Coming to
Cheltenham
the
Willie Mullins
team were convinced Briar Hill represented their best chance in the novice hurdle division: now that Vautour and Faugheen have given exhibitions in the Supreme and the Neptune, bookmakers can be forgiven if they start to dig trenches before today’s Albert Bartlett.
And yet the nature of the festival betting ring is that some of them will take on the favourite. For one thing the bookies will have Kings Palace running for them, an impressive course and distance winner from a proven festival team, who will relish the conditions. The other is that in bare form terms, it is easy to pick holes in Briar Hill.
In three hurdles starts, the Mullins star has won a Wexford maiden, beaten the quirky Azorian in a Grade One match at Navan and fended off just two in workmanlike fashion at Naas in January. In fact it remains the case that Briar Hill’s single best piece of form probably remains his seven length demolition job at 25/1 in last year’s Champion Bumper.
However, Faugheen's bare form was hardly earth-shattering before Wednesday's Neptune and he got backed off the boards before winning brilliantly. In comparison the confidence of the Mullins team behind Briar Hill is even more obvious. Patrick Mullins, pressed last week to nominate a festival winner, overlooked Quevega, Hurricane Fly et al and instead conceded he would be disappointed if Briar Hill doesn't win.
More than hopeful
Not unnaturally Willie Mullins wasn't quite as bullish on the eve of the race yesterday but did admit to be being more than hopeful. "When a horse is unbeaten it is always difficult to gauge how good he is and Briar Hill falls into that category. He was a surprise in the bumper last year but he had always looked very useful. This term he is three from three over hurdles, including a Grade One and Two," he said.
“We know he doesn’t mind the hustle and bustle of Cheltenham having won as a bumper horse so he has to be one of our better hopes for the week,” the champion trainer added.
Mullins has two hopes, Abyssial and Adriana Des Mottes, in the Triumph Hurdle, a race which this year really looks to have seen the impact of having a juvenile alternative in Wednesday’s Fred Winter.
John Ferguson had been thinking of Tuesday’s Supreme for the former good flat handicapper Broughton but after Vautour’s performance the decision to wait for this race, and even better ground, looks to have been a sound one.
Broughton won easily at Mussleburgh last month and it was a Grade Two race in which he made his jumping debut so defeat there was hardly a disgrace.
John Thomas McNamara isn’t far from many thoughts throughout this week but the jockey left paralysed by a fall here last year will be at the forefront of all minds should On the Fringe land the CGA Foxhunters.
McNamara won this race seven years ago on Drombeag and rode On The Fringe to finish fourth in it in 2011. In all he rode Enda Bolger’s horse half a dozen times and was crucial in his development towards becoming the finished article he now appears to be.
The McManus team also look to have a legitimate contender for the County Hurdle in Minella Foru. The novice has had four hurdle starts, winning two of them, including a Grade Three in November, and put in an eye-catching effort to be third in the Grade Two won by Real Steel at Naas recently.
Minella Foru brought a big reputation from the point-to- point field and although inexperienced compared to most of these, getting in under 11st here potentially makes him look well treated.
Over hurdles Raya Star was just the sort of tough handicapper to thrive in a County but he can make his presence felt today in the festival finale, the Grand Annual Chase.
Alan King’s horse travelled notably well for a long way in the Game Spirit at Newbury but should prefer better going here and he boasts a valuable piece of course form this season behind Dodging Bullets.
