Lossiemouth can underline class at Leopardstown 

She’s entitled to improve for the run and should she do so, Lossiemouth will have to be very good to deny her.

However, Lossiemouth is very good. A three-time winner at the Cheltenham Festival, her Christmas Hurdle win brought her Grade One tally to nine and her overall record to 13 wins from 16 career starts.

And while Brighterdaysahead kept her honest at Christmas, the suspicion is Lossiemouth wasn’t all out to repel her rival.

Two and a half miles is probably her optimum trip but, with conditions guaranteed to be testing, her stamina should be a decisive assist this weekend.

Ground conditions could also prove key in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase.

Considering the amount of ground he lost after a blunder at the second fence on his seasonal reappearance at Christmas, Champion Chase hero Marine Nationale ran a mighty race to get so close to Leopardstown specialist Solness at the finish.

He’s a top-class operator but he’s definitely a better horse on better ground so it’s hard to envisage him being at his brilliant best on Sunday. A further negative is the fact four of his five career defeats have come at Leopardstown.

Given those doubts, preference is for Majborough in the hope that he can finally produce a clean round of jumping.

Majborough would be a dual Cheltenham Festival winner had his jumping not gone to pieces in the Arkle last March but it says plenty about the horse’s talent that he was still only beaten three-quarters of a length at the line.

This season his jumping gremlins have continued to cost him but the pace of the race this weekend will likely be slower given the ground and that should help his cause. If he is to beat Marine Nationale this season, Sunday looks the day.

Willie Mullins can also win the Ladbrokes Novice Chase courtesy of Final Demand.

A dual Grade One winner over hurdles, the seven-year-old was always likely to be even better over fences and early evidence bodes well for his long-term prospects.

A 13-length winner of a Navan beginners’ chase in November, Final Demand then went to Limerick over Christmas to win the Faugheen Novice Chase by eight lengths.

He didn’t blow everyone away that day but the fact he was able to win a Grade One with such ease while not firing on all cylinders speaks volumes about his talent and it’ll be the biggest shock of the entire weekend if he is turned over.

The Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle is a cracking contest and while it’s easy to see why the talented Talk The Talk is at the head of the market, he’ll need to brush up on his jumping if he is to make amends for his last flight stumble at the Christmas meeting.

With that concern in mind, preference instead is for Ballyfad. The Gordon Elliott-trained five-year-old is three from three this season and the form of his most recent win got a nice boost last Monday when runner-up Leader d’Allier, nine and a half lengths inferior to Ballyfad at Christmas, eased to a nine-length success at Punchestown.

Away from the Grade One feast, British raider Siog Geal has leading claims in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Paddy And Maureen Mullins Mares Handicap Hurdle while A Dream To Share may be able to make his presence felt in the Padel At Leopardstown Golf Launching Spring 2026 Handicap Hurdle.