Irish Gold Cup looks set to be a cracker

THE Cheltenham Festival casts a shadow over so much of the jumps season and all the talk after every race at Leopardstown this weekend will be about how he or she will fare come March.

This will most definitely be the case after Gold Cup favourite Galopin Des Champs has tackled three miles for only the second time in the Irish Gold Cup.

It is one of the great conundrums as to quite why so few horses have won both races down the years. Sizing John is the sole exception since Imperial Call way back in 1996.

That said, this is a historic race in its own right and the only Gold Cup that ever really mattered to some of its past winners. Take Florida Pearl and Beef Or Salmon, those fine Irish chasers who were red-hot around Leopardstown and yet never got it right at Cheltenham.

Saturday’s race promises to be a cracker and not only due to the presence of the most exciting chaser on either side of the Irish Sea. Enjoy it and, if only for a few minutes, forget about the festival.

Musselburgh prospects

AT FIRST glance, an entry of 187 horses for this weekend’s two-day meeting at Musselburgh bodes well, but officials at the Scottish venue won’t be counting their chickens just yet. They had 162 acceptors at this stage last year and yet only 90 bothered to stand their ground despite conditions being on the soft side of good.

After coughing up some proper prize-money for their festival trials, they were probably left pondering why they bothered. The minuscule fields were a suffocating blow to morale on one of the bigger days in the Scottish jumps scene.

Everything crossed for a healthier turnout at the weekend, and why shouldn’t there be? I can think of worse places to clear the pipes ahead of the feature spring festivals.