There was a festive feast of jumps racing on both sides of the Irish Sea, with the King George at Kempton Park on Boxing Day the showpiece of the Christmas period. As ever, though, all roads lead to the Cheltenham Festival, so which performances had the biggest bearing on events at Prestbury Park in March?
Irish in fine fettle
For all that Bravemansgame was a good winner of the King George and fellow Kempton winner Constitution Hill is the most exciting jumps horse in training, the signs are that the Irish are going to maintain their recent domination at the Festival.
Willie Mullins, for so long the dominant trainer in Ireland, shows no sign of relinquishing his grip and he landed five of the seven grade one winners at Leopardstown last week.
State Man provided Mullins with his most valuable success in prize money terms when leading home a stable 1-2-3 in the Matheson Hurdle on Thursday. He will be asked to tackle Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle come March, though, which could prove a thankless task.
The horse that is most likely to win at the Festival for Mullins is surely Facile Vega, who also led a grade one clean sweep for his trainer at Leopardstown last Tuesday. A son of the outstanding Quevega, who won a six times at the Festival, Facile Vega is unbeaten in six starts including the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham last March.
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He has had only two starts over hurdles but coped with a rise in class to win in fine style, despite the odd novicey jump. He is only going to get more fluent in that department as he gains experience and cramped odds of 4-5 for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, which opens the Festival on March 14, look justified.
Mullins unleashed his Gold Cup favourite, Galopin Des Champs, on December 19 in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown. He was hugely impressive but has yet to prove that he stays the Gold Cup trip, while he is relatively inexperienced after only five starts over fences. Galopin Des Champs has enormous potential but he offers little value at just 7-4 for the Gold Cup.
Maxxum may aim higher
Gordon Elliott continues to push Mullins for the top spot in Ireland and he, too, tasted grade one success last week with Conflated and Gerri Colombe. His most significant winner last week with a view to Cheltenham, though, was surely Maxxum, who sauntered home by 16 lengths in what had appeared to be a competitive handicap hurdle.
Maxxum has now been installed the 4-1 favourite for the Pertemps Final on March 16. The handicapper will react harshly to such an easy victory, though, and it is far from impossible that Elliott will be tempted to aim Maxxum higher.
If he is given an entry for the Stayers’ Hurdle — a division that is crying out for a young pretender — Maxxum would surely be a big player. A watching brief is advised at this stage but he is surely a top-class stayer in the making.
Constitution Hill can be a star
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Just as Mullins and Elliott continue to be the leading players in Ireland, Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson remain at the top in Britain, for all that Dan Skelton and Fergal O’Brien have made some inroads this season.
The pair take different approaches — Nicholls is more adventurous in running his horses, while Henderson generally takes a more cautious line — but both will get their leading lights to the Festival.
Bravemansgame showed improved form to land the King George by 14 lengths from Royale Pagaille. He was only third to Bob Olinger on his sole visit to the Festival, in the 2021 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, but he has taken his form to a new level since switched to fences, winning six of his seven starts. The 10-1 offered by Coral and Ladbrokes for the Gold Cup looks fair.
Henderson, 72, has had many top-class horses during an illustrious career but the feeling persists that Constitution Hill could be his crowning glory.
Unbeaten in five starts, four of them at the highest level, Constitution Hill. No rival has finished within 12 lengths of him and he is as short as 1-5 with William Hill for the Champion Hurdle.
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It will be fascinating to see which route Henderson decides to take should all go well in March, as Constitution Hill looks a chaser in the making and ought to stay three miles.
Rather like Frankel on the Flat, Constitution Hill is never going to be much of a betting proposition at such cramped odds but he could just capture the imagination of the public in the coming seasons.
