Cheltenham Festival 2024 - Irish handicappers to follow including Sa Majeste
Irish-trained horses have landed every Festival handicap, bar the Ultima, at least four times each in the last ten years, so with that in mind, Timeform’s Billy Nash picks out a few Irish handicappers to be interested in this year.
Chasers
Saint Roi, who posted easily his most encouraging effort of the season in the Dan Moore at Fairyhouse in January, appears to have been laid out for the Grand Annual, as has My Mate Mozzie who won at this track in October. Last year’s winner, Maskada, has 8lb more on her back this time, while her stable companion Dancing On My Own – who seems to come alive when he crosses the Irish Sea - is 5 lb higher than when winning at the October meeting here. The one I like at the current odds is Solness who won on handicap debut at Fairyhouse in December and backed that up with a good third at Leopardstown. He is proven at up to 2½m so this stiff track will suit, he is only 1 lb higher than his Irish mark and it seems significant that the Grand Annual is the only race he is entered in.
Robcour send a very strong team to the Festival this year with one of their best chances in the handicaps being Saint Felicien in the Plate. Having bumped into some really promising types in maidens, Saint Felicien got off the mark over fences at Gowran last month and has been allotted a mark 3 lb lower than the one he ran off when sent off the 9/2 favourite for the 2022 edition of the Coral Cup.
The handicap chase that the Irish have the best record in is the Kim Muir and we appear to hold a very strong hand in it again this year. Angels Dawn has 11lb more to carry than last year but arrives here on the back of a career-best effort in the Thyestes at Gowran. Percival Legallois served notice that his turn is not far away when coming down at the last when in with every chance in the Leopardstown Chase, a race in which his stable companion, Inothewayurthinkin finished down the field. The latter has an air of unfinished business about him over fences, however, and has long appealed as the type to do better at this sort of trip. Gavin Cromwell is likely to try to keep them apart on this occasion and it will be intriguing to see who is jocked up on whichever one runs in this contest.
Hurdlers
Batman Girac has been on my shortlist for the Boodles juvenile handicap hurdle ever since his eye-catching fourth at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting and a mark of 133 looks fair. He hasn’t been missed in the market, however, and similar comments apply to Lark In The Mornin who has skipped a number of engagements in recent weeks. I can’t see myself backing either at single-figure odds but could be tempted to have a little each-way on the unbeaten (awarded race on hurdling debut) Wodhooh were she to take her chance here rather than in the Triumph. She had plenty up her sleeve at Doncaster last time so a mark of 130 shouldn’t prove beyond her and experience usually counts for plenty in this race.
Regular listeners of the Sporting Life podcast will know that I have been fancying Sa Majeste for a while now and he has been one of the real buzz horses of recent weeks. Whether he runs in the Coral Cup or the Martin Pipe will probably depend on how J. P. McManus decides to split up his large team of handicappers but he is one to have on side wherever he turns up. Ballyadam has been a nearly horse at the Festival in recent years but he ran well enough in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown and this interim trip may well bring out the best in him, while Hollow Games wouldn’t be out of things on his return to hurdling if able to recapture the sort of form which saw him finish third to Banbridge from a 1lb lower mark in the 2022 renewal of the Martin Pipe.
One must go back to 2014 to find the last time that a horse not trained in Ireland or by Dan Skelton won the County Hurdle with Willie Mullins responsible for four winners in that period. Zenta and Risk Belle are a pair of Mullins runners with obvious claims this time around but the one I really like is Absurde. Last year’s Ebor winner, he was still in front approaching the furlong pole in the Melbourne Cup and shaped well on ground softer than ideal in the Grade 1 Brave Inca novices’ hurdle at Leopardstown. A mark of 104 looks more than fair based on his Flat form and there is surely more to come from him in this sphere. King of Kingsfield finished one place ahead of him last time and is another that should be suited by a well-run race at this trip, while his stable companion Pied Piper will be hoping to make it third time lucky at the Fez having finished third in the Triumph and second in this race last in the last two years.
Joseph O’Brien has won two of the last five renewals of the Martin Pipe and has a fascinating contender this year in the shape of Comfort Zone. The winner of the Finale at Chepstow and the Finesse here as a juvenile, he clearly hasn’t been the easiest to train but did shape very well when a never-nearer second in a premier handicap on the Flat at Leopardstown on Irish Champions weekend. He gives the impression this trip will suit, remains open to further improvement over hurdles and will be a lot shorter on the day than the 25/1 widely available at the time of writing if turning up here. On the face of things, Waterford Whispers doesn’t look obviously well treated from a mark 6lb higher than his Irish one, but he was better than the bare result last time and is another that we have yet to see the best of over jumps. A strong Wille Mullins team may well be headed by Ocastle des Mottes who is unproven at the trip but seems more likely to get a run here than the County Hurdle. Others to consider from Closutton include the Gigginstown pair Shanbally Kid and Quai du Bourbon, both of whom will be well suited by this trip.
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