Equinties - poster boy

Gm Equinauts

Thousands of hearts could be heard breaking across Racing X yesterday as it was confirmed Stayers fave and French wonder horse THELEME would not run at Cheltenham.

A bit of hype horse, he was included in many peoples ante-post slips (see below) but it seems like someone in his comments already knew about his impending doom… 

Lo and behold, THELEME, the five-time Grade 1-winning French star, will miss the Cheltenham Festival due to a setback. 

The setback is not major but as Bertrand le Metayer, racing manager for the owners, said: "It’s just a small setback and we know the horse, he’ll be fine; it’s just the timing. He should be fit again for the spring in France and we haven’t given up on the idea of Cheltenham. We’ll try again next year."

It’s sad a good horse like him isn’t coming over to make the Stayers’ Hurdle stronger, but cynics will say that it makes the picture clearer as THELEME was an unknown quantity coming over to the UK at a track that he will not have experienced in France.

After the news, the pair of Robcour x Gordon Elliott horses, TEAHUPOO and IRISH POINT, found themselves at the top of the market at 7/2 and 4/1 respectively.

Anyway, ante-post bets aren’t really our thing, so let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

IT’S ON!

FASTORSLOW vs GALOPIN DES CHAMPS #4 is on as Martin Brassil is keen to take his stable star to the Grade 1 Irish Gold Cup at the DRF. 

The Ultima runner-up is 2-1 up on Willie Mullins’ Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, and although the Dublin Chase over 2m1f was a potential for FASTORSLOW, the Irish Gold Cup will be his intended target as long as the ground isn’t bottomless.

Like we said with STAY AWAY FAY yesterday, it’s good to see campaigning like this. Although clashes outside of Cheltenham should occur more frequently, for sport engagement, but unfortunately they don’t occur as much as we would like so to see so we should be cherishing this Irish match.

It’ll be a good race between the pair in the Irish Gold Cup and both will seemingly head to the Cheltenham Gold Cup after, which is also good as Brassil could easily drop FASTORSLOW down to the Ryanair and he would probably win. 

On the Irish Gold Cup, Brassil said: "He's entered in the 2m1f Grade 1 in case it came up heavy ground, but the preferred option is the Irish Gold Cup.

"He's versatile with regards to ground, but we just felt we didn't need to run him on heavy ground at Christmas when the Irish Gold Cup was another option."

As for other Saturday clashes which will most definitely shake up the futures market, James Owens’ unbeaten (over hurdles) Royal Ascot winner BURDETT ROAD is set to race market contender SIR GINO. The two are currently sitting at the head of the market for March’s juvenile contest with both entering the match after very easy wins.

MARES’ CHASE CLUE?

Many people, including Ruby Walsh, think DINOBLUE is rock solid at the top of the market for the Grade 2 Mares’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

And they might be right. After all, she is a Grade 1 winner who has been pretty solid since her victory in Fairyhouse in a novice handicap chase in April. 

Aside from her, the picture is slightly murky for the penultimate contest of the Cheltenham Festival, though one could be staking their claim at Huntingdon today as BRIDES HILL is making the trip over the Irish Sea for Gavin Cromwell.

The 25/1-shot is searching for a hat-trick and has been well-backed from 6/4 into odds-on on ground that will be favourable, and based on last season’s form of beating TELMESOMETHINGGIRL and INSTIT, she has to be considered for the race. 

She is potentially unexposed and shouldn’t be discounted based on today’s events…although, she should just win at 4/5…right?

POSTER BOY

This newsletter has been banging the drum of JUSTIFY for some time now, we even did a thread on him. 

It’s remarkable to think how well JUSTIFY is going, he has all the corners of the Racing Globe covered whether it’s Australia, America or Europe, and weirdly all on turf not dirt racing. From two crops of racing age he has sired 6x Group 1 winners and 25x stakes winners. Two Breeders Cup winners on the same night, JUST F Y I and HARD TO JUSTIFY, both will be Kentucky Oaks bound. 

Future prospects? 

Well, OPERA SINGER could well win the 1000 Guineas over the same weekend. RAMATUELLE could win the Pouliches, the French equivalent. However, although it’s fun watching the fillies, the colts is where the real bucks come into play…

JUSTIFY was bought by the Coolmore Partners for a reported $100 million Australian dollars, a bit over £50 million quid. Now his son STORM BOY is being eyed up by the top Australian stud farms.

He dominated his trials for his trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. He won a Gr3 and then smashed his rivals at the Magic Millions. Now, en route for the Juvenile Triple Crown and were he to collect, then his price would explode.

First stop is the Gr2 Skyline on the 2nd March, then a 3 week period into the Golden Slipper. Coolmore actually sold him at the Magic Millions Sale last January for $460,000. The Magic Millions is like Goffs Donny sales, it’s the first real yearling sale of the year in Australia, complimented by races on the beach and a bit of polo… oh and a meeting worth millions of dollars in prize money. So, thinking about it, there aren’t too many similarities to Donny! 

YOUNG BLOOD

HUNTINGDON BUMPER

A tricky mares bumper here with a well bred Hendo horse topping the betting. 

CRAZIERTHANDAISY is by bumper king WALK IN THE PARK and out of a winning mare, herself related to a load of French winners. The right fave. 

SEAS THE DAY ran okay lto behind a nice prospect for Snowden. Dam side is brilliant for this race but we’re just not a fan of the sire SCORPION. 

JUST A MEMORY for Greatrex is a soft ground horse and might find this track too sharp today. 

WHAT’S ONE MORE runs for Lavelle who can win a bumper but we think this one is for further down the line. 

COCCO MADONNA is bred okay and reps a yard in form. Mel has them ready for bumpers. Place opportunities at a price. 

The others will struggle to win. 

Verdict: CRAZIERTHANDAISY should win with the main danger being COCCO MADONNA who should place at 2/1. 

RISK ON

No bets today, one strong bet tomorrow.

Become a paying subscriber of Premium to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

• • The weekender edition (Mon-Fri still free)
• • The weekends best bets
• • That warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing the intern gets fed
• • Only £1 a week!