We knew it could potentially be a very decent bunch, but the strength in depth to Willie Mullins’ novice chase team this year is starting to look a little ridiculous. Like watching a python attempting to eat a gazelle whole, I'm completely enthralled but also can't help start to wonder where he's going to put them all.
Ballyburn set the tone at Punchestown on November 23, immediately earning himself a Timeform chase rating of 149P, and since then we’ve seen Impaire Et Passe (November 30, 148p), Ile Atlantique (December 7, 148p) and Dancing City (December 10, 142p) all follow suit with sparkling debuts over fences.
On Saturday, it was the turn of Majborough, who has seemingly been something of a darling of the yard since arriving from France and ran in two Grade 1s during his super-light juvenile hurdle campaign last year.
He was a big eyecatcher on debut for Mullins in the Spring Juvenile at the DRF, before duly winning the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, after which the trainer declared he’d been the one for them in that division all along and that he couldn’t believe Majborough wasn’t favourite on the Friday of the Festival.
He also added, at the time, that he felt “he’s a Gold Cup horse, a three-mile chaser”, so it was intriguing to see Majborough start out over two miles (and half a furlong) at Fairyhouse this weekend, not to mention being pitched in against smart stablemates Tullyhill and Asian Master, the latter coming in for quite strong support before the off under Tom Costello.
WATCH: Majborough makes winning start over fences at Fairyhouse
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In the event, Mark Walsh’s mount overcame the odd tiny mistake to make all the running and win going away by six and a half lengths as the even-money favourite - he opened at odds-on and briefly went 11/8 before settling at that SP.
There was not only substance to the form but also more than a flash of style to the performance too, and Walsh was keen to stress post-race that the four-year-old would stay longer trips in time but currently possesses more than enough speed to stick at two miles. Where have we heard that before?
It’s very difficult - and largely pointless - trying to predict how the respective campaigns of these five horses might pan out, but I'd be offering long odds against any of them ending up in the (reinstated) novices’ handicap chase over the intermediate trip at Cheltenham in March.
Dancing City looks Brown Advisory through-and-through and maybe Impaire Et Passe will ultimately stay in Ireland for the Grade 1 at Fairyhouse over Easter, but Majborough - no bigger than 5/1 for the Arkle - is clearly right up there on the top shelf with Ballyburn and Ile Atlantique, and some of the comments from his trainer are reminiscent of how he was talking about Fact To File around 12 months ago.
And Fact To File was beaten on his chasing debut, don't forget.
Couleurs can continue to scale the heights
With all due respect to David Pipe’s progressive King Turgeon and those brave veterans, who served up a fantastic race to be fair on the same Friday card, Cheltenham’s two-day Christmas meeting was primarily about the novice chasers too.
Day one witnessed the emergence of Jango Baie, who landed a bit of a touch (many happy returns to trainer Nicky Henderson for Tuesday, in unrelated news) in the SSS Super Alloys Novices’ Chase.
That’s a pretty cool name for a company and Jango Baie looks one cool and very capable horse for his connections, who had landed novice (handicap) chases at Uttoxeter and Taunton courtesy of Jingko Blue and De Tellers Fortune respectively earlier in the week. The writing was on the bleeding wall, folks.
It’s practically League Two standard compared to Mullins’ premier outfit, but it is worth stressing once again how promising the young chasers at Seven Barrows look this year, with Iberico Lord and Peaky Boy among several others to have registered early-season victories in this domain.
Jeriko Du Reponet is the one who continues to let the side down, but you wouldn’t rule out a remarkable resurgence from him at some stage.
Peaky Boy, winner of a novices’ handicap over two and a half miles at the November meeting, turned out again on Saturday and went down fighting upped to three miles for the first time in his life. He ultimately paid for some early exuberance and didn’t fully see it out, finishing three-lengths third, but there will be other big days for him too no doubt.
The front pair look to be very respectable Festival contenders but Rebecca Curtis, trainer of strong-staying winner Haiti Couleurs, would surely be wise to give more consideration to the new-style National Hunt Chase - to be run as a 0-145 Class 2 novices’ handicap in 2025 - rather than shoot for the Grade 1 Brown Advisory.
He'd garnered some interest with the way he jumped and travelled at Aintree last month but this was a deeper field and Sean Bowen took it to them from a fair way out. Haiti Couleurs won with plenty in hand and could probably stomach a 10lb rise given he was on a generous-looking 130 going into it.
The fast-finishing runner-up Transmission couldn’t quite repeat his November meeting win off a 3lb higher mark but is seemingly still on the right side of the assessor given the right circumstances.
The Kim Muir, with Patrick Mullins back on board, might just be that exact scenario, but it’s hoped we’ll see Neil Mulholland’s horse once or twice before then, a return to Sandown or Ascot likely to be under consideration given how - not for the first time - he kept adjusting right at his fences on Saturday.
WATCH: Haiti Couleurs beats Transmission and Peaky Boy at Cheltenham
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