Ballyburn can scorch his rivals
ONE racing certainty is that favourites don’t always deliver — only nine won here last year — but there will be cries of anguish if Ballyburn, Fact To File and El Fabiolo don’t hit a treble Grade One top for Willie Mullins today.
before all eyes turn to the closing Champion Bumper, a race which was associated with Willie as his most likely source of winners for many years.
Today, Willie has the armoury to target all the elite races and the Champion Chase, which he had not won before Energumene’s breakthrough success in 2022, is one of them.
But for injury, Energumene could be targeting three in a row today in the two-mile test of jumping and speed, but Mullins has a ready-made replacement in El Fabiolo, who bids to become the eighth of the last 14 Arkle Chase winners to have followed up with Champion Chase glory the following season.
I think it’s El Fabiolo’s race to lose. The pace they’re going to go, with Edwardstone, Gentlemen
De Mee, Elixir De Nutz all going forward, Paul Townend will be quite happy to tuck in behind them and bide his time.
Jonbon and El Fabiolo have met each other twice, with one win apiece, but El Fabiolo is younger at seven — and he’s improving. I’ll be checking out Jonbon in the pre-race parade ring as he can get quite worked up before races.
We’ll never know whether Energumene would have matched Barnbrook Again’s feat of three successive Champion Chases but in El Fabiolo, I think this fellow is the next champion.
Ballyburn has only seven rivals in the opening Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle, while Fact To File faces five in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (2.10).
After Willie flagged their intended races early, it’s scared off others into taking their chances elsewhere. At least the handicaps are full.
I think the trip of two miles and five furlongs is ideal for Ballyburn.
He’s the horse that everybody has been taking about. He’s got the reputation and he’s got the form.
Skipping the ‘Supreme’ for the longer race, I think is the right call. It’s not a very strong race.
It’s too early to say if Ballyburn will be a superstar. But Willie and Co have always had a high opinion of him, even when he was running in bumpers.
I like his running style. He’s got a low head carriage and a real appetite for the game, natural jumper who looks like he’s got it all. If he’s Willie Mullins’ best novice then he’s the best novice at Cheltenham, as Willie has the best horses.
I wouldn’t tip a horse each way in this as I don’t think any of them are potential stars.
Maybe Predators Gold can put it up to the favourite. He was second at the Dublin Racing Festival over two miles and six furlongs, where he was too keen and ridden wide. He’d a big reputation before that after running over two miles at Christmas, behind Caldwell Potter.
Fact To File looks bullet-proof to me in the Brown Advisory Chase. I think he’d have been first in the Turners if he’d gone for that option tomorrow.
Down in Closutton they see him as a Gold Cup horse for next year.
Like Monkfish, the winner in 2021, they’re going down the three-mile route.
Stay Away Fay is not quick, Monty’s Star is not quick. This is a jumping test. Mark Walsh will switch him off and pounce when ready with a horse quick enough to finish second in the Bumper last year. I’d be shocked if they got beaten.
The Coral Cup (2.50) is always a terrific betting race, and a tricky one to pick the winner of, too.
I think Gordon Elliott’s Jigoro has bright prospects. Only a fiveyear-old, his run behind Tullyhill is obvious form.
I also like Built By Ballymore, a six year-old, who has won his last two races for quiet man Martin Brassil by 12 lengths apiece.
Seán and Bernadine Mulryan were knocking on the door at the Festival last year, and have Fastorslow, also trained by Brassil, in the Gold Cup on Friday. The profile of the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase (4.10) has changed with more Grade One runners than before — an inspection this morning will determine whether it goes ahead today or is pushed back to Friday. It will be Minella Indo’s sixth consecutive Festival, seventh run at Cheltenham, and he’s only once finished out of the first four, when he pulled up in Gold Cup last year. He’s won the Albert Bartlett Hurdle, was second in the RSA, won the Gold Cup, and second again in the Gold Cup. He’s a class act.
“I like his running style — he’s a natural jumper” “Minella Indo is Rachael’s best chance of a winner”
Connections gave him a lovely education around the track here last December and I think he’s the best chance of a winner this week for Rachael Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead.
Gordon Elliott has an excellent record in this race and he runs Delta Work, winner for the past two years, Galvin and Coko Beach.
The latter won at Punchestown last month where Stattler didn’t handle the banks at all. It’s a different track here which should suit this former National Hunt Chase winner, who’s an each-way shout at a decent price.
In the Grand Annual Chase (4.50) over two miles, Maskada is back again for Henry de Bromhead, if higher in the weights.
I like Saint Roi, he’s a Grade One-winning novice chaser, from the Mullins yard. He has a fine Festival record — winner of the County Hurdle, fourth in the Champion Hurdle, third in the Arkle Chase.
He’s been warming up for this all year and caught my eye in the Dan Moore Chase at Fairyhouse. If you draw a line through his last run in the Dublin Racing Festival, he has the ability to bounce back here.
In the Champion Bumper (5.30), Jalon D’oudairies from the Elliott team was the one that impressed me most in Leopardstown at Christmas.
At a price Fleur Au Fusil, who made all in a Grade Two bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival, is completely overpriced at 16/1. She should be half those odds.
Katie Walsh won the Bumper on a mare called Relegate for Willie Mullins in 2018. This may be an omen for Jody Townend. You never know.