FAKIR SHOWS IRISH POWER
FAKIR D’OUDAIRIES sounded an ominous pre-cheltenham warning with a battling victory in the Grade 1 Betfair Ascot Chase.
The 9/4 favourite’s win from 25/1 outsider Two For Gold, was his third at the top level.
But the Irish raider rates a few pounds shy of the best in his homeland, as evidenced in three defeats by Willie Mullins’ Allaho – including an 11-length humbling in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham last March - in the past 12 months.
So the result – a length-and-aquarter-upwards beating of the home defence, which included past victors Dashel Drasher and Waiting Patiently – makes chastening reading for British runners ahead of next month’s National Hunt Festival following a 23-5 drubbing at the hands of the Irish in 2021.
Winning trainer Joseph O’brien, who will return Fakir D’oudairies to Cheltenham for the Ryanair Chase in 25 days, said: “It was nice today to run in a Grade 1 where we wouldn’t meet Allaho – as good a two-and-a-half-miler as there is around at the moment. Our horse is tough and he fought all the way to the line.
“He never really runs a bad race. He has come up a little short at times, but he runs with his heart on his sleeve.”
JP Mcmanus’s Irishbased jockey Mark Walsh, dedicating the win to his uncle, Michael Walsh, who passed away during the week, added: “I was confident before he made a mistake at the second-last.
“The second is a tough horse who stays galloping so he had to
rally but, in fairness to him, he did.”
Meanwhile at Haydock Park, The Galloping Bear overhauled top weight Bristol De Mai to land the William Hill Grand National Trial for rookie trainer Ben Clarke.
The gambled-on 9/2 favourite does not hold an entry for Aintree on April 9 and Dorsetbased Clarke, who took out a licence in September, said: “If you see him again this season it will be in the Irish National.”
TEAHUPOO was slashed from 20/1 to 8/1 for the Champion Hurdle at the Festival after cantering home by 11 lengths in the Red Mills Trial Hurdle at Gowran Park.