Grangeclare west, 4 to 5, joseph, st.pancras & as predicted.

​Let me make myself clear form the outset: Galopin Des Champs is a brilliant steeplechaser, and most likely the best Irish-trained steeplechaser since Arkle, and I would add, Flyingbolt. Never forget Flyingbolt. I cannot see him getting beat in the Gold Cup and, if Ben Pauling was not around with The Jukebox Man and Handstands, I would say this with greater certainty, it is short odds he will achieve one Gold Cup more than Arkle. 
I just wish Willie Mullins would bring him to Britain more often than one race per season. Come on, Willie, put a King George on Galopin Des Champs c.v.. Make an argument for Galopin Des Champs being better than Kauto Star. Winning the same races over and over, beating the same horses over and over again, is just standing still. He is no Arkle, yet Galopin Des Champs is already up there with Kauto and Desert Orchid as one of the best of modern times, indeed of all-time.
Now then. Is anyone concerned about how close Grangeclare West, a 50/1 outsider, albeit a stable-mate of the winner, got to Galopin Des Champs? He was never going to win and it would take a bucket-load of optimism to think he might trouble his illustrious stable-mate at Cheltenham, yet he is a relatively lightly raced horse and this was his best career performance and in beating Fact To File, perhaps a non-stayer, though it did not look that way last season, he took a notable scalp. If Grangeclare West does not line-up for the Gold Cup, he could easily be a contender for the Grand National this season, a race I would pay gold sovereigns to see Galopin Des Champs in.

Why is it accepted doctrine that it is difficult for the best 4-year-old hurdlers of their generation to transfer their ability to their 5-year-old seasons? Yet here we have two five-year-olds, the top 4-year-old hurdlers of their generation, Majborough and Sir Gino, dominating the novice chase scene.
We accept as absolute that the best 4-year-olds of their generation will struggle as 5-year-olds. But do we give these young horses the opportunity to progress naturally from ages 4 to 5 and beyond? The race formerly known as the Free Handicap Hurdle and run at Chepstow in October should be reinstated in the calendar, though perhaps transferred to Cheltenham’s Open Meeting, and there should be 4-year-old hurdles up and down the country right up to January, becoming 5-year-old hurdles thereafter. This generation of hurdlers, the 4-year-olds rising five, are National Hunt’s version of 3-year-olds on the flat, and should be treated accordingly.

On the flat, Joseph O’Brien is already in the same sphere as the Gosdens or Dermot Weld, and only a smidgen on the ladder of brilliance behind his father. He has the oracle and he knows how to get it to work to his advantage. Yet as a trainer of jumpers, where he is equally successful. He is someone who likes to charge at windmills, a little fish in an ocean of sharks and killer whales. Our sport is so much better for having him amongst us; pray he will continue training jumpers for a few more years yet.

Keep on your radar St.Pancras, a winner at Musselburgh yesterday. The race was a bit of a pantomime, with two false starts, with St. Pancras greatly hindered when the race finally got on its way, and three fallers at the last hurdle. He is a fine-looking horse and showed battling qualities to get up and win quite cosily, though I would sanction Kevin Brogan for his over-zealous use of the whip on a horse giving his all. If he turns-up for the Fred Winter at the Festival, he is one to have on your side.

As predicted – not a prediction anyone would have laughed-at – Gordon Elliott no longer leads the trainers’ table in Ireland. Doubtless he will not lead it again until next summer. It is a shame as his presence at the top of the table has intrigued me since November.