Cullentra Stables 2024 Fil Dor and Lisa O Neill during morning exercise © Photo Healy Racing
Gordon Elliott has a superb team heading to Cheltenham next week and Emma Nagle has taken a look at his less obvious contenders to seek out some excellent value.
One of the high-profile Caldwell horses who changed hands earlier this year, the six-year-old is a major addition to a strong Robcour festival team. After a messy novice chasing campaign, he has returned in better shape this year. Eye catching performances behind top two-milers Dinoblue and El Fabiolo were encouraging, and having that experience in graded races over the minimum trip should stand to him in the jumping department. Stepping up in trip will suit and he looks to have a big shout in a wide open renewal of the Ryanair.
Gordon likes to target this race and won back-to-back renewals back in 2017/2018. Betterdaysahead was given 4 lbs from the BHA handicapper to bring his mark up to 140 which looks a fair assessment. The six-year-old was a good bumper horse last year, and appears to have kept up his progress this term. A good run behind Slade Steel in a G2 event at Navan being the highlight. He was giving 15 lbs to Supreme Novice hope Asian Master last time over the minimum trip and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him improve on that effort over a longer distance.
One which Gordon mentioned himself as ‘flying under the radar’ for the Cheltenham festival, The Yellow Clay was put in plenty of notebooks after a taking performance at the Dublin Racing Festival. While it may be hard to argue he would have beaten the winner that day, this son of Yeats met plenty of trouble in running before finishing his race out strongly. Gordon has hit the mark twice in the bumper with Envoi Allen and Fayonagh, and despite stablemate Jalon d’Oudairies being favoured in the market, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Jack Kennedy were to ride Bective Stud’s five-year-old at The Festival.
With vibes being strong around Quilixios for the Arkle, Sa Fureur who is closely matched on Naas form must have leading claims in a festival handicap. The seven-year-old holds entries in both the Plate and the Grand Annual and has been given a BHA rating of 145 after just three chase starts. The highlight of that chasing form came when just two-lengths behind the 2021 Triumph Hurdle winner at Naas. Mister Policeman, who was behind in third, came out to boost the form next time at Punchestown. With only ten starts under rules he could have any amount of improvement to come.
With all of the talk around the Mullins’ runners in the Supreme Novice, Firefox may be flying slightly under the radar. He was taking when beating star novice Ballyburn on hurdling debut at Fairyhouse before disappointing when stepping into Grade One company at Naas. There were excuses that day though, and if Firefox can return to his best it would be naive to dismiss his chances.
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