The Dublin Racing Festival: Five lessons at Leopardstown

Dublin Racing Festival Reports

• Honeysuckle fights for Irish Champion
• Chacun beats Min in Dublin Chase
• Notebook sees off Cash Back
• Exhibition display for Nolan

1. Chacun sets up Champion classic

The late absence of A Plus Tard and the first-fence fall of Cilaos Emery took a bit of the shine off the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase, but Chacun Pour Soi couldn’t have done much more in the circumstances.

He chased a strong pace, jumped well, had the guts to see off stablemate Min late on and firmly put forward his Queen Mother Champion Chase claims.

Just what he achieved here, though, remains a bit of a mystery. Min is a reliable yardstick, of course, but he’s nine now and has had many battles with this performance confirming the suspicion that he needs another half mile, these days, to show his very best.

“They finished the way I hoped they’d finish,” a beaming Rich Ricci, who owns the first two home, said afterwards.

“Min’s best trip is probably over half a mile further now and he’ll probably head that way at the Festival.”

The Champion Chase is very much the target for Chacun Pour Soi.

And his day two battle at the Cheltenham Festival with Defi Du Seuil and dual-winner Altior is developing into the most mouth-watering clash of the week.

It seems a while since we had a real showdown from some proper two-milers at the Festival. This year, it could happen.

2. Tard team target Ryanair

A Plus Tard’s late defection from the Dublin Chase was a real blow, as we didn’t get to see if he could confirm that Christmas defeat of Chacun Pour Soi.

That means Henry de Bromhead doesn’t have the extra evidence he needs to commit to a Champion Chase challenge, with the Ryanair now pencilled in for the Cheveley Park-owned horse.

“I’d imagine it would be the Ryanair, unless it was bottomless ground,” said De Bromhead, when pondering A Plus Tard’s Cheltenham target, his horse’s absence on Saturday put down to the ground changing to yielding.

A heavy wet spell is probably needed in the run up to Cheltenham, then, if you’ve backed A Plus Tard for the Champion Chase, with even soft ground likely not enough to divert him from the 2m5f contest.

3. Cheltenham still looms large over DRF

With a lack of British support for the Dublin Racing Festival it really needs the home hopes to turn up in numbers and they did – at the final declaration stage at least.

But, with the ground drying out to yielding thanks in part to some windy conditions on Saturday morning we did have five late non-runners with two or three big guns among them causing a grimace across the faces of paying punters.

Klassical Dream was taken out of the Irish Champion Hurdle, A Plus Tard, as discussed, was missing from the Dublin Chase and Fakir D’Oudairies was a very late withdrawal from the Irish Arkle.

Yielding, also known as good to soft in Brexit England, is pretty much perfect ground and the course couldn’t have done any more watering in the build-up to the meeting.

And it just goes to show, for all the prizemoney, a total of €2,150,000 over the weekend, the shadow of the Cheltenham Festival still looms large with connections all too aware of that meeting in the Cotswolds in six weeks’ time.

4. Much to ponder for Honey connections

Honeysuckle maintained her unbeaten record in the Irish Champion Hurdle with a gutsy win but she caused barely a ripple in the Champion Hurdle ante-post market despite it being a particularly weak renewal of the Cheltenham showpiece.

Of course, she was already relatively short at around 5/1 and 6/1 for the Festival, but she wasn’t Apple’s Jade-esque impressive at Leopardstown with a big winning margin and the Gavin Cromwell-trained novice, Darver Star, was beaten just half a length in second,

He was beaten four lengths by Envoi Allen last time, which may well give Gordon Elliott and Cheveley Park extra food for thought, but his proximity here has to cast question marks over the form in a Champion Hurdle context.

Honeysuckle’s hurdling wasn’t great again but she travelled like a two-miler, right up until stablemate Petit Mouchoir fought back at her at the business end. She showed great tenacity to get back on top, but whether she’s Champion Hurdle class remains to be seen.

Of course, she may not have to be of the usual standard to win this year’s renewal. There are no superstars in this division.

But De Bromhead says he’ll watch the race again, chat to the owners and consider all factors before committing to her Cheltenham target. If the Mares’ Hurdle didn’t have Benie Des Dieux’s name all over it I’d wager she’d take that route, but the presence of the Willie Mullins-trained mare could be one of the deciding factors in Honeysuckle going for the Champion.

She wasn’t flashy today, but she did show some guts. This year, they could be a defining attribute.

5. Don’t give up on Fury Road

Fury Road was all the rage for the opening Grade One of the weekend, the Nathaniel Lacy & Ptnrs Solicitors “€50,000 Cheltenham Bonus For Stable Staff” Novice Hurdle, but only managed fourth after being sent off 9/4 favourite.

He was pushed out to 20/1 for the Albert Bartlett by some layers on the back of this but I wouldn’t be too quick to give up on him just yet.

He’d put together a nice body of form coming into this race but the ground was probably a bit too lively for him today while he was a bit keen early on as well.

Outpaced at a crucial point in the contest, he plodded on okay into fourth and might just appreciate the stiffer test of stamina of the Albert Bartlett, especially if the ground was riding softer.

Today wasn’t his day, but he showed enough in adversity to keep him in my thoughts for future targets.

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