Fairyhouse Tips: Just back Willie Mullins?

Fairyhouse's famous Easter Festival begins on Saturday and concludes on Monday evening, shortly after the Irish Grand National - the feature race of the three-day meeting.

But there's two excellent cards to enjoy beforehand and I'm tasked with coming up with some Fairyhouse tips for the first day which I expect to be dominated by, you guessed it, Willie Mullins.

15:55 - Klarc Kent @ 11/4

The first race of interest to me is the Ladies National Handicap Chase, which can go to the Closutton maestro courtesy of KLARC KENT.

The eight-year-old is very lightly-raced for his age and, after a lacklustre season over hurdles, he's started to show some of the promise he displayed in bumpers a couple of years ago for going chasing this term.

He's improved steadily between his three runs, culminating in a highly-respectable third at Punchestown last month. He was beaten just over two lengths by the 142-rated Senior Chief for Henry De Bromhead, which suggests his opening mark of 125 is on the lenient side.

Jody Townend, who's operating at an outstanding 26% strike rate this season, in the saddle is another huge plus - while conditions suit also.

16:30 - Olympic Man @ 5/2

Then, I'm suggesting OLYMPIC MAN in this Listed novice handicap hurdle over three miles.

Similar to Klarc Kent, appearances have been infrequent for this seven-year-old son of Martaline, but he appears to be coming to hand and was rather impressive when bolting up in a Naas maiden hurdle by 15 lengths earlier this month.

He's not a great jumper so stepping up to three miles should help in that department, but there's absolutely no doubting his engine and obvious ability. The fact he was also entered in the Grade 2 here on Sunday shows the regard in which he's held.

With further improvement and a better round of jumping, an opening mark of 131 could really underestimate Paul Townend's mount who is fresher than most of his rivals, plenty of whom have been on the go all season.