In the euphoria of victory, especially a dramatic one, the best of people can get a little carried away. That perhaps explains a throwaway post-race line from Joseph O’Brien after Talk The Talk’s late lunge denied Ballyfad in the Grade One Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle on Sunday.
“He’s probably going to be favourite now and he’ll have a favourite’s chance,” O’Brien said of Talk The Talk’s Cheltenham credentials.
He was indeed cut for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle but the Nicky Henderson-trained Old Park Star remains the clear market leader for the Festival opener at odds of 2-1.
Unlike Talk The Talk, Old Park Star has yet to win a Grade One but he looks a serious prospect and it will surely require a huge performance to lower his colours at Cheltenham.
Time will tell if Talk The Talk is capable of walking the walk next month but he certainly did so on Sunday and it was interesting to hear O’Brien reveal that he was willing to risk defeat at Leopardstown with an eye to the future.
“We were always going to ride him pretty cold today and I said to JJ (Slevin, jockey) that we might get beaten because of that but we were thinking of the horse’s long-term career.” O’Brien added that both he and the horse “learned plenty” from the experiment and it’ll be fascinating to see if those lessons can be put to positive use at Cheltenham.
Add El Cairos, a similarly speedy sort to Talk The Talk, to the mix and all the ingredients are in place for a cracking Supreme.
Final Demand was priced as if defeat was out of the question in the Ladbrokes Novice Chase but the writing was on the wall a long way from the finish and the 30-100 favourite trailed in last of the three finishers.
Willie Mullins has worked the oracle with horses who have disappointed at this meeting in the past – think Gaelic Warrior storming to victory in the 2024 Arkle a month after taking a tired fall in a match race against Fact To File – so it’s far from impossible that we’ll see a very different Final Demand rock up in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.
But he suddenly has plenty to prove and Mullins has a job on his hands to get Final Demand jumping to the level that will be required to win a Brown Advisory.
Add his Turners Novices’ Hurdle defeat last season to the mix and a horse who started this week as one of the probable Irish bankers for Cheltenham suddenly looks vulnerable.
It was billed as the day Majborough had to deliver and boy did he deliver in Sunday’s Ladbrokes Novice Chase. The gap between him and Champion Chase hero Marine Nationale at the line was 19 lengths and while Barry Connell’s charge will unquestionably be a more formidable rival on better ground at his beloved Cheltenham, he’ll surely struggle to turn the tables on his Leopardstown conqueror.
The Champion Chase is one of the few big races to have eluded JP McManus but Majborough looks to have the talent required to end that long wait.
History has shown that second guessing Willie Mullins when it comes to Cheltenham targets is a risky strategy but, in the wake of her laboured defeat to Brighterdaysahead in the Irish Champion Hurdle, Lossiemouth is surely now far more likely to attempt a Mares’ Hurdle hat-trick than take on the boys in the day one feature.
The Rich Ricci-owned seven-year-old was always on the backfoot at Leopardstown and, in the aftermath of her reversal, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that two and a half miles is a more suitable trip than two miles.
The counterargument is Mullins doesn’t have a credible alternative Champion Hurdle contender but, on Sunday’s evidence, it’s hard to see Lossiemouth having the speed required to emulate 2016 heroine Annie Power.
The opening two races on Monday, the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle and the Gannon’s City Recovery & Recycling Services Juvenile Hurdle, were won by well-backed favourites and both Doctor Steinberg and Narciso Has put down big Cheltenham markers with impressive performances.
Doctor Steinberg is now as short as 2-1 for the Albert Bartlett after a dominant eight-length despite over-racing for most of the contest. Mullins will be keen to get Doctor Steinberg to conserve his energy at Cheltenham but there’s no doubt he has a serious engine.
Narciso Has made all in his Leopardstown assignment and his high cruising speed bodes well for his Triumph Hurdle prospects. It’ll take a huge performance to deny him.
Willie Mullins was far from downbeat when asked for his assessment of Galopin Des Champs’ performance in the Irish Gold Cup but it was hard to escape the sense that the 10-year-old’s best days are now behind him.
The 15-8 favourite ran his heart out in his bid for a fourth Irish Gold Cup but, just as was the case in the Savills Chase at Christmas, he had to settle for an honourable third, 13 and a half lengths behind Fact To File.
With the British Gold Cup challenge looking stronger than it has for a while, the mountain next month will be steeper again and, on the back of this latest reversal, it’s now hard to see how Galopin Des Champs can win the Festival showpiece for a third time.
He has been a great horse, perhaps the best Irish staying chaser since Arkle, but he’s been in a lot of battles and must surely be vulnerable to younger legs at Cheltenham.
The stars at the Dublin Racing Festival weren’t all equine and, in the wake last month’s announcement that Harry Cobden will be JP McManus’s new retained rider in both Britain and Ireland from next season, Mark Walsh provided a timely reminder of his talents by winning half of the eight Grade One contests up for grabs.
He was excellent on Kaid d’Authie in the Ladbrokes Novice Chase, realising that Final Demand was not the bombproof favourite he perhaps looked on paper and pressurising his jumping accordingly. He then took the bull by the horns on Majborough in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase before keeping things simple on Narciso Has. Winning the Irish Gold Cup on Fact To File was the icing on the cake.
Not bad for a man who’ll turn 40 next month.
