It was a major weekend of jumps racing on both sides of the Irish Sea, with the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown joining Musselburgh’s Scottish Festival Trials meeting and the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Chase at Sandown in boasting some quality fare.
The Cheltenham Festival is now just five weeks away and we’ve picked out some of the latest ante-post market movers for the Cotswolds following the weekend’s racing and the Irish Racing experts have selected their Cheltenham ante-post tips.
- Majborough – Queen Mother Champion Chase @ 7/4
- Sixmilebridge – Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase @ 12/1
- Doctor Steinberg – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle @ 5/2
Majborough gets right back on track
This season had offered more questions than answers for supporters of Majborough but the JP McManus-owned star got right back on track as he trounced his rivals in the Dublin Chase under Mark Walsh for trainer Willie Mullins.
Walsh sent Majborough off in front and felt his jumping was much-improved under those forcing tactics with the addition of a pair of cheekpieces.
Last year’s Arkle third was attacking his fences with gusto and he powered some 19 lengths clear of the reigning Queen Mother Champion Chaser Marine Nationale, who admittedly may not have relished the testing conditions at Leopardstown.
“Mark wanted to do things his way and it paid off,” said Mullins. “The horse was a lot happier doing it, so it’s onwards and upwards.”
“It was poetry in motion down the back. I was afraid he might not have enough left in the tank over the second-last, but Mark said he had plenty.”
As big as 5/1 before his DRF win, Majborough is now the 7/4 clear favourite to take the Champion Chase honours on March 11 at Cheltenham.
O’Brien has another good one in Sixmilebridge
Fergal O’Brien admits Sixmilebridge has his own way of doing things at home but the Gloucestershire-based handler says all roads lead to Cheltenham for his unbeaten novice chaser, after his success in the Scilly Isles at Sandown.
Favourite Kitzbuhel unseated Paul Townend early on and the other Irish challenger, Gordon Elliott’s Kala Conti, had no response to Sixmilebridge at the business end.
“We’ve used hoods and ear plugs in the past but we leave all that off him now,” said the trainer. “You have to dance to his tune – he’s got his own pen at home and goes out in the field – but he’s a pretty cool horse who has always had a huge engine.”
Sixmilebridge was 25/1 for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase over three miles at Cheltenham before his Sandown success but is now 12/1, with the long-time ante-post favourite Final Demand out to 4/1 after his DRF flop on Sunday.
Doctor’s orders for the Albert Bartlett
Willie Mullins landed the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle at the DRF on Monday, winning the 2m6f Grade 1 event for the fifth time in six years as Doctor Steinberg proved too good for the opposition.
Despite being keen in front early on, Doctor Steinberg really powered through the finishing line, galloping strongly to the line in a manner not many had done on the testing ground at Leopardstown.
Doctor Steinberg was trimmed into 5/2 favourite (from 5/1) for the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
Townend said: “He’s improving quickly and stays really nicely. It’s competitive racing and this lad was able to overcome the company up with the pace.”
On the latest evidence, the three mile Albert Bartlett looks more likely than the Turners Novices’ Hurdle over shorter.
