1.30 2m. 5f. 7 Declared. Gallagher Novices' Hurdle (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1 ) of £135,000.00 4-y-o plus
1st - €75,964.00 2nd - €28,620.00 3rd - €14,324.00 4th - €7,155.00 5th - €3,591.00 6th - €1,796.00 7th - €891.00 8th - €459.00
Formscan - From Danoli and Istabraq, through to Envoi Allen and last year's winner Impaire Et Passe, the roll call of past winner of this race over the last 20 years is impressive. BALLYBURN obviously has some big shoes to fill in his bid to emulate some of those greats, but the son of Flemensfirth is certainly going the right way and is very hard to oppose. Indeed, the six-year-old's smooth performance in landing a Grade 1 success at the Dublin Racing Festival could hardly have been more dominant and underlined not just his rapid progress since defeat to Firefox on his hurdles debut, but established his versatility regarding the trip, given he had comfortably landed a maiden at Leopardstown over 2m4f in between. Already with six previous winners of this race under his belt, Willie Mullins has a stranglehold on the 2024 edition with Ile Atlantique, Predators Gold, Mercurey and Jimmy Du Seuil all representing Ireland's champion trainer. However, the unbeaten Handstands may be the one to put it up to Ballyburn given he too is a rising star.