With only six weeks to Cheltenham the “phoney war” element that has persisted for months in jump racing finally starts to dissipate this weekend.
Saturday’s Trials Day at Cheltenham itself includes some top cross-channel names that will ultimately try to stem the Irish tide when it counts come March.
There are four Grade Two contests with a cherry on top being the rescheduled Grade One Clarence House Chase and an appearance by Jonbon.
Willie Mullins has skipped taking him on with El Fabiolo but uses Trials Day to reintroduce his Triumph Hurdle heroine Lossiemouth.
She lines up in a Unibet Hurdle and ahead of the game already since the British Horseracing Authority confirmed on Friday she has 3lbs less to carry than originally declared.
The incorrect assignment of a Grade One penalty was twigged just in time and could ultimately prove important in her clash with Love Envoi.
The latter is the main home hope in ante-post betting for the festival’s Mares’ Hurdle, although the strength of the Mullins team is such that another pair of contenders for that race, Gala Marceau and Ashore Diamond, are due to line up in a Grade Two at Doncaster on Saturday.
Some hefty reputations are sure to have been rattled by close of business, although admittedly much of it pales in comparison to next weekend’s crucial Dublin Racing Festival action at Leopardstown when Ireland’s pecking order for March will be established.
Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow remain on course for an eagerly anticipated clash in the €250,000 Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup with Leopardstown’s steeplechase track a perfect “yielding to soft”.
The Irish pair dominate the Cheltenham Gold Cup betting, and that status could be underlined further if Capodanno gets the better of Saturday’s Cotswold Chase opposition.
With JP McManus’s number-one rider Mark Walsh on duty in Doncaster, Paul Townend rides the 2022 Grade One winner for the first time.
Capodanno failed by just a head to overhaul Gerri Colombe for second in Galopin Des Champs’s remarkable Savills Chase rout at Christmas.
It was a welcome return to some kind of form and his 160 rating puts him right in the mix against the English mainstays Royale Pagaille and Ahoy Senor, as well as rising stars Stay Away Fay and Datsalrightgino.
“Last season he just got held up a few times, but he was a Grade One novice chaser and we thought rather than banging heads with Galopin Des Champs again, and maybe Fastorslow, this race might be a cleverer choice,” said Patrick Mullins.
Should Capodanno emerge on top it will certainly be a blow to home morale in terms of the Gold Cup, while Ireland’s stranglehold on the Stayers’ picture will also be underlined if the 2022 Grand National hero Noble Yeats beats some cross-channel stalwarts in the Cleeve Hurdle.
Harry Cobden rides Emmet Mullins’s star, who is a 20-1 outsider for the Stayers behind Teahupoo & Co but remains a relative youngster compared to opposition such as Paisley Park and Champ.
Walsh is in Doncaster principally for the exciting Jeriko Du Reponet as he bids to book his Supreme ticket in a Grade Two, while Gordon Elliott has booked the rider for Wodhooh who bids to stretch her unbeaten run to five ahead of a possible tilt at the Triumph.
On the home front, Saturday’s Grade Three SBK Solerina Hurdle at Fairyhouse has proved a hugely significant pre-Cheltenham contest in the past and the Mullins team attack it in strength with four runners.
With Townend at Cheltenham, Brian Hayes comes in for the spin on Jade De Grugy, who made a sparkling Irish debut at Leopardstown over Christmas. Judicieuse Allen was eye-catching in her own way with a late Christmas spurt at Limerick while Pink In The Park found only Jetara too good last time.
Limini (2016) and Laurina (2018) have won this en route to landing the Dawn Run at Cheltenham while none other than Honeysuckle was victorious in 2019.
Brighterdaysahead tops the Dawn Run betting, although an impressive victory for Jade De Grugy, in particular, could mean a significant market shake-up.
Patrick Mullins is on Doncaster duty aboard Ashroe Diamond which leaves Jody Townend to team up with the newcomer Argento Bay in the Fairyhouse bumper.
He can carry the Galopin Des Champs colours to success over Machismo while Mighty Oak Lord can defy a hefty 16lb penalty in the preceding handicap hurdle.
Karl Thornton’s runner looked worth all of that hike on the evidence of his course and distance success on New Year’s Day when well supported in the betting.
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