Irish challengers eye up potential Cheltenham conquests

Enda Bolger is the man to follow in the Cross Country Chase

Statistics and trends are now part and parcel of the analysis of the Cheltenham Festival. Here are five that will give Irish supporters heart and five races where a strong challenge may well result.

In a few of the handicaps at the Festival the Irish have a poor record, mostly the handicap chases but they really have come to the party in the Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle, taking the race four times in the past eight years and three of the last four runnings at the rewarding prices of 12/1, 50/1 and 20/1. A bigger priced Irish runner may well be worth keeping on your side.

Meanwhile, in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase Irish trained horses have won all six renewals and four were trained by Enda Bolger. Not a lot more needs to be said about this race and those looking to back a Paul Nicholls horse would be well advised to steer clear of this race.

In the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle, the Irish challenge has produced six of the last 16 winners from around 20% of the runners and they have put together some stunning efforts in this race which have included a 1-2-3-4-5 in 1999, 1-2-3-4 in 2005 only a 33/1 winner prevented another 1-5 in 2000. We should especially keep an eye on J P McManus runners in this as his handicappers are often primed for action at this meeting and the Cheltenham betting should reflect this.

With four wins in the last ten years the Irish runners have done well in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, especially after a 1-2 last year, with Big Zeb returning this year and last year’s Arkle winner Sizing Europe providing back-up they look sure to provide a formidable challenge again.

Dominant is the only term to use when it comes to the Weatherbys Champion Bumper, with Irish-trained horses have won 14 of the 18 runnings. Willie Mullins has trained the winner 6 times in the last 14 years (5 of which were a once-raced 5 year-old).

Posted by Matt on March 10, 2011. Filed under Cheltenham Festival, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.