LEOPARDSTOWN:LEOPARDSTOWN'S annual post-racing workout for leading Cheltenham hopes this Sunday looks set to take place on testing ground conditions but Ireland's "Horse Of The Year" Big Zeb is likely to wait 24 hours and school at the Dublin track on Monday.
The going was officially “soft to heavy” at Leopardstown yesterday ahead of a fixture where most attention is on what happens after racing.
Champion trainer Willie Mullins is among those who have used the post-racing gallops to put the final touches to some of his top Cheltenham hopes over the years and up to 40 festival contenders in total are again expected to appear this time.
However, Colm Murphy plans to wait a day and use the opportunity to school Big Zeb at Leopardstown ahead of his attempt to retain the Queen Mother Champion Chase crown in three weeks time. “He won’t even work. He’ll just pop a few fences. We couldn’t be happier with him at the moment,” Murphy said yesterday.
The Co Wexford trainer has another prime Cheltenham hopeful in Bumper contender Raise The Beat, who hasn’t been seen since winning easily at Naas in October. “He did a nice bit of work yesterday and that will leave him as right as we can get him for the festival. He could go to Leopardstown on Monday too,” Murphy added. “Quito De La Roque will tip away at home. He’s got a choice of the three-miler (RSA Chase) or the four-miler at Cheltenham. We haven’t decided which he will go for.”
The strength of Willie Mullins’s team for Cheltenham was illustrated yesterday when he was made 13 to 2 third favourite by William Hill to be leading trainer at the festival. Paul Nicholls (11 to 8) and Nicky Henderson (15 to 8) top the betting.
“The very-much in-form Willie Mullins appears to be manoeuvring into a favourable position, and has an arguable slam-dunk already in the form of Quevega. At 13 to 2, he could just be the valuable alternative away from the duelling duo,” a spokesperson for William Hill said.
One horse definitely missing from Cheltenham, however, will be the former Hennessy winner Joncol who is on the easy list after disappointing in this year’s Hennessy earlier in the month.
“He’s had trouble with his digestive system and he’s having treatment this week so we’ll know in about a week’s time how well he comes out of it,” said Co Wexford-based trainer Paul Nolan.
“We’ll see how he responds and go from there. He’s got a colic problem, he’s been on antibiotics and hopefully we can reverse it.”
In other news, oddsfutures.com, a new betting site co-founded by Irish businessman Marc Butterly, is being pitched as an opportunity for gamblers to change the way they bet on sports, including racing in Ireland. The new site offers punters the opportunity to bet on the movement of odds, allowing them the chance to win regardless of the result of the actual event the odds are available on. Dublin-based Butterly says the purpose is to reward market knowledge and to reduce the risk of depending on a result.
“It is genuinely a global first. It is the world’s first sports futures exchange and is certainly the first true sports event derivatives market where racing fans with keen insights can beat inaccurate pricing without having to make a bet. What could be better than being up before the off?” Butterly said yesterday.
