Cheltenham Festival: Five beaten horses to consider ahead of the Aintree and Punchestown Festivals next month | Racing News
As always, the Cheltenham Festival brought its fair share of dramatic finishes, unlucky losers and incredible drama throughout the four-day meeting last week.
Aintree, Fairyhouse, Sandown and Punchestown will no doubt be the plan for several of the beaten horses – we’ve picked out five who could be of interest as we head towards the back-end of the National Hunt season.
Dysart Dynamo
Trainer – Willie Mullins
How close would he have got to Constitution Hill in the Supreme?
I suppose the answer is we’ll never know but he was certainly still in contention when taking a crashing fall at the third last in the curtain-raiser of the meeting.
In all likelihood, he wouldn’t have managed to reel in the devastating winner Constitution Hill, who ended up putting 22 lengths between himself and stablemate Jonbon at the finish.
Dysart Dynamon ridden by Paul Townend to victory at Punchestown in January
Constitution Hill’s owner, Michael Buckley, could be tempted to send his star novice into open company to face Honeysuckle in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle, which would in turn leave the door open for Dysart Dynamo to at least go off favourite for the Grade One novice hurdle at the Punchestown Festival.
If that is the case, expect the six-year-old to bounce back and land a first top Grade success, having already bolted up in the Grade Two Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle back in January.
Gaelic Warrior
T – Willie Mullins
A plot that was oh so nearly executed to perfection.
However, those who took the fancy prices about juvenile Gaelic Warrior didn’t account for his jumping away to the right, which became increasingly more violent as the race went on and probably cost him the victory, having gone down a neck to Padraig Roche’s Brazil.
Brazil (green cap) chases down Gaelic Warrior (pink) in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham
He will be reassessed by the handicapper and no doubt his true ability will be very much reflected now, so they could be pushed into Grade One contests but you sense this could be a horse to take that step.
Going to a right-handed track at Punchestown would surely suit, and although owner Rich Ricci also has Triumph winner Vauban in his name, talk of a flat campaign for him would open up a path to the four-year-old hurdle for Gaelic Warrior.
Mister Coffey
T – Nicky Henderson
This will have been a painful one for Sam Waley-Cohen and the Nicky Henderson team, who looked certain to land the Kim Muir for the majority of the race last Thursday.
The money came for the seven-year-old novice chaser, who looked to relish the step up in trip to the Gold Cup distance and cruised into the straight looking like the winner.
Chambard clears the last in the Kim Muir ahead of Mister Coffey
However, reeling in leader Chambard and Lucy Turner proved an obstacle too great for the duo, who eventually settled for second beaten just over two lengths.
Three miles could be perfect for the seven-year-old and, with an excellent round of jumping, something over the Aintree fences could suit towards the end of the season.
Mrs Milner
T – Paul Nolan
Surely not another hard-luck story?
Mrs Milner and Bryan Cooper would be right up there as unlucky losers go, having been severely hampered by the fall of Indefatigable at the third-last hurdle when cruising in behind the leaders in the Mares’ Hurdle.
Mrs Milner on her way to winning the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham
She lost all momentum and had to be gathered up by Cooper whilst others were quickening away, eventually getting up for third beaten just over three lengths by Marie’s Rock.
That run needs upgrading really and, looking at the potential options, the Mares’ Champion Hurdle over the same trip at Punchestown next month stands out as a likely retrieval mission for the Paul Nolan-trained seven-year-old.
Winged Leader
T – David Christie
It probably wasn’t the most dramatic finish of the week (hello, Galopin Des Champs), but the Festival Hunter Chase was certainly a close second.
After the buzz of Rachael Blackmore’s ground-breaking Cheltenham Gold Cup victory on A Plus Tard, Winged Leader looked set to win by a similar margin in the following race.
Winged Leader and Barry O’Neill lands over the last fence before going on to win at Down Royal
But in box-office fashion, Patrick Mullins’ galvanised perennial bridesmaid Billaway as Winged Leader’s petrol gauge ticked into the red, storming up the hill to nose out the David Christie-trained eight-year-old on the line.
Aintree’s Hunters’ Chase is over two-and-a-half miles, so the Punchestown equivalent over three miles could be better-suited to Winged Leader, having actually beaten Billaway by a dozen lengths over that trip earlier this season.
