Cheltenham Festival 2023: Day four talking points
Timeform’s John Ingles highlights four talking points on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival.
Which of the Mullins septet will prove best in the Triumph?
Willie Mullins has won two of the last three Triumph Hurdles and with no fewer than seven in this year’s field, he must have a big chance of winning it for the fourth time in all. Three of those stand out from the rest, but that doesn’t make identifying the winner much easier.
The fillies Lossiemouth and Gala Marceau have dominated the big juvenile contests at Leopardstown in recent months but the score between them is one apiece in their two meetings. Lossiemouth certainly looked much the better of the pair in the Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle in December in which she just had to be kept up to her work once quickening clear early in the straight to beat Gala Marceau by seven and a half lengths. However, it was Gala Marceau who was seen to much the better effect when they met again in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival. Racing freely just behind the pace, Gala Marceau jumped into the lead two out and was always holding on from then, whilst Lossiemouth met all sorts of trouble behind her just as things were heating up before staying on to be beaten two and a half lengths, giving the impression she remains the one to beat in the Triumph.
But another French import, Blood Destiny is very much in the mix too. He hasn’t been so highly tried as his stablemates so far but looks an exciting prospect judged on his two all-the-way wins at Cork and Fairyhouse, particularly at the latter track. Although still novicey, he won by a wide margin with Jazzy Matty, a winner at the Festival earlier this week, among those a long way behind.
Irish novices dominant again in the Albert Bartlett betting
Irish-trained horses took the first eight places in Tuesday’s Supreme and the first four in Wednesday's Ballymore, and a similar rout could well be on the cards in another of the novice hurdles, the Albert Bartlett, which has gone to Ireland for the last four years. Three Card Brag looks the worthy favourite for Gordon Elliott who is still looking for his first win in the race. Although yet to try three miles, he gave the impression he’ll appreciate more of a test when making all to come home 12 lengths clear of Spanish Harlem, favourite for the Martin Pipe later in the afternoon, at Fairyhouse last time.
Corbetts Cross is another with leading claims having won his last three starts. Emmet Mullins dropped him back to two miles on his first start for the stable to win a Grade 2 contest at Naas last time but he’d won over three miles on heavy ground for his previous yard and will be well suited by going back up in trip. Willie Mullins has won two of the last three renewals and Paul Townend has opted for Embassy Gardens among the stable’s runners after winning by a very wide margin at Thurles last time. Henry de Bromhead has won this before with his future Gold Cup winner Minella Indo and has two chances this time with Monty’s Star and Hiddenvalley Lake who finished first and second in a Grade 3 at Clonmel last month. While the latter was beaten at odds on there, he’s weighted to turn the tables on his stablemate this time.
Stamina a key question in the Gold Cup
The Gold Cup is invariably a test of stamina, all the more so with the prospect of soft going, and even horses proven over as far as three miles in the past have found the combination of the extra quarter-mile and stiff finish too much of a test. That’s certainly something to bear in mind regarding the chances of the first two in the betting, Galopin des Champs and Bravemansgame.
Both go into unknown territory here, though Galopin des Champs, at least, went a good way to allaying any fears about his stamina with a convincing win over three miles last time. Ridden with more restraint than he tended to be as a novice and settling well, Galopin des Champs stayed on well – and took some pulling up after crossing the line - to keep his unbeaten record in completed starts over fences in the Irish Gold Cup, his first chase over three miles. The strong-travelling Bravemansgame, beaten only once over fences, perhaps still has questions to answer despite his latest win in the King George VI Chase, though more as a result of his rather buzzy pre-race demeanour than his actual performance.
If there are any chinks in the stamina of the market leaders, there’s no shortage of proven stayers in the field capable of exploiting them. Henry de Bromhead’s two Gold Cup winners, Minella Indo and A Plus Tard, are both back again, though the latter, who stormed clear of his stablemate last year, needs to bounce back from being pulled up in the Betfair Chase on his only outing this term. Grand National winner Noble Yeats, last year’s National Hunt Chase winner Stattler – runner-up to stablemate Galopin des Champs at Leopardstown – and Cotswold Chase winner Ahoy Senor are among others who shouldn’t fail for lack of stamina.
Allegorie de Vassy bids to keep Mullins’ 100% record in Mares’ Chase
Given his record in the Festival’s two races over hurdles for mares, it’s no surprise that Willie Mullins has made an immediate impact in the Mares’ Chase first run in 2021. He had the first two in that inaugural running, in which Colreevy beat her better-fancied stablemate Elimay, but Elimay took her chance to go one better last year. Elimay is back for a third time this year, with Pink Legend and Zambella, second and fourth respectively last year, also in the field again.
But Mullins’ best hope of making it three out of three in the race looks to be with novice Allegorie de Vassy. She’s unbeaten in four starts since joining Mullins from France and was ante-post favourite for the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at last year’s Festival until ruled out when chipping a bone in her hock. But after the best part of a year off, she has impressed with wide-margin wins in Grade 2 mares’ contests at Limerick and Thurles in the winter and looks another potentially high-class mare to race in the Ricci colours.
Allegorie de Vassy won’t necessarily having things all her own way, however, as she has a couple of close rivals on form. Although nine now, Gavin Cromwell’s mare Jeremys Flame is an improved mare this season, winning three times, but more of a danger could be Colm Murphy’s Impervious in the J. P. McManus colours also carried by Elimay. She too is a novice and took her unbeaten record over fences to three when beating male rivals, headed by the smart Journey With Me, in a Grade 3 at Punchestown last time.
