Those fearing a Willie Mullins rout at Cheltenham will hope Gordon Elliott gets some weekend momentum to take the fight to his old rival at the upcoming festival.
The scale of Mullins’s dominance, underlined at last week’s Dublin Racing Festival, means cramped 1-3 odds about him saddling eight or more winners at Cheltenham in four weeks.
That the same firms go only 7-4 about him securing 10 or more of the 28 races up for grabs underscores the scale of the task facing his rivals.
Elliott is a 5-1 second favourite for the leading trainer award that he won himself back-to-back in 2017 and 2018.
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This time, he has Teahupoo and Irish Point dominating the stayers’ hurdle picture. But with so much depending on momentum between now and the biggest meeting of the year, Elliott has plenty riding on this weekend’s action.
The reigning stayers champion Sire Du Berlais returns to action in Sunday’s William Hill Boyne Hurdle at Navan, in which Elliott has half the field.
They also include the 2021 winner Beacon Edge, although in Cheltenham terms it will be the fortunes of Delta Work and Galvin that may attract particular focus.
The pair fought out a memorable finish in last year’s cross-country and Delta Work is a general 4-1 shot to pull off a hat-trick in next month’s marathon contest.
Sunday’s race also sees last year’s winner Blazing Khal return to action, but in a contest with such a “trial” vibe to it, maybe Da Capo Glory can use the circumstances to collect a career highlight for his west Cork trainer Pádraig Butler.
Brighterdaysahead was usurped as favourite for Cheltenham’s Dawn Run Novices’ Hurdle after Jade De Grugy’s Dublin Racing Festival victory last weekend but she will be firmly centre stage for Sunday’s Listed mares contest.
The unbeaten €310,000 purchase, with one of the best pedigrees in the National Hunt book, must concede 7lbs, including to her stable companion Mel Monroe. However, it will be a significant blow to connections if she can’t go to Cheltenham with a spotless record.
Sunday’s other Grade Two, the Ten Up Novice Chase, is effectively a Mullins-Elliott head-to-head with a pair of runners each.
Having missed out on the Dublin Racing Festival due to the going, American Mike lines up alongside stablemate Favori De Champdou with Jack Kennedy opting to partner the former.
Paul Townend has chosen Nick Rockett over Minella Cocooner and it’s not hard to see why considering the Mullins No. 1 looks like he has been crying out for this kind of stamina test.
Mullins unveils another French import, Gaucher, a son of Frankel, in Sunday’s opener. The well-bred sort won twice on the flat in France and will do well to cope with Ascending the first time of asking over flights.
Those interested in finding the Boodles winner at Cheltenham won’t miss Saturday’s opener at Naas.
Three of the last five winners of a festival race still referred to as the ‘Fred Winter’ have landed this contest en route: Brazil (2022), Aramax (2020) and Band Of Outlaws (2019).
The latter’s trainer, Joseph O’Brien, also won the Naas race with Druid’s Altar in 2021 and supplies an intriguing contender this time in Lark In The Mornin.
A winner on the flat last year, he is already an 8-1 second favourite for the Cheltenham race with some firms and can break his jumping maiden before heading to Gloucestershire.
Elliott runs Pacini in the opener and has a pair of stalwart former Grade One winners in Hardline and Battleoverdoyen for the later Hunters’ Chase where Mullins’s Billaway tries to pull off a rare feat.
The 2022 Cheltenham hero is going for five in a row in the Naas contest but crucially this will be his first start of the campaign.
All evidence suggests Billaway progresses significantly for a run and even with one the veteran might struggle to cope with Its On The Line.
Emmet Mullins’s charge has only Ferns Lock ahead of him in betting for Cheltenham’s Hunters prize and beat him in Down Royal on St Stephen’s Day.
Jack Kennedy has a 10-winner lead (101-91) over Paul Townend in the race for Ireland’s jockeys’ championship and will fancy his chances aboard Riviere D’etel in the Listed Opera Hat Chase despite her dropping back in trip.
Kennedy should also be in the mix for an earlier maiden hurdle where Elliott gives Gold In The Rivers a second career start.
The first of them saw the €220,00 purchase keep on well enough when fifth behind Jade De Grugy at Leopardstown over Christmas. His danger may prove to be Union Station after a promising Naas third to Tullyhill last month.
