A look at the Dublin Racing Festival’s Grade 1 winners and how they might fare at the Cheltenham Festival (Sponsored content from Receptional)

Those hoping that the Dublin Racing Festival (DRF) would help them massively in the search for picking winners at next month’s Cheltenham Festival will not have been happy with how things panned out over the course of the two-day meeting at Leopardstown.

Indeed, Willie Mullins swept up as expected with eight wins and six Grade 1 triumphs from the 15 races up for grabs. However, for the most part, it wasn’t with the horses the punters had hoped for — with Paul Townend failing to win atop four short-price favourites.

Nevertheless, let’s take a look at the winners of the eight Grade 1s in Dublin and see if they can build upon their success at the upcoming Festival.

Good Land – Novice Hurdle

One of just two favourites to actually win on the opening day of the DRF, Good Land landed the curtain raising Grade 1 Novice Hurdle — taking the lead two out and always doing enough to hold off the Gordon Elliott-trained Absolute Notions by a length and a half.

The Barry Connell-trained horse is now 9/2 from 10/1 for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle after two successive victories, but Paul Nicholls’ Hermes Allen (three for three over hurdles this season) still looks like the one to beat in that two-mile, five-furlong contest and will be a popular choice with those placing Cheltenham bets.  

Gala Marceau – Spring Juvenile Hurdle

Gala Marceau turned over one of the those aforementioned heavy favourites, beating Townend’s mount Lossiemouth (1/3) by two and half a lengths in the top-level Spring Juvenile Hurdle to cause the first upset of the meeting.

The Kenny Alexander-owned horse is now in to 4/1 from 10s for the Triumph Hurdle after that success, but Lossiemouth has managed to hold on to favouritism at 13/8 despite that maiden defeat. Only time will tell how much of a mark it’s left on the four-year-old, while stablemate Blood Destiny is also a challenger at 11/4.

El Fabiolo – Irish Arkle

Another Grade 1 and another loss aboard the favourite for Townend, as El Fabiolo lay down his claim for the Arkle itself with a win in the novice chase’s Irish counterpart — beating 8/1 shot Banbridge and market leader Appreciate It by 10 lengths.

Fan favourite Jonbon has drifted out to second favourite despite a win at Warwick, and punters might think twice before considering him a cert for the two-mile contest now El Fabiolo has fended off high-quality opposition so impressively. The Mullins-trained horse is now the market leader at 6/4, coming in from 4/1.

Galopin Des Champs – Irish Gold Cup

You’d think winning the Irish Gold Cup at the DRF would help Galopin Des Champs firm up in the market for the Cheltenham showpiece, right? Wrong! The Mullins-trained favourite actually drifted slightly despite winning the race by eight lengths clear of Stattler.

The seven-year-old has returned to around the same odds as a general 13/8 chance for Gold Cup, and there shouldn’t be any concerns surrounding whether or not he will stay the extra two and a half furlongs after a strong finish in Leopardstown. It could all depend on the fitness of A Plus Tard, however.

Mighty Potter – Novice Chase

After making a smooth transition to fences with two wins from two, even money seemed a generous price for the punters wanting to back Mighty Potter in day two’s Novice Chase — and he got the job done with relative ease, beating Adamantly Chosen by over eight lengths.

The Elliott-trained six-year-old has now firmed up to 5/4 in the Turners Novices’ Chase from 3/1 and will be well backed after winning over a similar distance in all three of his races thus far.

Gentleman De Mee – Dublin Chase

The biggest losing favourite of the entire weekend, Blue Lord was a massive 1/4 to win the Dublin Chase and take a foot hold in the Queen Mother Champion Chase market — which has been blown wide open in the last few weeks.

Instead, Gentleman De Mee romped home by seven lengths and has now been cut from 50/1 to 7/1 for the Champion Chase. It’s an ante-post market that’s fluctuating due to Energumene coming third behind Editeur Du Gite and Edwardstone in the Clarence House Chase, while the latter has suffered a setback since. You certainly wouldn’t rule Gentleman De Mee out.

State Man – Irish Champion Hurdle

All the talk in the build up to the Irish Champion Hurdle was about Honeysuckle winning the race for a fourth time, but the fairytale wasn’t to be for the great mare as 6/5F State Man was steered to a comfortable win by Townend.

The Mullins-trained horse is now the main competitor to Constitution Hill at odds of 11/4, but back the freakish six-year-old to get beat in the Champion Hurdle at your own risk as it doesn’t look like anyone will even get close to the Nicky Henderson star.

Il Etait Temps – Ireland Novice Hurdle

A fourth time Townend has blown up on the favourite and a third occasion in which Danny Mullins has capitalised, Il Etait Temps won the Ireland Novice Hurdle from 14/1 as Facile Vega ran out of gas before the last and ultimately finished last of the remaining five runners.

The promising youngster is still tipped to win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle despite that implosion, but Il Etait Temps is now in to 4/1 and Marine Nationale (7/2) and Impaire Et Passe (3/1) have closed the gap as Facile Vega has drifted to 5/2.