Talk of a changing of the guard at the top of the steeplechase tree might be premature, but if it occurs Fact To File’s victory in Sunday’s John Durkan Chase at Punchestown will look pivotal.
Last season’s top novice is a 2/1 favourite for Cheltenham Gold Cup glory in March after a hugely exciting half-length defeat of another JP McManus-owned youngster, Spillane’s Tower, in a vintage renewal of the €150,000 Grade One highlight.
Behind the McManus pair were both reigning dual-Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs and his old rival Fastorslow in an outcome that at first glance smacked of a neat new generation gap.
However, if Willie Mullins was thrilled with Fact To File confirming his top-class credentials in a first start in open company, he was adamant there were “plusses for a lot of horses” in terms of later this season.
Fact To File clear Gold Cup favourite after exciting Durkan finish signals changing of the guard
The bird-shaped obsession that drives James Crombie, one of Ireland’s best sports photographers
Vintage Durkan clash in prospect at star studded ‘Premiere Weekend’ in Punchestown
Irish star Auguste Rodin to receive historic retirement ceremony after his final race in Japan Cup
On a weekend where some of the champion trainer’s string ran as if in need of a first start of the season, Mullins was almost as enthusiastic about ‘Galopin’ as the new apple of his eye.
“I thought we were beaten when Spillane’s Tower came up alongside us halfway up the run-in, so it just shows that Fact To File’s made that leap from novice company to senior company that he could pull out more. I love that in a horse, that he could pull out a bit extra to get home,” the champion trainer said.
“Mark (Walsh) said he took a blow but stayed on well to win. He’s over 17 hands but an athletic horse with it. He has a lovely temperament and true grit.
“I thought Galopin Des Champs ran some race. When you look where he finished and how Grangeclare West tried to match Galopin Des Champs and he couldn’t finish; Galopin Des Champs cut out the running and did the donkey work over a trip too sharp for him. The depth of the race was huge.”
That point was underlined by how the Mullins pair were split by 18/1 outsider Spillane’s Tower, whose performance had popular trainer Jimmy Mangan declaring “the dream continues”.
[ BHA says ‘no causal link’ found between Cheltenham fatalitiesOpens in new window ]
His won’t be the only dream alive and kicking after a notably deep contest that Mullins described as the best Durkan renewal he’s seen. Fact To File is his record-extending tenth winner of a race with a proven record of identifying Gold Cup talent.
It has twice been the springboard to Gold Cup glory for Galopin Des Champs and there was an enthusiasm to how he travelled in front for much of the race.
That Fact To File could pounce at the last was impressive for a horse having just his eighth start, but there was reassuring grit too to how ‘Galopin’ persevered over an inadequate trip. There was also notable confidence in the Spillane’s Tower camp about significant improvement to come.
The ultimate Christmas racing treat might be a Savills Chase rematch over three miles between the cream of Ireland’s Gold Cup candidates.
Galopin Des Champs put up perhaps the most spectacular performance of his career in last year’s Savills, and such is the strength and depth of McManus’s team that a substantial new challenge from the green and gold colours looks all but inevitable.
Whether it will include Fact To File might be more questionable since Mullins’s instincts for keeping his stars apart until at least the spring appear to be intact.
“I don’t think we need it (to keep clashing all season) – they are all Grade 1 races and races you’d be delighted to win – but we all have our eyes on the main prizes at the end of the season,” he said.
The Gold Cup is the biggest prize of all and on the back of winning maybe the deepest-looking Durkan of all, Fact To File does look to set the new benchmark.
He won his biggest prize yet despite being hampered by Fastorslow on the turn in and colliding with the rail. Fastorslow’s rider Derek O’Connor subsequently got a two-day suspension for careless riding.
On the back of weekend action that saw Britain’s apparent number one ‘Blue Riband’ hope Grey Dawning beaten in a Betfair Chase slog in Haydock, this season’s Gold Cup once again shapes up as being a resolutely Irish party.
The weekend also ended with Mullins’s Lossiemouth on top of a murky Champion Hurdle picture through not having run at all.
Hopes of a clash with her stable companion State Man in Saturday’s Morgiana ended when she was taken out with a reported sore foot. State Man then couldn’t repel a rallying Brighterdaysahead and with so much uncertainty surrounding Constitution Hill, inactivity alone was enough to make Lossiemouth favourite.
In other news on the other side of the world, Auguste Rodin delivered an anticlimactic final career start in the Japan Cup only to be subsequently waved off to a new stud career with a remarkable ceremony in Tokyo.
Hours after finishing only eighth to Do Deuce, Aidan O’Brien’s star become the first overseas horse to receive a Japanese Racing Association retirement ceremony.
A crowd of up to 15,000 stayed to pay tribute to the Irish horse, who is a son of the legendary Japanese horse Deep Impact.
“He retires safe and sound, that’s all that matters,” O’Brien told fans. “I’m so thankful for everyone putting on a show like this and being so respectful.”
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
