Townend faces tricky Cheltenham choices after Colreevy and Allaho wins
Paul Townend seems likely to have two more tricky decisions to make before the Cheltenham Festival in seven weeks’ time after Colreevy and Allaho completed a Grade Two double for Willie Mullins at Thurles on Wednesday. Both horses started at odds-on, both were comfortable winners at the line and both then joined or replaced a stable companion at the top of the betting for a Grade One at the Festival.
Colreevy is the new 9-2 favourite for the first running of the Mares’ Chase on 19 March, replacing Benie Des Dieux (5-1), after winning a mares’ novice chase by 12 lengths in little more than a canter. The third-favourite for the same race, is another Mullins-trained runner in Elimay, who ran Allaho to three lengths half an hour later and briefly looked a significant danger to the 10-11 favourite.
Allaho joined Min, last year’s Ryanair Chase winner, as 6-1 joint-favourite for this season’s renewal after finally adding another win over fences to his success in a beginners’ event in January 2020.
Min was one of the five winners for Townend at last year’s Festival when he edged out the now-retired Barry Geraghty and take the prize for the meeting’s top rider for the first time. It would be no surprise to see Townend end up aboard Allaho, however, as the sevenyear-old should still be open to plenty of improvement.
“I think he was idling in front all the time,” Mullins said, “and that [two-anda-half miles] might be more his trip. I was a little worried when Elimay got to him, but when he saw her, he picked up and went away again like a decent horse.
“Allaho is a huge horse and I thought he was a three-miler, but maybe he is better off coming back to two-four or two-five. He is making progress and he will improve into the spring, which is the time of year you want to improve in. I’m looking forward to his next run and he’ll probably go straight to Cheltenham.
“Elimay ran a fantastic race as well, and she will go for the Opera Hat Chase [at Naas] next and maybe on to the mares’ chase in Cheltenham after that.”
Colreevy remains unbeaten after three starts over fences and while Mullins mentioned a race at Limerick in early March as a possible target, the new addition to the Festival’s schedule must also be a consideration.
“[The owners] were hoping, coming here today, to hopefully win and go on to Limerick,” the trainer said. “We might revise plans, but we’ll see. Whether or not she has enough experience over fences to go to Cheltenham is another day’s work. Certainly what she has done [so far] would lead you to think she might have as good a chance as anything over there.”