Matt Brocklebank looks forward to a mouthwatering Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup later this month and feels there are several questions to be answered.
Is he still the golden boy?
33 entries made for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup on Tuesday; 20 entries made for the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup on Friday. The beast appears wounded, the pack now circling.
Centre of it all, of course, remains a 10-year-old Galopin Des Champs after his comeback third behind Affordale Fury in the Savills Chase over Christmas. It was a slightly below-par run that could be easily excused, but those on course suggested at the time he had more or less been produced at fighting weight, and let’s not forget he was backed accordingly.
Conversely, the generals inside Closutton were quick enough to state they’d hinted pre-race that their flag-bearer would come on for a run, having missed his John Durkan prep this time. But the door is definitely ajar – if only by a fraction – ahead of his return to Leopardstown in a little under three weeks’ time.
That small question mark will have a seismic answer, one suspects, given GDC is 11/10 favourite to bring the house down and go four in a row in the IGC, and no bigger than 6s to emulate Kauto Star and become only the second horse in history to regain the stayers’ crown at Cheltenham.
And yet his isn’t the only tale to be told in the run-up to this year’s Dublin Racing Festival feature on Saturday January 31.
Can we Afford to call it a fluke?
Seeing Noel Meade back in the limelight after Affordale Fury justified strong support last month was really refreshing – he just had to mention the name Go Native in his winners’ interview on RTV and I went all bleary-eyed with nostalgia.
The loveable trainer must have watched much of the Savills Chase with his eyes half closed as he didn’t seem to think his horse had jumped too markedly right but in spite of that there was plenty to like about the manner of victory, despite arguably having both ground and tactics in his favour on the day.
No flash in the pan – I’m not having that – but Affordale Fury is suddenly looking tight enough in the Irish Gold Cup betting around 5/1 and proving himself at the top table all over again looks quite a tall order.
Tower ready to let his hair down?
JP McManus has four familiar faces in the shake-up and you’ve heard their stories before.
Inothewayurthinkin was fourth in this race last year en route to Cheltenham Festival glory and trainer Gavin Cromwell would bite your hand off if you offered him a similarly promising display this time around, given the lack of zest shown in two starts earlier in the current campaign.
I Am Maximus ran above himself in the Savills recently and is evidently bound for another go at the Grand National, while Fact To File could bid to bounce back from a flat run at Kempton on Boxing Day, with another Ryanair Chase seemingly a gaping opportunity if back to full strength come March.
You don’t read much about Spillane’s Tower these days and that’s because he’s been kept away from the glare of Graded competition and had a couple of spins over hurdles in order to try and get him going again. It hasn’t really worked on the face of it, but the latest third to El Fabiolo was better and who knows what he remains capable of back over fences, having split Fact To File and Galopin Des Champs in another memorable John Durkan battle in November ’24.
Don’t be too shocked if the talented eight-year-old played some sort of role at Leopardstown, even if it’s a supporting one.
What do you do with a guy like Gaelic?
At the age of eight, Gaelic Warrior is in a great place right now. Up in trip, he won an Aintree Bowl and Oaksey Chase last season, before adding the John Durkan to his impressive list of career triumphs after a thumping battle with Fact To File. The short-head third in last month’s King George was another top-notch effort.
They’ve caught a cloud and seem to have pinned it down. But what next for GW?
He’s 0-3 on the chase track at Leopardstown, where he too has jumped right in the past, and it's no accident his last three starts have come going the other way around. The Irish Gold Cup will no doubt point connections towards the right spring targets, but running a firecracker of a character like that over three and a quarter miles at Cheltenham strikes me as asking for trouble. A Fact To File rematch in the Ryanair? Now we're talking.
Not too fast, not too slow?
Martin Brassil is patience personified and I’m desperate to find out just how patient he’s been in building stable star Fastorslow back up to his peak.
The trainer was reportedly pleased with a 29-length third on his return from a year off in this year’s John Durkan and while the subsequent sixth behind Affordale Fury in the Savills may not look much of a step forward at first glance, the Timeform numbers beg to differ.
He improved around a stone and a half from that quiet comeback in November, strictly on the figures, and who knows how much is still to come given his injury troubles over the years.
Fastorslow is still only 10 – the same age as Galopin Des Champs – and it might be too soon to forget that he beat his old rival three times to claim a trio of Grade 1 wins between the springs of 2023 and 2024, albeit at Punchestown where he tends to produce his best form.
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