The concentration of talent among an elite few in top Graded races is a recurring racing theme, but rarely can one figure have cast such a large shadow over a valuable handicap the way Gordon Elliott promises to in Sunday's Navan feature.
The season's leading trainer saddles 11 of the 25 runners as he pursues a third win in a row in the €100,000 Ladbrokes Troytown Chase.
Over a weekend when Elliott is set to have 36 runners in all between here and Britain, including Apple’s Jade attempt to rehabilitate her reputation in Newcastle’s Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle, it is the “Troytown 11” which is the most startling evidence of the power at the Longwood yard.
They include four of the half dozen Michael O’Leary-owned hopefuls, one of JP McManus’s quartet, and apart from them there is still the ante-post favourite Noble Endeavor and the veteran Bless The Wings who could ultimately prove each-way value to finally secure a major prize.
They are also part of a team of 27 Elliott runners overall on the Navan card which can see him land the Grade 3 Monksfield Novice Hurdle with Death Duty and significantly extend his lead in the trainers' championship over Willie Mullins who has nine runners during the entire weekend.
That they include the hugely exciting Min continuing to follow in the footsteps of Vautour and Douvan in Sunday’s Beginners Chase, or another promising newcomer to fences, Bellshill, who lines up at Gowran on Saturday, is likely to be of only marginal significance in terms of the championship.
Big money pot
The Troytown is the weekend’s big money pot, and it contains the obvious potential to continue Elliott’s run of big handicap success which has already taken in the Galway Plate (Lord Scoundrel), the
Kerry National
(Wrath Of Titans) and the
Munster
National (Tiger Roll) this season.
Bless The Wings came agonisingly close to securing a major prize himself last Easter when just beaten by Rogue Angel in the Irish Grand National. He did have a nice pipe-opener over hurdles at Clonmel recently, and teams up with Jack Kennedy who announced himself on the national scene in last year's Troytown when Riverside City was part of a hat-trick on the day for the then 16-year-old.
Kennedy will be at Newcastle on Saturday to ride Apple’s Jade for the first time in the Fighting Fifth. Considering last season’s spectacular Aintree winner was in front of Petit Mouchoir at Down Royal earlier this month, Bryan Cooper’s decision to ride Gigginstown’s other runner looks significant.
Raiders
Successful on Identity Thief for
Henry De Bromhead
, Cooper will hope he has got his pick right in a race that also includes “Shark” Hanlon’s Hidden Cyclone and the 2014 winner Irving. However, the Alan King-trained Sceau Royal is likely to start favourite to repel the raiders.
Cooper has had a number of choices to make for the Navan card, including opting for Empire Of Dirt in the Troytown, but will be free to enjoy a fascinating Listed Mares Bumper which can ultimately fall to the Mullins runner Glens Harmony. The full sister to the Cheltenham winner Glens Melody won easily at Ballinrobe in May following a huge debut effort behind Augusta Kate and Forge Meadow which looks very smart form now.
