DUBLIN RACING FESTIVAL CHELTENHAM CLUES APLENTY

Paul Kealy on an exciting feast of top-class racing that has become an integral part of the jumps calendar February 4-5

BEFORE we go on to talk about its effect on the Cheltenham Festival, it’s worth spending a moment to reflect on what a great innovation the two-day Dublin Racing Festival has been since its inception in 2018.

By shoehorning the best of three previous standalone Leopardstown meetings into a two-day festival, Irish racing has created one of the go-to fixtures in the calendar for both locals and British visitors.

With eight Grade 1s and plenty of competitive handicaps, the DRF provides the perfect blend of quality, excitement and atmosphere, and it’s no wonder it proves so popular among visitors.

The Irish love their jumps racing anyway, but it’s also the right type of British punter who goes there – and by that I mean punters turn up primarily for the racing rather than just to drink as much as they can, which is not always the case at Cheltenham, particularly on the Friday.

It is also a huge meeting in its own right, and while everyone obviously wants to win at Cheltenham, there will also be some great stories at Leopardstown.

I was there when the 12-year-old Faugheen rattled home to land the Grade 1 Flogas Novice Chase in 2020, and there was barely a dry eye in the winner’s enclosure.

As far as Cheltenham clues go there is no better meeting to study than the one that provided an incredible nine winners in 2021.

That, of course, was the year the Irish thrashed the home team 23-5, and such a big haul was always going to be a huge act to follow last year.

Still, if you were studying a race at Cheltenham the chances are you were studying at least some form from the DRF.

A total of 171 horses ran at the Leopardstown meeting last year and no fewer than 64 of those turned up at Cheltenham next time.

Between them they may not have matched the nine winners of 2021, but they still included the winners of the Champion Hurdle, Ballymore, Triumph Hurdle, Cross Country Chase and Champion Bumper, and, of course, would have also added the Turners but for Galopin Des Champs’ lastfence fall.

There were also a further six Cheltenham Grade 1 runnersup to emerge from

Leopardstown, so it could have been a deal better.

Whatever the case, no other meeting in 2022-23 is likely to provide as many runners or winners at Cheltenham and even if you aren’t going (and you should) you are going to need to know the form inside out in March.

KEY RACES Spring Juvenile Hurdle

Saturday Believe it or not there was a time when the Irish couldn’t buy a Triumph Hurdle winner, and following Willie Mullins’ success with Scolardy in 2002 they drew a blank until the brilliant Our

Conor cruised home under Bryan Cooper for Dessie Hughes in 2013.

The Mullins-trained Vauban made it seven winners in the last ten years for Ireland though, and six of them ran in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle, including the legend that is Tiger Roll in 2014.

Victory in the Spring is not paramount, as Tiger

Roll (second) was one of three who were defeated there, and their overall form figures in the race before going on to win at Cheltenham were 124211.

The filly Burning Victory was the only one of the seven who didn’t run at the Dublin Racing Festival (she made her debut in a Fairyhouse Grade 3 two

weeks later), and with a due nod to the early favourite being another Mullins-trained filly in Lossiemouth, the chances are if Ireland have the Triumph winner it will be running at Leopardstown in the first week in February.

The race produced the first, second, fourth and fifth last year.

Irish Arkle Saturday

Britain leads Ireland 14-8 in Cheltenham Arkles this century, but the tide is steadily turning with five of the last eight winners being Irish.

Three of them, all shortpriced

favourites trained by Willie Mullins (Un De Sceaux, Douvan and Footpad) all completed the Arkle double.

The last two Irish winners, Duc Des Genievres and Put

The Kettle On, did not run at Leopardstown, the latter being the second Henry de Bromhead-trained winner to run before the turn of the year. But we can usually rely on the best of the Irish to go there, albeit last year’s winner Blue Lord was only third behind Edwardstone and Irish outsider Gabynako at Cheltenham.

It’s not all about the Arkle at Cheltenham, though, as 2013 winner Benefficient won what is now the Turners instead, and of course 2004 winner Kicking King won the following year’s Gold Cup.

Irish Gold Cup Saturday

It’s hard to say this has been a great Cheltenham Gold Cup guide in recent years as the last winner of it to follow up at Prestbury Park was Sizing John in 2017 and the one before him was Imperial Call way back in 1996.

However, Minella Indo romped away with the Gold Cup at Cheltenham after finishing only fourth in 2021, and he was runner-up in both races last season.

Conflated was a surprise winner last term and then didn’t even run in the Gold Cup, but he may well have been an honourable second to runaway Ryanair winner Allaho if he hadn’t come down two out, and that second place when to Janidil, who had finished third in the Irish Gold Cup.

Irish Champion Hurdle Sunday

While it looks like Britain’s No. 1 Champion Hurdle contender Constitution Hill will warm up for Cheltenham the same weekend in the laughably named Contenders Hurdle at Sandown against rivals incapable of getting him out of a canter, the Irish will be having a full dress rehearsal with the best in the country facing off at Leopardstown.

Given the race reads like a Who’s Who of great Irish hurdlers it’s fair to say it hasn’t done them any harm, and if Honeysuckle does the Leopardstown-Cheltenham double again this term she will match the great Istabraq by landing four of the former and three of the latter.

The also-great Hurricane Fly won this race five years in a row and was 11 from 11 at the track, where he rarely came off the bridle.

He added two Champion Hurdles at Cheltenham, while Hardy Eustace was third here before his second Champion win and got his name on the home scoresheet as a ten-yearold in 2007.

Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle Sunday

The list of winners of this Grade 1 2m novice hurdle is scarily good. Since Danoli followed his 1994 success in what is now the Ballymore, winners of this have gone on to take 18 races at the

Cheltenham Festival.

Not all won in the same year, obviously, because 1997 winner Istabraq went on to win four times at Cheltenham, and the likes of Forpadydeplasterer and Benefficient enjoyed their successes in March over fences a year or so later, but the chances of a winner of this going on to be successful at some point at Cheltenham are incredibly good.

Not surprisingly, Willie Mullins has been almost totally dominant over the last decade, winning the race nine times, and six of his winners went on to be Cheltenham heroes.

Four won the Supreme, while last year Sir Gerhard wisely swerved Constitution Hill there and won the Ballymore instead, where he was again too good for Leopardstown runner-up

Three Stripe Life, the pair coming home first and second again.

To top it off, third-placed Colonel Mustard went on to finish third of 26 in the County.