Facile Vega Horse - Age, weight, trainer, owner, race record and form

Facile Vega has generated a lot of interest over the last couple of years and he has been impressively consistent on the track over hurdles, but is possibly struggling to fulfil his potential as a chaser now.

Facile Vega Owner

Facile Vega was bred and has always been owned by the Hammer & Trowel Syndicate and he is the owners' prized asset, with his younger sister Aurora Vega their only other active horse at the time of writing. 

His sire Walk In The Park is synonymous with top jumps performers and he's out of the super-mare Quevega - the record-breaking winner of six successive Cheltenham Festival races, winning the Mares' Hurdle every year from 2009-2014.

Facile Vega races in the same iconic red/blue colours carried so successfully by his mother.

Facile Vega Trainer

He is certainly in good hands, being trained by 17-time Irish National Hunt champion trainer Willie Mullins at his Closutton stable. 

Mullins began training in 1988 and has gone on to become one of the greatest of all time in his field, being responsible for a record 103 Cheltenham Festival winners after the 2024 festival.

He is the benchmark for success in the modern era and won his fourth Cheltenham Gold Cup in six years when Galopin Des Champs triumphed on 15th March.

Facile Vega Age

Facile Vega is now seven years old, having made his debut as a four-year-old at Leopardstown on St Stephen's Day in 2021.

Facile Vega Official Rating

Facile Vega ended his hurdle days with an official rating of 155 following an excellent win at Punchestown in April 2023.

Following three efforts in novice races over fences that have provided mixed results, Facile Vega was granted an official chase rating of 151, though he was dropped 1lb after managing no better than seventh in the Turners Novices' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. 

Facile Vega Next Race

Having come in for major market support in the days leading into the Cheltenham Festival, Facile Vega went off joint-favourite at 5/2 in the Turners but, in truth Paul Townend's partner never looked likely to justify that status when things got underway and he was beaten more than 17-lengths in the end.

It is very much back to the drawing board now for a horse Mullins has always held in the highest regard.

He's entered in The WilllowWarm Gold Cup at Fairyhouse on Easter Sunday but, more likely, he could turn up at the Punchestown Festival in April.

Facile Vega Record

Facile Vega was unbeaten in bumpers, delivering a hugely impressive effort at the Dublin Racing Festival in February 2022 before going on to Grade 1 wins at Cheltenham and Punchestown.

He enjoyed an excellent hurdling career, winning three of his five races over the smaller obstacles and finishing second in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.

His biggest triumph to date came over hurdles came in his last race in that sphere, the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown last April, when beating Il Etait Temps by seven-and-a-half lengths to take the prize.

Since switching to chasing it has been mixed results, however.

Facile Vega won snugly on his chase debut at Navan in November, earning a good report from Townend, but has essentially proved frustrating since in three more outings.

He trailed in last of four as odds-on favourite in the Grade 1 Racing Post Novice Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas and was third back over the same C&D in the Irish Arkle in February.

There was no shortage of optimism when he went up to 2m4f for the first time in the Turners, but it proved unfounded and Facile Vega's supporters are now having their patience tested.

Facile Vega Prize Money

Facile Vega has earned a total prize fund of £326,584 in his career to date.

North of £150,000 of those earning came during his four-race winning sequence in bumpers, however.

Facile Vega News

Back in December 2021, Willie's son Patrick was quizzed on which of the battalion of contenders his father would send out in the days ahead should be looked out for.

The rider, who partners a lot of the best in the Closutton bumper squad, had no hesitation in putting forward the name Facile Vega.

His family connections were known, but Mullins informed listeners that his work at home was pleasing everyone and his excitement was noted.

Fast-forward just over three years and the now seven-year-old finds himself at a crossroads following his latest defeat at the Cheltenham Festival.

Ruby Walsh, still such a key cog in the Closutton wheel, had a rather ominous sounding pre-Cheltenham appraisal, considering how things have transpired.

"Willie Mullins has never hidden his belief in Facile Vega's ability, but Facile has let him down a few times and WP is rolling the dice here with the change in trip," he told the Irish Examiner.

"If he's anything like his mother, the magical Quevega, then stamina should be his forte, so it might be risky to desert him now if you have followed him for the season. It is his last chance from this quarter."

Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.