4.10 3m. 5f. 56yds. 12 Declared. Glenfarclas Chase (Cross Country) (GBB Race) (Class 2 ) of £75,000.00 5-y-o plus
1st - €39,022.00 2nd - €17,940.00 3rd - €8,970.00 4th - €4,485.00 5th - €2,242.00 6th - €1,118.00
Formscan - A former Gold Cup and Albert Bartlett winner, MINELLA INDO is arguably the classiest individual to turn up in this unique affair. It was only two years ago that he was runner-up in the Festival's blue riband event and it looks as though he has been laid out for this since a promising fourth over the course in December off top-weight. A winner of a Grade 3 at Punchestown earlier in the season, the son of Beat Hollow may not be ideally suited by the forecast heavy ground, but he stays all day and can give connections a first win in this race. Winner of the last two renewals, Delta Work should be thereabouts again following another light campaign into the Festival, while heavy ground would also be a plus for the son of Network. A bigger danger, though, may come from stablemate Coko Beach, who has won the Troytown and finished second in the Becher already this season. Sam Ewing's mount proved himself in this discipline when scoring comfortably at Punchestown last month and he is the highest rated in the field to boot. Runner-up in this last year and a previous winner at the Festival, Galvin is better suited to quicker ground, while Foxy Jacks did it well when scoring at the track in November and cannot be ruled out.