Fastorslow in two minds over Dublin Festival
FASTORSLOW will have two options at next month’s Dublin Racing Festival, as Martin Brassil looks to put the finishing touches to his Cheltenham Gold Cup contender.
Having inflicted a shock defeat on Galopin Des Champs in the Punchestown Gold Cup in April, Fastorslow proved there was no fluke about that when again getting the better of last season’s Cheltenham hero in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase on his seasonal debut.
The trilogy was expected to take place in Leopardstown’s Savills Chase over the festive period, but Fastorslow was withdrawn on the morning of the race due to the deteriorating ground conditions.
In his absence, Galopin Des Champs got back on the winning trail with a brilliant victory, cementing his status in the eyes of the bookmakers as the one to beat in the blue riband at Prestbury Park in March, while trainer Willie Mullins is considering taking in the Irish Gold Cup before the defence of his Cheltenham crown.
Fastorslow is also in Irish Gold Cup contention, but Brassil will also consider the two-mile-one-furlong Ladbrokes Dublin Chase at the same fixture should testing conditions again prevail.
‘The entries closed today for the Dublin Racing Festival, so we’ve entered him up for there,’ Brassil told the PA news agency yesterday.
‘He’s in the Irish Gold Cup and we’ve put him in the shorter race as well, just in case the ground came up heavy, then we might run in the shorter race with it being close to the (Cheltenham) Gold Cup.’
Brassil has no regrets about sidestepping the Savills Chase, adding: ‘It was a horrible evening there, I’d had a couple of runners in the Paddy Power Chase the day before and the ground had well opened up.
‘We’ve never ran him on it (testing ground) before, we said we had another option (Dublin Racing Festival) and we said we’d take it.’
While admitting to being impressed by the 23-length success of Galopin Des Champs, he is not shying away from taking him on again.
He said: ‘He was great wasn’t he? He really was. It’s two-nil at the moment anyway.’
Meanwhile, French star Theleme will revert to the Flat next month in preparation for a tilt at the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
The seven-year-old has struck Grade One gold five times in his homeland, including victory in last year’s French Champion Hurdle and successive wins in the Grand Prix d’Automne at Auteuil.
He has enjoyed a winter break since his most recent triumph in the latter contest in November — and with alternative opportunities thin on the ground, the Arnaud Chaille-Chaille-trained gelding is set to switch codes for for his final outing before an intended trip to the Cotswolds in March.