as Ed chamberlain said: we get excited, and then the irish win!

​47-sleeps to total Irish domination. If only that were tongue-in-cheek.
Here’s an idea. Why not switch the Victor Chandler permanently to Trials Day at Cheltenham and stage a few other trials for the Festival at Ascot? The 3-mile Lightning novice chase could, perhaps be brought forward from its date in February. Paul Nicholl’s, talking about Stay Away Fay, seemed to think its present date in the calendar is too close to the Festival. Also, a trial for one of the novice hurdles, with the mares hurdle run this season at Doncaster on Saturday, switching to Ascot.
Running a trial for the Champion Chase seems, at least to me, a better fit for Trials Day than Ascot and as no horse would be asked to run in both the Victor Chandler and the 2-mile chase at the Dublin Racing Festival, I can’t see there ever being a clash between the two. For the benefit of the sport racecourses must compromise and work in harmony with each other.
Saturday clearly demonstrated the saturation of top-class horses trained in Ireland. Yes, Sir Gino emerged as a worthy favourite for the Triumph Hurdle but he was an outlier on the day. Lossiemouth looked exceptional, treating with contempt rivals that were all in the top bracket as far as British-trained horses are concerned. Clearly Willie Mullins has a plan for her that doesn’t include the Champion Hurdle this season, with the Mares Hurdle looking a shoo-in for her. Before tape-up, I thought Love Envoi’s 2nd to Honeysuckle in last year’s Mares Hurdle was by far the best form in the race, yet she was brushed aside as if she were nothing more than an inconsequence. Trained by anyone else, Lossiemouth would be Champion Hurdle bound, with the majority believing she had a shot at bringing down Constitution Hill. Mullins’ though, has two other strings to his bow for the Champion Hurdle, even if no one could have any confidence either will worry Henderson’s hero as they reach the climb to the winning post.
The big worry for supporters of British-trained horses for Cheltenham was Capodanno winning the Cotswold Chase. I seriously fancied him for the Grand National last season, thinking him a top-class horse, favourably-weighted, trained by a genius and largely overlooked. Race-fitness caught him out at Aintree, running and jumping well until his long lay-off caught up with him. He is now being aimed at the Ryanair and with Allaho ruled out due to injury, it’s hard to have any confidence any horse getting the better of him, certainly not a British-trained horse. Doubtless, Aintree will not be on his agenda this season.
The joy for me of the Cotswold Chase was the performance of Ahoy Senor. Yes, he finished last of four but it was, given he has pulled-up in his previous two races, his first proper race of the season and, for him, he jumped wonderfully well. And, of course, Stephen Mulqueen displayed the extent of his natural horsemanship when the stirrup leather failed three-out, at a point when he seemed as likely the winner as any other. Of course, Lucinda and Peter now have a dilemma to overcome, will it be Derek Fox or Mulqueen on Ahoy Senor come the Gold Cup. No disrespect to Fox, but I would stick with Mulqueen, especially as the team also have Corrach Rambler for the Gold Cup. My faith in Ahoy Senor is restored.
Mind you, the horse that is coming nicely to the boil for the Gold Cup is The Real Whacker. He ran on stoutly on Saturday and his front-running style might, just might, unsettle Galopin Des Champs.
James Bowen is a wonderfully talented horseman destined to become stable jockey at Seven Barrows whenever Nico de Boinville retires. To me, given Jonbon is not a straight-forward ride, he didn’t really gel with Jonbon in the Victor Chandler and possibly will wake-up this morning wishing he had done several aspects of the race differently. His sit at the fence at the top of the hill was remarkable and doubtless cost Jonbon the race but it has to be admitted that it was Jonbon’s worst display of jumping since switching to fences. I wouldn’t be surprised if the horse trots up stiff and sore this morning. I just hope if he is, it will be nothing to prevent him returning to Cheltenham in March. As was said on Saturday, Jonbon has run poorly in the past and still won at the Festival and I wouldn’t rule out him doing so again.
The downer on Saturday was that Ireland won the trials for the Gold Cup, the Champion Hurdle and the Stayers Hurdle, with Willie Mullins also scooping the mares hurdle at Doncaster and Gordon Elliott winning the juvenile hurdle with a horse now unbeaten in five races. We are doomed. Yet could Scotland be our salvation? In Lucinda we trust.