Cheltenham prospects in Ireland today

Some great racing is in prospect today in both the U.K. and Ireland and possibly the Irish meeting at Leopardstown holds centre stage with 4 Grade One races all featuring Cheltenham hopes. The Hennessy Gold Cup over 3 miles at 16.20 sees Flemenstar (Peter Casey/ Andrew Lynch) and Sir des Champs (Willie Mullins/ Davy Russell) renew rivalry. They finished third and fourth in the best finish of the season, the Lexus Chase here just after Christmas. The question over the former is his stamina, which appeared to give out in the Lexus, while the latter did not jump as well as expected from a prospective Gold Cup winner. It is difficult to choose between the pair, but we hope to see Flemenstar come out on top, not only because it is always nice to see a small stable beat the big battalions, but also because of Casey´s extremely lively post-race interview. Quel Esprit (Mullins/ Paul Townend) won this last year, but it is hard to see him defeating the big two this time.

As usual Mullins has fancied runners in all the main events, and we certainly expect Boston Bob (Townend) to land the novice chase at 15.45 to justify his position as favourite for Cheltenham´s RSA chase. Champagne Fever (Townend) also has a good chance in the Deliotte Novice Hurdle at 15.15, but this is a very tricky event and as we are great admirers of Dermot Weld, we shall go along with Waaheb (Mark Walsh), although he would probably prefer better ground. Buthelezi (John Ferguson/ Denis O´Regan) is a dangerous challenger from England here, and the same team has Ruacana engaged in the opening 4yo hurdle at 14.125, but here we prefer Mullins´ pair Blood Cotil (Emmet Mullins) and especially Diakali (Townend).

It is unusual for a big jumps meeting to be staged on a Saturday in Ireland and this card was originally scheduled for tómorrow; the reason for the switch is to avoid a clash with a big Gaelic foortball game tomorrow in Dublin.