IRISH-TRAINED winners have been rare at Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham in the last 20 years, indeed there were none in that period prior to 2017 when Un De Sceaux won a rescheduled Clarence House.
That win was followed by three wins in the Finesse Hurdle between 2019 and 2023 via Fakir D’Oudairies, Pied Piper and Comfort Zone, but few have tried, with a couple or three Irish runners on the card being the norm for the noughties.
It might not have been the most appealing meeting with the potential for travel difficulties and the chance the card might be abandoned, but the opportunity has been harder to pass up lately, nine horses travelling for an eight-race card in 2017 that also included a cross-country chase and 10 making the journey last year.
Five went across this year with three winning, a clear pointer to what might unfold in March, not that the markets are telling you anything different.
Wow factor
Lossiemouth was the one with the wow factor in the International Hurdle though I must admit I would not have picked her out as a juvenile hurdler that would make the instant jump to open hurdles when watching her last season.
She put in a good campaign in 2022/’23, albeit often in steadily run races, and against the same group of opponents including Gala Marceau and Zarak The Brave, though the latter winning the Galway Hurdle off 145 suggested it was a strong crop.
During my 20 or so years following races, the Triumph Hurdle types that looked most likely to make the jump were Detroit City, Our Conor, Goshen and Vauban but sometimes it is the ones you least expect like Katchit and Apple’s Jade that make the grade.
Lossiemouth seems like she is going to fall into the second group judged on last Saturday, the clamour for her to run in the Champion Hurdle speaking to that, and the trip for the Mares’ Hurdle is an unknown, given the International was a race that tested speed.
Capodanno was impressive in a different way in winning the Cotswold Chase and despite being a staying chase, it was a race that tested speed to some degree; the field were just over three seconds quicker over the last half mile than the runners in the Clarence House.
He was a good prospect as a novice chaser, but this second season over fences never got going, starting late and finishing early, but things have gone much better this term and he looks the type that could stay on into a place in the Gold Cup, if not for the fact that he is not currently entered in the race.
His sole Cheltenham entry now is the Ryanair, though his owner has no entry in the Gold Cup, and his absence from the initial entries speaks to the edge Galopin Des Champs has on his stablemates. The Grand National is his likely target, though Punchestown has been a good track for him in the past.
Staying division
Noble Yeats was a well-backed winner of the Cleeve Hurdle in a race that summed up the staying division; a Grand National winner beat a penalised 12-year-old with the third (who isn’t currently entered at Cheltenham) shaping best, only five and a half lengths covering the first six.
The Stayers’ Hurdle picture looks as murky as ever after this, so you are on your own in trying to figure out the winner, though Teahupoo should be thereabouts if the weather plays along.
The decision to miss the Galmoy Hurdle makes sense not only in terms of keeping him fresh but also because of the massive prize money discrepancy between the two races.
Where the Gowran race was worth €21,535 to the winner, last year’s Stayers’ Hurdle was valued at £197,695 with even the fourth coming away with £18,620.
No ‘dry’ spell for W.P. Mullins
DRY January wrapped up during the week for those that way inclined, but it has been anything but a barren month for Willie Mullins, the trainer sending out 40 winners last month, beating his prior best of 34 achieved last year, with 29 back in 2012 his previous best, the figures coming during a period when meetings are far from plentiful.
That stable form is brilliant for all attached to the yard heading into the Dublin Racing Festival, and a little scary for those taking him on this weekend, and the DRF is a meeting Mullins has dominated since it was refashioned in 2018.
Since then, Mullins has won 38 of the 90 races run over the weekend (42.2%) and 26 of the 47 Grade 1s (55.3%), and during that period he has been beloved among favourite backers.
In those Grade 1s, his record is 15 winners from 24 runners with favourites for a level-stakes profit of 3.78 points while all his other runners are 11 winners from 110 runners for a level-stakes loss of 40 points.
Those numbers would be much better but for last year when only two of his six favourites in Grade 1s won, Lossiemouth (4/6), Appreciate It (11/8), Blue Lord (1/4) and Facile Vega (4/9) all getting beaten somehow or another.
The expectation this year can only be that normal service will be resumed given the rampant form of the yard and with Gordon Elliott weakened by the absence of the horses formerly owned by Andy and Gemma Brown.
FINDING the Mullins-trained winners this weekend shouldn’t prove too difficult, but a couple of other names to consider are Jetara for the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle on Saturday and Feet Of A Dancer for the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Paddy Mullins Mares Handicap Hurdle on Sunday.
After failing to win over hurdles in 2022/’23, Jetara has been a big improver this season winning three on the spin after an explainable defeat at Down Royal on return when she made a couple of bad mistakes early.
From a family that tends to improve with time, she has improved with each run since, running out an impressive winner against open mares on December 29th at this track, and if anything, looking like further would suit, something that fits in with her pedigree.
She has achieved as much as any of the runners in the opening race of the meeting, especially when her allowance is factored in, and can be competitive in what is often one of the weaker Grade 1s at DRF.
Well-handicapped
The Paddy Mullins race is surprisingly light on Willie Mullins-trained runners and Feet Of A Dancer could still be well-handicapped after an easy win at Fairyhouse back in December.
Overcoming a notably wide trip, she was always travelling best to win a race that has worked out well, the likes of Nine Graces, Read To Return and Pictures Of Home boosting it since, and the 64-day absence since was by design given she goes well fresh.