Next week will see Leopardstown host the final renewal of its traditional St Stephen’s Day feature race, the Grade One Racing Post Novice Chase.
Horse Racing Ireland, the semi-State ruling body that owns Leopardstown, is finalising plans for reducing the number of Grade One jumps races next season to try and improve competition for the most prestigious prizes on the calendar.
An immediate casualty is the €100,000 contest that has highlighted Leopardstown’s St Stephen’s Day action for decades.
Star names such as Douvan (2014) and Sizing Europe (2009) have won it, although Willie Mullins has been dominant with six victories in the last eight years.
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Rather than demote the race to a lower status, Leopardstown’s chief executive Tim Husbands said on Friday it has been scrapped entirely.
He also indicated efforts will be made in the new year to examine possibly switching one of the six other Grade One races up for grabs during Leopardstown’s Christmas festival to St Stephen’s Day in 2024.
“After this year, we want to look at it and see whether we need to reposition some of the races that are taking place in the remaining three [days of the festival] to make sure we have a Grade One on the first day. All those things are options on the table,” Husbands said.
“The logic is to try and create more competitive racing in general. It’s not just happening at Leopardstown. It’s happening to other races around,” he added.
Punchestown’s Morgiana Hurdle, won for the last two years by State Man, including at prohibitive odds of 1-6 last month, is another contest reportedly on HRI’s radar, although a spokesman said no final decisions will be taken until early in the new year.
He did indicate, though, that distances to the pair of other Grade One novice chases over Christmas – the three-mile Neville Hotels Chase at Leopardstown and Limerick’s Guinness Faugheen Chase – could be “tweaked” in 2024 in response to the two-mile option being dropped.
Up to 60,000 race fans are expected at Leopardstown during next week’s festival, which features seven of the dozen top-flight contests up for grabs in Ireland and Britain over the holiday period.
They include the featured Savills Chase on day three which has 16 entries left in after the latest acceptance stage.
The scene could be a set for a mouthwatering clash of Ireland’s top Gold Cup contenders with the defending Blue Riband champion Galopin Des Champs set to tackle both Gerri Colombe and Fastorslow.
The latter has beaten Galopin Des Champs on their last two starts, including in last month’s John Durkan Chase at Punchestown, while Gerri Colombe’s connections have opted to skip Kempton’s King George and wait for Leopardstown’s €175,000 highlight.
Also among the 16 contenders is another Gold Cup champion in A Plus Tard, who landed the Savills in 2020. He hasn’t been seen in action since finishing third to Shiskhkin at Aintree last April.
Ground conditions at Leopardstown are currently ‘yielding’ on the steeplechase course and ‘good to yielding’ in places.
Watering on the famously quick-drying chase track hasn’t been ruled out in advance of the festival, although up to 10mm of forecast rainfall over the weekend could make it unnecessary.
“Certainly, with what we’ve had this week, and the forecast over the next 48 to 96 hours, at the moment we don’t anticipate we’re going to need it. But if we don’t get the rain in the next 48 hours, we’re ready for it.
“We expect eight to 10mm over the weekend. That would be sufficient for us because we’re in a good place already. There’s a lot of moisture in it. We’ve had over 200mm more than last year so it’s in a very good place,” Tim Husbands said.
Final declarations for the St Stephen’s Day action take place on Saturday ahead of the busiest date on Ireland’s racing calendar.
Limerick’s four-day festival also starts on Tuesday, while Down Royal completes the sole triple-date programme of the year.
A total of 16 entries remain in Limerick’s top-flight contest, the Faugheen Novice Chase, which has been switched to Thursday from its traditional St Stephen’s Day slot to secure more prominent TV billing.
The likely headline act is Gaelic Warrior, although Willie Mullins has half a dozen other options.
All but two of the 10 entries left in next Friday’s Neville Hotels Chase at Leopardstown also figure among those remaining in the Faugheen. Leopardstown’s final day feature, the Matheson Hurdle, looks set to be dominated by last year’s winner State Man.
The latter’s stable companion Impaire Et Passe, who lost his unbeaten record to Teahupoo in the Hatton’s Grace earlier this month, is also among the seven left in the Matheson, but he could be rerouted to Cheltenham’s Relkeel Hurdle on New Year’s Day.
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