MAIDEN hurdles run in November and December are typically the strongest races of that type all year, and are predictably dominated by the major yards; there have been 43 such races in 2024 through last Sunday, the big five trainers (Mullins, Elliott, De Bromhead, Cromwell and O’Brien) taking 26 of them, all with multiple winners, no other handler with more than one.

One smaller yard to get among the winners at Navan on Saturday was Colm Murphy with Goraibhmaithagat and he was as impressive a maiden hurdle winner as any in recent weeks. He had won his sole start in points in February and was ridden wide in the rear of the main group for a look at his hurdles, but his jumping proved an asset, in contrast to his full-brother Cadatharla who has had persistent issues in that department.

Travelling smoothly on the run to the last, he quickly pulled clear with an expensive Robcour runner that had been strong in the betting, the pair leaving the rest behind in the closing stages but the Murphy runner only needing to be pushed out late, the time of the race the pick of the three two-mile maidens on the card.

The result seemed unexpected as the J.P. McManus-owned gelding was sent off 16/1, Frank Berry commenting afterwards that he has not been put in any of the early-closing races but, on this evidence, he could be worth a shot the next time those entries come up.

Not yet convinced

The other notable novice performance at Navan was Ile Atlantique winning his beginners’ chase by nine lengths but for the moment you can colour me sceptical on him.

In his three seasons with Willie Mullins, he has won well on his first start but as a bumper and novice hurdle horse failed to win afterwards, including defeats at 2/5, 6/4, 2/1 and 5/2. He has always seemed well-regarded, and connections have said for a while that he will be better over fences, while it is possible that the first-time tongue-tie here was transformative.

But tongue-ties tend to be more negative with Mullins than positive; with all his National Hunt runners since 2020, his tongue-tied runners have win and place strike rates of 20.7% and 39.5% but that improves to 27.4% and 49.8% without the aid.

Ile Atlantique looked good here and largely jumped well but beat Waterford Whispers by roughly the same distances as their hurdle marks suggested he would, while Good Land was a drifter in the betting and likely needed the run.

Perhaps we are going to see a new version of Ile Atlantique this winter, but I would prefer to see him prove it again.

CORK had their big National Hunt meeting on Sunday and the features did not disappoint, which was in keeping with recent runnings. The chase for novice mares has produced Cheltenham winners in two of the last five years, along with a narrow runner-up, the Hilly Way won in 2021 and 2022 by subsequent Champion Chase winner that season, Energumene.

The latter had the feeling of déjà vu all over with Energumene landing a third win in the race on Sunday, but the Champion Chase scene has changed much in his 593-day absence, neither Shishkin nor Chacun Pour Soi around any longer.

Energumene faced more opposition than he had in his previous two wins but suggested most if not all of his ability remains, jumping well if right late on, and while he may be an old one at this point, he remains a good one.

Banbridge the revelation

Banbridge, who unseated at the last, was the revelation of the race for me. His Grade 1 win over this trip at Punchestown felt fraudulent at the time, a weak contest that produced an end-of-season result, but he coped well with what was only a moderate gallop here, jumping and travelling smoothly.

Whether he was coming to beat Energumene is open to question, but he was certainly going to emerge as the best horse at the weights as he conceded 10lbs to the winner and though he failed to complete, the nature of his departure is unlikely to cause him to miss any time.

Connections have spoken about the King George for a while and that remains the plan. His route there has been unorthodox, but the Fortria and the Hilly Way were their plan all along, the former run badly needed it seems, and if he gets decent ground at Kempton, he can be a big player, his record on yielding or faster now reading:141101121114U.

Only By Night ran out a most impressive winner of the mares’ novice chase over the same trip as the Hilly Way, building on an excellent chase debut at Tipperary and again jumping well, briefly shuffled back before four out but soon going best into the straight and winning on the bridle.

She is already a better chaser than hurdler and there are plenty of opportunities for her, both in Ireland and Britain, with the expanded programme for mares.

She has looked well-suited by a strongly run two miles on both her chase starts and has to prove she gets two and a half miles, seeming not to get home over that trip when running in a Grade 1 at Fairyhouse last Easter, albeit she was coming off a break at the time.

Another slight concern is that she may be best in the early part of the season.

She quickly ran off a three-timer in less than two months around this time last year but didn’t seem the same mare after travelling to Lingfield for their Winter Millions meeting.

HRI’s changes to the jumps programme are to be broadly welcomed, as they were needed to improve competition, but they will need to be wary of unintended consequences.

The headline change was the removal of the two-mile Grade 1 novice chase on St. Stephen’s Day at Leopardstown, something that could be justified with that race attracting an average field size of just 5.2 runners over the previous five years.

Their idea was to filter the handful of horses that would have run there into other races to make bigger fields and boost competitiveness but for this year at least two likely runners in that December 26th race finished up travelling to England, hardly to the benefit of Irish racing.

Two promising Gordon Elliott-trained novice chasers, Down Memory Lane and Touch Me Not, went to Sandown for the Henry VIII last Saturday and while neither won, it was an unusual move for Elliott to have Grade 1 runners in England at this time of the year; going back to 2008, he had just 14 runners in English Grade 1s before the turn of the year.

Willie Mullins has also suggested that star novice Ballyburn may travel to England due to the Leopardstown race being discontinued, stating the upgraded novice chase at Naas in January is too close to the DRF.

There are now just two Grade 1 novice chases over two miles run in Ireland each season, the Irish Arkle and the equivalent race at Punchestown, whereas the intermediate trip horses are better catered for; there are three separate Grade 1s around that trip between early December and early February, at Fairyhouse, Limerick and Leopardstown with another one to follow at Easter.

Limerick likely needs to retain that Grade 1 to keep the quality of their Christmas meeting up, and perhaps this will prove a blip because the two-mile novice chase division is strong, but it is something to monitor at least.