Fergal O’Brien feels Dysart Enos has enjoyed the perfect preparation ahead of her bid to see off a formidable Irish challenge at the Cheltenham Festival next month.
The Malinas mare has yet to taste defeat in six starts under Rules, with her three wins of last season supplemented by a hurdles hat-trick.
O’Brien’s team went to £95,000 to secure Dysart Enos’ services at the Goffs UK Aintree sale two years ago and the Ravenswell Farm handler had high hopes from the moment the hammer went down.
Seven months after being bought Dysart Enos made a winning debut under rules at Ludlow before getting the better of the highly-regarded Queens Gamble in Listed company at Market Rasen. But it was her nine-length success in the Grade Two mares’ bumper at Aintree’s Grand National meeting that marked her down as a potential top-notcher.
“The day we bought her I never envisaged this mare would take us where she has," O'Brien said.
"To turn up at Ludlow on the first day, Connor (Brace) gave her a lovely ride and it’s very difficult to drop in behind 14 others at Ludlow and come through and beat the geldings and that race worked out well.
“We genuinely went to Market Rasen thinking we’d finish second to Queens Gamble. Paddy (Brennan) gave her a lovely ride, but I felt Market Rasen probably suited her and she had the speed for it.
“We rolled on to Aintree and that is where she really blew us away. It was a very good field, the form has worked out very well and she was phenomenal that day, the way she travelled through the race and Paddy was able to put her where he wanted.
“As soon as they got inside the last furlong and a half he was able to let her go and the way she opened up and quickened away from them was spectacular.”
Dysart Enos made a smooth transition to the jumping game at Huntingdon in November and the route she has taken since has been slightly unorthodox.
Rather than sticking to her own sex in Listed and graded races, she has gained some valuable experience of Cheltenham, beating the boys in December, before landing cramped odds in another novice event at Doncaster last month.
“The plan was always to start off at Huntingdon and then go to Newbury for the Listed race and none of the owners were at Cheltenham when she won, so I was very grateful they let us run there," he continued.
Despite her unbeaten record, Dysart Enos is only third in the betting for the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, with Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead and the Willie Mullins-trained Jade De Grugy also yet to taste defeat.
O’Brien respects the claims of both, but does not fear either.
He added: “Gordon’s horse does look phenomenal and Willie’s horse looks great, but there’s a couple of English horses there I wouldn’t rule out, Queens Gamble being one and Jeremy Scott’s horse (Golden Ace), who I was so impressed with round Taunton.
“We’ve ticked a lot of boxes as we’ve been round Cheltenham and she’s got a lot of speed. You’re hoping Gordon’s horse might want two and a half (miles) and we’ll have the legs on that one, that’s what we’re hoping anyway – you’ve got to cling to some bit of hope when Willie’s and Gordon’s horses are coming over!
“We certainly wouldn’t change anything that we’ve done this season. We’ll see on the day and give it our best shot.”
While Dysart Enos and Stayers’ Hurdle candidate Crambo appear the trainer’s two chief Festival contenders, he has a couple of others who could join them on the short trip to Prestbury Park.
Springtime Promise is three from three since joining O’Brien, most recently landing a Grade Two at Sandown, and may line up alongside Dysart Enos in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle if conditions are testing, while Teorie is considered a lively outsider in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.
“It would want to come up soft or worse for Springtime Promise to run. She won over two and a half the other day at Sandown on heavy ground and she could go to Fairyhouse at Easter if it came up soft there,” said the trainer.
“We’ll take it right up to the day and see what the weather does. If it turned up soft she would have a fantastic chance as we haven’t seen the bottom of that mare yet and I could see her coming up that hill in great style.
“I love Teorie, I think he’s got a great attitude. He’s a big price, but he’s in great form. He disappointed a little bit at Musselburgh, but he won very well first time out and then he beat older horses next time at Southwell.
“He’s got a great attitude and loves racing and loves being a racehorse – he loves being amongst them.
“I’m hoping he’ll run very well.”
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