The Dublin Racing Festival is the perfect meeting for owners, trainers, jockeys, horses and even punters. Why? Because it’s the ideal preparation for the Cheltenham Festival.
That’s not to discredit the Leopardstown showcase. It’s a fantastic weekend of action and comfortably one of the best meetings in the National Hunt calendar.
But with so many races mirroring those run in March, and with roughly six weeks between the two events, it offers ideal preparation for what’s to come.
It’s not too close, but not too far away either. Connections can learn about their horse, make adjustments and still arrive fresh, while punters get a valuable read on the horse racing odds picture ahead of the biggest week of the year. That’s why Leopardstown form has produced so many Festival winners since the meeting’s inception.
However, it’s not only the winners who matter. Every year, horses beaten at Leopardstown step forward dramatically at Prestbury Park, and several from this season could easily do just that.
Final Demand — Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase
The horse with the most questions to answer heading into this year’s Festival is the Willie Mullins-trained Final Demand.
He looked the standout novice chaser after two convincing wins over fences and was strongly fancied for Leopardstown, but he produced arguably the biggest shock of the meeting when only third in the Grade 1 behind Kaid d’Authie.
It wasn’t a narrow defeat either. Final Demand weakened late and finished 12 lengths behind his stablemate.
The performance was almost too bad to be true, considering what he had previously shown. Cheltenham’s more demanding stamina test could suit him far better, and the fact he remains prominent in the betting suggests confidence he’ll show his real level in the Brown Advisory.
Marine Nationale — Queen Mother Champion Chase
Another horse who probably didn’t run to his true form was reigning Champion Chase winner Marine Nationale.
He finished 19 lengths behind Majborough in the Dublin Chase. While the winner produced an almost perfect performance, conditions appeared against Marine Nationale, who never travelled with his usual fluency on softer ground.
If the surface is more suitable at Cheltenham, as is often the case, it would be no surprise to see him reverse the form or at least get much closer.
Lossiemouth — Mares’ Hurdle
Lossiemouth’s Champion Hurdle ambitions once again took a blow after defeat by Brighterdaysahead.
Owned by Rich Ricci, she has been aimed at the Champion Hurdle in recent seasons, but there always seems to be a complication along the way that redirects her to calmer waters.
That calmer water is the Mares’ Hurdle, a race she won by seven and a half lengths last year. If connections take the same route again, she would set a very high standard.
Gaelic Warrior — Ryanair Chase
There are plenty of “ifs, buts and maybes” surrounding Gaelic Warrior.
After finishing five lengths behind Fact To File in the Irish Gold Cup, plans remain undecided. But that result may cause a rethink.
If Fact To File is supplemented for the Gold Cup, Gaelic Warrior would almost certainly drop into the Ryanair, where he would become the horse to beat.
