#Mighty Potter

The 2023 Grand National is just over three months away and there have already been plenty of form pointers for the big race. Last year's winner Noble Yeats is the favourite in the latest Grand National odds after winning two of his three outings this season. However, with the handicapper likely to saddle the eight-year-old with a big weight, he may…

IT was just after 9pm last night when the racing world briefly went into meltdown as Davy Russell's astonishing return was confirmed. Only 23 days earlier, after riding one final - final at that time, at least - winner, he was back. A two-time Grand National hero, a man who doesn't suffer fools gladly, a man Elliott still needed. Russell released a…

Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore will aim to bounce back from her first defeat at Fairyhouse to win a fourth consecutive Irish Champion Hurdle This year's Dublin Racing Festival looks set to play host to a star-studded line-up after early entries for the two-day Irish calendar highlight at Leopardstown were revealed on Thursday. Eight Grade 1s…

Okay, it wouldn't be quite as dramatic as Lester Piggott at the 1990 Breeders' Cup. "I have decided to come out of retirement and ride for the short period while Jack [Kennedy] is on the sidelines," Russell said in his statement. But, with Kennedy breaking his leg for a fifth time at Naas on Sunday, the Cheltenham Festival, just two months away,…

LEGENDARY jockey Davy Russell has not ruled out a sensational return to the saddle. The two-time Grand National winner retired at Thurles on December 18 after a brilliant 25-year career. But the door for an incredible comeback was left ajar after the luckless Jack Kennedy, 23, broke his leg for a FIFTH time on Sunday. Gordon Elliott's stable jockey…

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 smashed the bookies with a massive priced four timer - Party Central (9/4), Mighty Potter (20/1), Felix Desjy (11/1) and Absolute Notions (25/1) all going in on the opening day for the Cullentra trainer. Energumene was one of the few Cheltenham Festival winners to stand up the form when he fended off Chacun Pour Soi in the Champion…

Here at Severn Sport not only do we cast our eyes over Gloucestershire Football, but we also follow horse racing and in particular the road to the Cheltenham Festival in March. As part of our annual coverage we host a tipster league in March and get local players involved as part of the fun and this year with the fact there isn't much football…

State Man continued his march towards a likely clash with Constitution Hill at the Cheltenham Festival in March with a comprehensive victory in the Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown. Nicky Henderson's Constitution Hill is long odds-on to lift the Champion Hurdle crown in March following his latest demolition job in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on…

2022-12-29Grade One glory again for Willie Mullins as Gaillard Du Mesnil romps home Willie Mullins and Paul Townend grabbed another Grade One success this week as Gaillard Du Mesnil claimed an easy victory in the Neville Hotels Novice Chase at Leopardstown. Although winless in six previous outings over the larger obstacles, the dual Grade…

Ruby Walsh has offered his expert insight into the upcoming Cheltenham Festival with the legendary jockey expecting another thrilling week of action in England. Walsh is no stranger to Cheltenham having been the leading jockey 11 times at the Festival, nabbing 59 winners and twice racing to Gold Cup glory. And previewing the races, Walsh is backing…

It was a shame Edwardstone unseated Tom Cannon at the fifth in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton. He had been brilliant in the Tingle Creek and this was supposed to be further evidence that he's ready to have a real crack at Energumene in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Alas, it wasn't to be, but at least he returned unscathed and the Champion…

Seddon: well supported in Leopardstown's opener on Thursday Seddon, a comfortable five-and-a-half-length winner over hurdles at Cheltenham's October meeting when last seen, has been well backed for the Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Chase (12.00), which kicks off the final day of Leopardstown's Christmas festival. The nine-year-old struck at the…

On only two occasions in the past decade has either Gordon Elliott or Willie Mullins failed to win this top-level prize, a race that has been won in that time by the likes of Carlingford Lough, Don Poli, Our Duke, Shattered Love, Delta Work and Monkfish. Ireland's two powerhouse trainers come to the fore once again, with Mullins' sole…

Leopardstown is once more the mainstay for the ITV Racing team on Thursday, with another brace of Grade 1 races from the Foxrock track on the final afternoon of its Christmas Festival. The Neville Hotels Novices Chase (1.45pm) and the Matheson Hurdle (2.20pm) are the features from Leopardstown, with ITV showing four races from Ireland alongside two…

Another blank week of jumps racing has forced me, not unreluctantly I should add, to widen the scope of the column this week. The latest prolonged cold snap might not have been as severe as some of those in my living memory - December in 1981 in Newcastle in my second year at Uni living in a soon-to-be-condemned terrace in Elswick with three others…

Cheltenham Festival 2022 is just weeks away. Key runners will continue their preparations at Leopardstown, with contenders for the Gold Cup and Champion Chase on show Honeysuckle and Appreciate It could meet in the Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle Top class horses are put through their paces at this weekend's Dublin Racing Festival at…

Mighty Potter ridden by Jack Kennedy jumping the last to win at Down Royal This is a Drinmore drenched in quality. Only Gaillard Du Mesnil is a maiden over fences but that doesn't do him justice as the choice of Paul Townend was third to L'Homme Presse in the Brown Advisory and filled the same position in the Irish Grand National at this venue last…

Subsequent Gold Cup hero Don Cossack (2013), Delta Work (2018) and Envoi Allen (2020) are among the Cullentra handler's previous winners of the Grade One contest and this year he saddles two Grade One-winning hurdlers who are one from one over fences. Three Stripe Life, whose top-level success was achieved at Aintree in the spring, made a smart…

Honeysuckle: heads a quality field as she bids for a fourth consecutive Hatton's Grace Hurdle Honeysuckle will face seven opponents when she bids to eclipse Limestone Lad, Apple's Jade and Solerina to become the first four-time winner of the Bar One Racing Hatton's Grace Hurdle (2.30) at Fairyhouse on Sunday. Henry de Bromhead's star mare will make…

Get ready to place your bets and cheer your horses home - the 2022 Cheltenham Festival is here. Fans return to the four-day meeting after missing out last year, with sales hitting record levels. Over 60000 people will watch the thrilling sporting action from the grandstands during the week. The feature Gold Cup, sponsored by Boodles, is wide open…

WILLIE MULLINS will be Galopin down the road to more big-race glory. The Closutton maestro may be knocking on a bit at 66 - but he has no plans to hand over the reigns to his son Patrick just yet. And his team of Galacticos will take some stopping. Such is his squad strength only a couple of star strikers from Britain would even make it into a…

With a month or so to go till the Cheltenham Festival, the ante-post markets are really beginning to take shape with racing fans across the country hoping to seek out value ahead of those famous four days in March. It's a very busy time for the trading team too, and we asked William Hill's Director of Racing, Mark Howarth how things are looking…

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…

Constitution Hill and A Plus Tard are both well clear on Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings - 21 lb and 14 lb respectively - but another who has a significant edge on ratings and is likely to be odds-against is Hallowed Star. Hallowed Star progressed well over hurdles, winning three of his last four starts in that sphere, and he made a pleasing…

Willie Mullins takes this Morgiana Hurdle business seriously. We know that he does, because he has won it 11 times in total, and 10 times since 2011. His one lapse in the last 11 years was in 2020, when Abacadabras beat Saint Roi by a neck. If you had to nominate a point in the season, a weekend in the season, at which the Willie Mullins wheel…

American Mike and Jack Kennedy land the opening maiden hurdle at Down Royal Friday: Down Royal Talk beforehand was whether Gordon Elliott could go through the card on day one of the Ladbrokes festival of racing. That was scuppered early, but a haul of four on the day was more than satisfactory, and featured talented bumper horse American…

ITV Racing will be covering races at Exeter and Down Royal on Friday in what is a star-studded day of racing. Gordon Elliott will be hoping for a big day in Northern Ireland in a meeting that he does like to target with some smart types, with Pied Piper making his second start of the season in the WKD Hurdle. Viewers of ITV racing will be hoping to…

James Knight, Coral Secret Reprieve was a really popular winner with punters when winning last year's Coral Welsh National (2.50 Chepstow) and I have a feeling he would be a very poor result for us again as he bids for a repeat win in the race. Frank Hickey, Paddy Power Forever Blessed has looked really good in two starts over hurdles and I don't…

Mighty Potter: dual Grade 1 winner makes his seasonal reappearance at Down Royal Friday: Down Royal Gordon Elliott unleashes some of his biggest stars across Friday and Saturday's action at Down Royal, with dual Grade 1 winner Mighty Potter one of his standout representatives. Elliott has won Friday's 2m3½f Tote-sponsored beginners' chase (3.15)…

Gordon Elliott's domination of Down Royal's two-day festival looks almost guaranteed to continue after the trainer declared a host of his most talented troops for battle at the track on Friday. Among them are leading Cheltenham contenders American Mike and Mighty Potter. Some 15 of the 28 races staged at the meeting over the last two years have…

The 4-7 favourite had eight and a half lengths to spare over Chacun Pour Soi at the finishing line, with Envoi Allen third and Captain Guinness fourth. "He jumped great. It was a good race and we came out on the right side of it," said winning jockey Townend. "We rode the race we wanted and it was good enough to come out on top." Having provided…

3 - Truckers Lodge 1 Any Biscuits (IRE) Mr Derek O'Connor 2 Bidentime (IRE) Mr Rob James (7) 3 Embassy Gardens Mr Patrick Mullins 4 Kiki Badger (IRE) Mr K Callaghan (7) 5 Lighthouse Hill Ms K L Derwin (7) 6 Percy Pi Mr Finian Maguire 7 Rohirrim Lad (IRE) Mr D G Lavery (3) 8 Santonito (FR) Mr B O'Neill 9 Susans Sensation (IRE) Mr J Dunne (7) 10 The…

A PUNTER whose friends thought he was mad for placing a monster bet is staring down the barrel of a £167000 payout after the odds on his horses plummeted. One of his Cheltenham Festival picks has gone from 50-1 to a best-price 5-2. Another has gone from 50-1 to 14-1 while the other two are now 6-1 and 3-1 from 20-1 and 12s respectively. He put…

Day One Betting: The Cheltenham Festival with William Hill The long wait is over and the Cheltenham Festival is finally here! Day one is full of quality and features the Champion Hurdle. The best novice hurdlers go to post for the opening race, the Grade 1 Supreme Novices' Hurdle, and the runners are sure to be greeted by an almighty roar from the…

ONE of the best things about jump racing is the way champions come back year after year to defend their titles. Next month sees three superstars who have tasted Festival glory return with every chance of finishing in the frame. And combining their odds adds up to a tasty bet. A £1 each-way treble would pay £18.72 if they all place and a whopping…