APPRECIATE IT stakes Cheltenham Festival claim with comfortable Naas victory

It is an afternoon that many racing fans look forward to the most in the Jumps calendar. Here is a look at the best bets for the Wednesday of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival. There are 13 runners entered in this year's Queen Mother Champion Chase, but the final field is likely to be much shorter. El Fabiolo and Jonbon should scare off a lot of…

The Champion Novice Chase (18:35) at Punchestown on Tuesday is available as a free Race Pass, which means logged-in customers can view all our premium comments and ratings. The Champion Novice Chase (18:35) over three miles looks the most open of the three Grade 1 contests which feature on the opening day of the Punchestown Festival with little to…

Energumene bids to cement his status as the king of the two-mile division over fences by securing back-to-back victories in the William Hill Champion Chase on the opening day of the Punchestown Festival. The nine-year-old provided Willie Mullins with a first victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham last season before putting the…

Energumene will face five rivals in the William Hill Champion Chase () on Tuesday as he bids to complete the Cheltenham and Punchestown festival double for the second year in a row. The Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old landed his second Queen Mother Champion Chase in March and will be a red-hot favourite to follow up at Punchestown once…

Barry Connell has never tried to conceal the magnitude of the regard in which he holds Marine Nationale. Winner of his two bumpers during the summer, the French Navy gelding was impressive in winning his maiden hurdle at Punchestown in October, and he stepped forward from that to win the Grade 1 Royal Bond Hurdle at Fairyhouse last time. He did…

Ex-jockey Ruby Walsh has revealed three 2023 Cheltenham Festival tips that he'd like to come out of retirement to ride. With 59 Cheltenham Festival winners, no rider has steered home more horses to victory than Ruby Walsh. He retired from the saddle back in 2019, but still has strong links to the Willie Mullins yard. So, when Ruby Walsh was asked…

The Dublin Racing Festival 2023 will be grabbing all the horse racing headlines this weekend as a star-studded cast head to Leopardstown for two days of high class jumping. We'll also see plenty more 2023 Cheltenham Festival clues as a result, so let's take a look at the big names that will be on show. You can also see the best 2023 Dublin Racing…

Dan Sheridan/INPHOWillie Mullins at Cheltenham. # much to ponder Donn McClean: Willie Mullins facing some of life's nicer quandaries ahead of Cheltenham It's unlikely that Mullins himself knows at this point how he will divide up his novice hurdlers in March, writes Donn McClean. Donn McClean EMBASSY GARDENS WON the WT O'Grady Memorial Irish EBF…

Kilmaley native, Richard O'Brien, came in for lavish praise following the success of Paul Nolan's well-fancied newcomer, Cut The Rope (5/1), in the concluding four-year-old bumper at Naas on Sunday. O'Brien is a very successful trainer based in Ballingarry, County Limerick and it was on his advice that the Nolan camp purchased Cut The Rope, before…

If Jack Kennedy didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all. The 23-year-old rider suffered yet another setback when he took a fall on his employer Gordon Elliott's Top Bandit in the second novice chase at Naas on Sunday. Sadly, the injury his mount took from the fall had fatal consequences, and all in all it was a dark day for Elliott's…

Jack Kennedy: took a heavy fall from Top Bandit at Naas on Sunday X-rays have confirmed that Jack Kennedy has broken his leg for a fifth time following a fall from Top Bandit at Naas on Sunday, but Gordon Elliott is hopeful his number one jockey will be back in time to ride at the Cheltenham Festival. The 23-year-old leads the Irish jump jockeys'…

Gordon Elliott fears stable jockey Jack Kennedy will be out of action for the "foreseeable future", putting a major question mark over his availability for March's Cheltenham Festival, after suffering a serious-looking leg injury in a fall at Naas. hile firmly established as one of Ireland's leading jockeys, the 23-year-old has suffered more than…

Appreciate It cemented his Cheltenham Festival claims with a routine victory on his second start over fences at Naas. A 24-length winner of the 2021 Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Prestbury Park, the Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old was due to pursue a novice chase campaign last season before injury intervened. He ultimately only made it to the…

The master trainer was in sparkling form on Sunday with three winners who are all bound for the Cheltenham Festival but was disappointed with the no-show from expensive recruit Grangeclare West Appreciate It wins at Naas under Paul Townend Appreciate It sparked a notable treble on a mixed day for master trainer Willie Mullins at Naas on Sunday. The…

PAJockey Jack Kennedy celebrates with trainer Gordon Elliott (left), and Michael O'Leary (right) and his wife Anita Farrell last month. # Injured Jack Kennedy hospitalised after Naas fall while Appreciate It cements Cheltenham claims The 23-year-old, who rides for Gordon Elliott, suffered a leg injury. JACK KENNEDY WAS taken to hospital after…

Appreciate It cemented his Cheltenham Festival claims with a routine victory on his second start over fences at Naas. A 24-length winner of the 2021 Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Prestbury Park, the Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old was due to pursue a novice chase campaign last season before injury intervened. He ultimately only made it to the…

Appreciate It cemented his Cheltenham Festival claims with a routine victory on his second start over fences at Naas. A 24-length winner of the 2021 Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Prestbury Park, the Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old was due to pursue a novice chase campaign last season before injury intervened. He ultimately only made it to the…

Champ Kiely led from pillar-to-post to provide Willie Mullins with a ninth victory in the Lawlor's Of Naas Novice Hurdle. The seven-year-old was one of two runners for the champion trainer in the Grade One contest, with the previously unbeaten Grangeclare West the apparent first string as the 15-8 favourite. Champ Kiely won a Limerick bumper, a…

Champ Kiely led from pillar-to-post to provide Willie Mullins with a ninth victory in the Lawlor's Of Naas Novice Hurdle. The seven-year-old was one of two runners for the champion trainer in the Grade One contest, with the previously unbeaten Grangeclare West the apparent first string as the 15-8 favourite. Champ Kiely won a Limerick bumper, a…

Willie Mullins tends to run his leading Arkle hope in the Rathmore Stud Irish EBF Novice Chase (1.20) and it looks as though he is doing so again this year as Appreciate It bids to follow up his decisive chase debut win at Punchestown. Energumene won this 2m event in 2021, while Blue Lord was successful last year, and Appreciate It will be a very…

Appreciate It cemented his Cheltenham Festival claims with a routine victory on his second start over fences at Naas. A 24-length winner of the 2021 Supreme Novices' Hurdle at P rest bury Park, the Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old was due to pursue a novice chase campaign last season before injury intervened. He ultimately only made it to the…

Galvin, Conflated and Fil Dor are among the big names set to be in action for Gordon Elliott over the festive period as the Cullentra handler shuffles his pack for Leopardstown's Christmas Festival. Elliott has enjoyed huge success at the four-day meeting in recent years, with Galvin's thrilling Savills Chase victory over A Plus Tard a clear…

eel the roar greeting the opener at the Cheltenham Festival this afternoon and you will soon realise how much you missed it. With two novice races of nine runners or less, day one reflects the field-size issues that have become a major concern in British racing - yet the opener still goes back in time. Nicky Henderson supplies a hot favourite and…