Three to follow from the Dublin Racing Festival
Last weekend’s Dublin Racing Festival was a credit to all involved in staging the two-day showcase Leopardstown fixture. There were outstanding headline performances by the likes of Fact To File, Brighterdaysahead, Majborough, Doctor Steinberg and Talk The Talk among others, but there were also notable performances by a number of horses who didn’t strike gold at the Dublin track, but who may very well pay their way in the coming months, writes Paul Alster.
Originally scheduled to be staged on Saturday and Sunday, the first day of the fixture was postponed as the track wasn’t raceable due to torrential rain. The Leopardstown ground staff worked through the night to have the track fit for racing on Sunday, then the original Saturday card was moved to Monday to ensure some of the key races, championship events in their own right but also major trials for the Cheltenham Festival, could take place. Unsurprisingly, ground conditions were particularly gruelling.
Three horses went into my notebook as being worth serious consideration next time out:
DAMEAUSCOTTLESTOWN (Gavin Cromwell) looked to be an unlucky loser of the 2m2f Irish Stallion Farms EBF Paddy and Maureen Mullins Mares Handicap Hurdle (Listed), the opening race on the Sunday card, run in heavy ground. The 6yo had shown little in her first three starts under rules and as recently as mid-December started at 250/1 for the third of those races, a 2m3f Punchestown maiden hurdle in which she finished a moderate ninth of the 18 runners in heavy ground to qualify for a handicap mark of just 98. Three weeks later, she returned to Punchestown and looked a different horse when encountering a sounder surface back at two miles, duly staying on strongly having been held up for much of the race, winning by nearly four lengths.
Stepped markedly up in class and over an extra two furlongs on heavy ground, on Sunday she travelled well throughout but had around a dozen horses in front of her on the final bend as prominent racer Cousin Kate set sail for home. Buffeted around as she tried to make her move, then twice switched to get a clear run, Cromwell’s mare stayed on powerfully into second after the last then found Cousin Kate drifting across her halfway up the run-in so had to check and switch again. She eventually finished a staying-on second, beaten just three-quarters-of-a-length, a fine effort in the circumstances. Now rated 118, it won’t be easy to get into any of the Cheltenham handicap hurdles at between two to two-miles-five furlongs due to her relatively low mark, but if she somehow sneaks in she would be well worth considering, and better ground would be no problem. Wherever she goes next, DAMEAUSCOTTLESTOWN (pictured above) looks worth following.
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Later on the opening day of the DRF, Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead produced an excellent performance to beat Lossiemouth in the Grade 1 Timeless Sash Windows Irish Champion Hurdle, seemingly more at home in the very testing conditions than the beloved Willie Mullins-trained grey. Eleven lengths back in third was PONIROS, also trained by Willie Mullins, who on his first outing for 225 days ran an eye catching race that suggested he could well be the joker in the pack in the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday, March 10, the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival.
It was at last year’s Cheltenham Festival that PONIROS (pictured above) sprang one of the biggest ever surprises at the meeting, inflicting the only defeat on the high-class Lulamba as he cut down Nicky Henderson’s star turn to land the Grade 1 JCB Triumph Hurdle in remarkable fashion at 100/1 on his first ever run over timber. Lulamba got his revenge when turning the form around at Punchestown, but Mullins’ exciting prospect would have been beaten less than the eventual four lengths had he not fluffed his lines at the final flight. Given that his two excellent juvenile hurdle performances came on relatively decent ground, after such a long absence his staying-on third in very heavy conditions at Leopardstown last weekend augurs well for his chance back at Cheltenham in less than five weeks’ time, where the likelihood of better ground will only enhance his chance with that first run of the campaign now under his belt. Current odds of 16/1 each-way PONIROS with most firms for the Champion Hurdle looks good value in a very open market about a horse who could still have more improvement to come.
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Willie Mullins has an embarrassment of riches in the chasing department and his Fact To File was very impressive in defeating the three-time previous race winner and dual Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs (finished third) by over thirteen lengths in the Grade 1 Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup Chase. Splitting the pair to make it a Closutton 1-2-3 was GAELIC WARRIOR, (pictured below) ridden by Patrick Mullins, who ran a fabulous race having taken a very keen hold for more than a circuit that may well have cost him as much as the five lengths by which he was beaten into second place. On his previous start he missed out by just a short-head in the Grade 1 King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, won by The Jukebox Man.
Hugely talented and versatile and likely to be equally competitive at the highest level at any trip from two miles to 3m2f, my gut feeling watching the Leopardstown race was that on the very testing ground he found the three-miles-and-half-a-furlong as far as he wanted to go, especially given his exuberant style of running. Such a doubt would make the 3m2f of the Cheltenham Gold Cup on a stiffer track on easy ground a potential step too far stamina-wise, but the Grade 1 2m5f Ryanair Chase on March 12 really looks tailor-made for the ex-French 8yo, especially as Fact To File now appears more likely to head to the Gold Cup. The bookies haven’t missed his performance and GAELIC WARRIOR is now 9/4 ante-post favourite, but he might well prove to be the best of this year’s Cheltenham Festival if he does indeed head to the ‘Ryanair.
Paul Alster has broadcast and reported on the British racing industry for four decades as a commentator, journalist, TV and radio presenter, betting correspondent, SP Returner, tipster and form analyst, among other things.