Crucially, this isn’t a flash in the pan: over fences, he has been described as “a revelation” by Townend, and when the champion jockey is talking up a horse’s progress, it pays to listen.
The Mullins Factor
If you had to pick one trainer to navigate a lightly raced, improving chaser through the minefield of an Irish National, Willie Mullins would be high on the list.
Mullins’ team has been hitting form at just the right time, as underlined by that four‑timer at Thurles where C’Est Ta Chance supplied the feature race success. The mood music from the yard, echoed in coverage around that meeting, has been that the string is “peaking at just the right time” heading into the spring festivals.
C’Est Ta Chance also has the advantage of a top‑class support system around him: major owners in Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, and a pool of elite riders headed by Townend and Patrick Mullins, who have already steered him with confidence.
In big‑field handicaps, those small edges – knowing when to sit, when to press, when to leave your horse alone for a furlong – can make a very real difference.
Reasons To Take Him Seriously
So why should we be paying more attention to C’Est Ta Chance in the 2026 Irish Grand National?
He is in the form of his life, arriving off back‑to‑back chase wins, including a Gowran success and a Grade 3 at Thurles.
He has already proven his stamina and attitude in testing ground, which is often a key factor at Fairyhouse, and of course, he is trained by Mullins, whose yard is flying, and ridden by top‑class jockeys who know him well.
Put those together, and you have a horse who ticks far more boxes than the market may initially give him credit for, especially given that his climb has been steady rather than spectacular.
The Realistic Caveats
No horse arrives at the Irish Grand National without a few ifs and buts, and C’Est Ta Chance is no exception.
The obvious question is whether he will stay the full 3m5f; while his Thurles win advertised stamina, this will be another step again in both distance and intensity. Until he has gone that far in public, there’s an element of educated guesswork involved.
He is also relatively inexperienced in the context of a huge, rough‑and‑tumble handicap, and one serious early mistake could knock him out of his rhythm.
Fairyhouse’s fences, coupled with the sheer size of the field, will ask more questions of his jumping than he has faced so far, even if he has already handled competitive races well at Gowran and Thurles.
A Live Player, Not Just A Subplot
It could be easy to dismiss him in favour of a few of the more well-known Willie Mullins horses, after all, the trainer is saddling seven of them in this race.
But, viewed coldly, C’Est Ta Chance is exactly what you want going into an Irish Grand National. Add in the sense that he has been “a revelation over fences” this season, and you start to see why he deserves to be mentioned as more than just another number on the racecard.
He will need luck, a clear round, and a deep reservoir of stamina, like any Irish National contender. But if you are drawing up a shortlist and you still have a soft spot for the improving novice who might just be a step ahead of the handicapper, C’Est Ta Chance has to be on it – because this looks very much like his chance.
BETFRED
