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Alex Hammond Blog: Leopardstown tips

By Alex Hammond

Horse Racing

Thu February 09, 2023 · 2y ago

Things are really hotting up with the Cheltenham Festival less than six weeks away.

Trials day threw a few spanners in the works, and we have the Dublin Racing Festival to try and gain a clearer picture this coming weekend.

Of the performances that I’ll be taking forward to next month, I was impressed with Edwardstone’s runner-up berth in the Clarence House Chase and will be keen to side with him in the Champion Chase, for which he is now 15/8 second favourite with Sky Bet.

We should have learned by now that you don’t underestimate French runners at Cheltenham, and Gold Tweet threw his hat into the Stayers' Hurdle ring with an impressive win in the Cleeve Hurdle for trainer Gab Leenders.

He will need to be supplemented for the race, but that will be hard to resist. He’s now 7/1 with Sky Bet for Thursday’s main event.

The Cotswold Chase threw up more questions than answers, and I don’t expect connections of Galopin Des Champs will be walking their boxes after it.

I wasn’t too despondent about the third-place finish from Noble Yeats with the Gold Cup in mind. He will be better suited by the extra distance in March and he has an each way chance in the festival blue riband. Sky Bet rate him a 7/1 shot.

Let’s not get too bogged down with last weekend, though, and have a look ahead to the quality action this weekend. Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday and there will likely be a few British trainers feeling twitchy after this star-studded event.

Saturday

Will Nicky Henderson be one of those twitchy trainers after the Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase?

Jonbon's position as the leading novice chaser will be tested next month in the Sporting Life Arkle, for which he’s currently 6/5 favourite. His main festival market rivals are all entered for Saturday’s Grade 1, with Appreciate It, Dysart Dynamo, El Fabiolo and Saint Roi all hailing from the Willie Mullins stable.

Dysart Dynamo was desperately unlucky when cruising at the time he fell in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle won by Constitution Hill last March. I’m not saying he would have won, but he was one of a powerful “big three” at the time of departure and would have been in a battle for minor honours with Jonbon.

He looked superb on his chasing debut at Leopardstown over Christmas, and I’ll be with him on Saturday.

Galopin Des Champs should have an easy ride in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup, but his price reflects that. This will just be his second start over three miles, so this could be a useful watch if you’re keen on him for the Gold Cup, which is run over an additional 2 ½ furlongs.

Sunday

James de Berlais is the one I want to be on in the Ladbrokes Novice Chase.

Sky Bet have him at 100/30 second fav behind Gordon Elliott’s unbeaten chaser Mighty Potter. My selection returned from twenty months off to win on his chasing debut at Fairyhouse on New Year’s Day. He leaps back into Grade 1 company here but has been placed both in Ireland, and formerly in France, at the highest level.

It would be lovely to see Honeysuckle get back to winning ways in the Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle having lost her unbeaten record in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle last time out. State Man is Sky Bet’s even money favourite to continue his winning run this weekend. However, Honeysuckle has won the last three renewals of this race and this outing will tell us if she’s the force of old. I’m prepared to give her another chance, and as Sky Bet’s 7/4 second favourite, she’ll do for me.

I could rattle on about horses like Lossiemouth, Facile Vega and other short-priced Willie Mullins-trained favourites this weekend, but you don’t need me to extol their virtues. I’m just looking forward to them all (hopefully) rocking up at Cheltenham next month.

Honeysuckle jumped well on Sunday, but has the fire gone out

READ: Rachael Blackmore issues upbeat bulletin

On a different note, I read with interest today that The Jockey Club are relaxing formal dress codes at their 15 racecourses, including Cheltenham, in a move to make the sport more “accessible and inclusive”.

Progress at last. If being told to wear certain clothing is a barrier to introducing new fans of the sport, I’m all for it. Not just new fans either, there are many keen racegoers who find dress codes restrictive and outdated.

I’ve had conversations with friends in the past who have pointed out they don’t have the “right” type of clothing to attend race meetings and therefore aren’t keen to go, or are anxious at the prospect of not fitting in.

Imagine being able to go racing on a blazing hot day in shorts, t-shirt and pumps? That’s right up my street as a jeans and t-shirt girl at heart.

For lovers of tweed (me included), don’t despair, the code doesn’t mean dressing down at the Festival is compulsory. When two racegoers were refused entry to an enclosure at Sandown last year because they were wearing (smart) trainers I felt deflated by the lack of vision from the track and concerned that their archaic view would stop people coming for a day out in future.

Personally, I can’t walk around all day at the races (or anywhere) with heeled footwear anymore. We don’t adhere to many outdated practices from yesteryear in other aspects of life, and it’s great to see racecourses teetering into the 21st Century (in flat shoes!).

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