Matt Brocklebank looks at the Stayers' Hurdle division following another Sunday thriller in Ireland.
The weekend theme of jumping drama continued into Sunday but as Jordan Gainford, Brian Hayes and Mark Walsh all got to their feet after Fairyhouse’s final flight, thankfully we were still able to admire two top-notch rivals playing out a tense finish to the BAR 1 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle.
The race was never likely to quite live up to last Sunday’s John Durkan epic, when Gaelic Warrior saw off Fact To File after setting what appeared to be insane early fractions, but the hairs on the back of the neck were given another runout in Ireland as Ballyburn lunged late at Teahupoo.
This time it wasn’t to be for Paul Townend, who had been on the receiving end of a galling Hatton’s Grace defeat to Teahupoo aboard Klassical Dream three years earlier.
No, this day again belonged to Jack Kennedy and to Gordon Elliott, the pair completing a fine four-timer which also featured a Drinmore demolition job by Romeo Coolio. That had earlier left the trainer, in his words, “still shaking” having watched the race back. He'll have been bouncing after the big one.
It was the game Teahupoo - "a legend" according to his beaming rider - who won the battle, a third career Hatton’s Grace trophy to go with his runners-up spot behind Lossiemouth 12 months ago.
But who wins the war between these two?
There might be more than one of those to come if the pair of them go on to dominate the division but, with Teahupoo usually skipping Christmas, the mind inevitably drifts to Cheltenham.
Ballyburn was bedding in at the top of the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle market as the dust settled towards the close of play and it’s not hard to see why, with Willie Mullins stating he’d be keen to see more use made of the seven-year-old, whose ‘failed’ novice chase campaign last year did feature a Grade 1 win at the Dublin Racing Festival, let’s not forget.
He’s 0-2 at three miles under Rules, so which camp are you in: untapped potential, or suspect stayer? You can sympathise with the layers for erring on the side of the former, although Patrick Mullins had raised the horse’s propensity to race keenly as a potential issue with this season’s project in mind - something his father swatted away when put to him by Gary O'Brien on Sunday's Racing TV coverage.
And if not the big two, then who?
Mullins (senior) sounded relatively positive about a possible Mystical Power resurgence before Sunday but he was clearly held before being hampered at the last, while the (Elliott-trained) culprit Casheldale Lad was making his first start beyond two miles and had been headed prior to his untimely fall. He could be progressive, but not at three miles just yet.
There’s last Friday’s Long Distance Hurdle hero Impose Toi, Elliott’s good novice from last year, Honesty Policy – another for JP McManus but yet to be sighted this term – and then you’re into Bob Olinger and a few other gnarly old warriors.
Dan Skelton is looking on with interest, we'd better get used to that. He has Haydock handicap winner Kabral Du Mathan, hoping he could muscle in on the action with a big run in the Relkeel Hurdle on New Year’s Day, and who knows, maybe stablemate The New Lion could end up down that sort of path if his curtailed Fighting Fifth bid is anything to go by.
Others will emerge from left field no doubt, it's that sort of a race. But for now it's Sunday's fast-finishing loser who has taken pole position and there's every reason to think he might just have found his forte.
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.