Irish juvenile picture ahead of 2025 Cheltenham Festival

Although Dabiroun was successful in the first edition of the Fred Winter back in 2005, that was very much an outlier at the time. There wouldn’t be another Irish-trained winner of the race until What A Charm in 2011 and it was a similar story in the Triumph with just the solitary winner from these shores (Scolardy in 2002) from the turn of the century until 2013. The tide has very much turned in our favour since then, however.

Our Conor’s victory in the premier juvenile contest of the season in 2013 was the beginning of a run of four Irish winners in seven years, and every renewal since 2020 has gone the way of the visitors. The stranglehold on the Fred Winter took a little bit longer to establish, just 3 winners (including Dabiroun) in the first 13 runnings, but since 2018 it has been one-way traffic. In fact, the Irish have been so dominant in recent times that only five juveniles trained in Britain have made the frame in the last six years.

So, with that in mind, what can we expect from this year’s crop of Irish juveniles?

The Spring Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival is the best place to start when trying to find the winner of the Triumph as nine of the last thirteen winners completed their preparations at Leopardstown. It is no surprise then that this year’s winner, Hello Neighbour (Timeform rating 137p) heads the Irish challenge this time around.

That leaves him with a bit to find with the current standard setter East India Dock (147), but Gavin Cromwell’s unbeaten gelding isn’t the easiest to assess accurately given the aggregate winning margin for his four victories - split evenly between Flat and jumps – is a bit less than four and a half lengths.

If you fancy one of those that finished behind Hello Neighbour at Leopardstown, then don’t despair. Just two horses (Our Conor and Vauban) out of the nine winners mentioned above managed to win both races. Galileo Dame (129p) caught the eye in second that day and it wouldn’t be a massive shock if she were to follow in the hoofprints of Farclas – runner-up at Leopardstown and still a maiden going to Cheltenham - while the third home Lady Vega Allen (128) will surely have place claims again.

At this stage Lady Vega Allen appears to be the main hope from the Willie Mullins yard, though with twelve other entries there is always the possibility that the master of Clusutton could pull a rabbit out of the hat.

For example, it is not impossible that Sainte Lucie (127), so impressive on her Irish debut at Punchestown, could bounce back from a poor effort last time, while Larzac (124p) and Lumiere du Large (111p) both showed plenty of promise on their sole starts in France. Blue Lemons (117p) and Charlus (116p), both useful on the Flat, are others to consider for the champion trainer having won maiden contests on their hurdling debuts at Gowran and Naas, respectively.

Of the other Irish entries, Bacchanalian (127), who is progressing gradually, has plenty of experience (entered again at Naas on Sunday) but would appear to have a bit to find in this company, and that is also the case with Henry de Bromhead’s Its Bilbo (122p) who, in fairness, wasn’t seen to best effect at Leopardstown last time.

Handicap cards still to be played

The Fred Winter picture should become a bit clearer next week when the weights are published but with more than half of the 47 entries coming from Ireland there is a strong chance that the prize will be heading this direction again. Joseph O’Brien and Gordon Elliott have taken five of the last seven runnings between them and that pair look set to be well represented again.

O’Brien is responsible for the J. P. McManus-owned trio of Puturhandstogether (123p), Out For A Stroll (112) and Beyond Your Dreams (111p) and it is easy to make a case for all three. However, I think Naturally Nimble (132p), a surprise winner of a Grade 2 at Fairyhouse in December, may well prove to be the best of his. This son of Too Darn Hot has plenty of experience from the Flat and would appear to have been put aside for this after a creditable effort in the fog at Leopardstown over Christmas.

WATCH: Puturhandstogether shapes well in defeat at Fairyhouse on February 5

Elliott has had a much quieter time of things with his juveniles this season than is normally the case (just 3 individual winners since August) but he is always to be feared in this race and Wendrock (123) has an obvious chance. He beat Galileo Dame in a maiden at Leopardstown and was much better than the result in the Spring Juvenile last time, upsides briefly on the run to the last but allowed to come home in his own time after a bad mistake there.

This is one of the few races at the Festival that Willie Mullins has yet to win and he has entered five in an attempt to set the record straight this year. It is fair to say that Willy de Houelle (131) and Sony Bill (130) haven’t come up to expectations so far this season but may find things easier in handicap company, as may Murcia (127) who was doing all her best work at the finish at Naas last time.

Hello Neighbour’s trainer, Gavin Cromwell, holds a strong hand in this race, too, with Total Look (123p), a big eye-catcher at Punchestown last time, and Robbies Rock (117), one of the very few horses in recent memory to win an all-aged handicap hurdle as a three-year-old, both likely to take their chance. I would expect Total Look to turn around form from last time with Slurricane (117), whose trainer Ross O’Sullivan sent out Eagles Reign to finish second at 80/1 last year.

Holy See (115) and Ephesus (116) should improve for the switch to handicap company, while Action Plan (115), ef="https://www.sportinglife.com/racing/profiles/horse/1142620">Space Warrior (106) and Drusilla (110) will all be hoping to enhance their claims at Fairyhouse this weekend.

More from Sporting Life

• 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.