A meeting that had it all: key takeouts from a compelling Dublin Racing Festival

The third Dublin Racing Festival continued the precedent set by the first two years of the valuable two-day meeting at Leopardstown with pulsating finishes, outstanding performances and some possible superstars unearthed.

There were plenty of talking points coming out of the DRF, which featured eight Grade 1 races and offered more than €2.1 million in prize-money, particularly with the upcoming Cheltenham Festival in mind.

Champion Hurdle picture no clearer after Honeysuckle triumph

It was hoped the PCI Irish Champion Hurdle might provide the star the two-mile hurdling division was badly screaming out for. Kenny Alexander’s unbeaten mare Honeysuckle could well develop into just that, but her hard-fought half-length win over the 146-rated Darver Star, with the reliable yardstick Petit Mouchoir the same distance behind in third, did not provide much clarity to the Unibet Champion Hurdle puzzle.

Henry de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore have reason to be happy after winning the Irish Champion Hurdle with HoneysuckleCredit: Patrick McCann

Furthermore, the disappointing performance of Honeysuckle's main market rival Sharjah on ground he would have been expected to relish opens the door for questions about the substance of the form. Bookmakers seemingly agree, with Epatante the outright favourite with most firms.

To give Honeysuckle the credit she deserves, she answered most of the questions being aimed in her direction. She won her first race under rules left-handed and handled the return to two miles to win well enough. The bigger picture of her Champion Hurdle price also accounts for the option of the Mares’ Hurdle and her lack of a previous run at Cheltenham.

However, unless a major curveball emerges from the few Champion Hurdle trials yet to be run, there is a reasonable chance we could have the longest-priced favourite of Cheltenham's day one highlight since Hardy Eustace obliged as 7-2 joint-favourite in 2005.

Watch Honeysuckle's gutsy victory in the Irish Champion Hurdle

Champion Chase contender for race of the season

Anyone who thought the Chacun Pour Soi bubble had been burst at Christmas may need to reevaluate their stance after Rich Ricci’s "electric" eight-year-old won the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase.

Racegoers at Leopardstown were denied a rematch between Chacun Pour Soi and A Plus Tard when Henry de Bromhead pulled the latter out, but the way in which the winner conquered his classy stablemate and two-time Dublin Chase victor Min was impressive.

Chacun Pour Soi takes off at one of Leopardstown's fences in the Ladbrokes Dublin ChaseCredit: Patrick McCann

He now appears set for the race of the Cheltenham Festival against Defi Du Seuil, who Chacun Pour Soi beat at Punchestown last season, and possibly two-time Champion Chase winner Altior.

It is a race to savour, but if the win was noteworthy, the comments of Mullins afterwards were even more so when Ireland's champion trainer reflected on a schooling session that took place nearly a year ago.

"I said to Danny [Mullins], who rode him, to follow around but after two fences he was in front and led all the Cheltenham horses.

"It was absolutely eye-opening. Once every two or three years you get a horse coming up the gallops who shows you something they shouldn't be able to do and that's what he did that day."

Mullins has never won the Queen Mother Champion Chase. We may not be able to say that for much longer.

Watch Chacun Pour Soi's brilliant win in the Dublin Chase

Is the RSA form key to the Gold Cup?

It is easy to say in hindsight, but the form of last season's RSA Chase is looking stronger by the week.

Delta Work, third behind the injured Topofthegame and last month's Cotswold Chase winner Santini, added the next layer of context to the form with a second Grade 1 win at Leopardstown this season in a gruelling Irish Gold Cup.

Delta Work (centre) battles to victory in the Irish Gold Cup at LeopardstownCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Gigginstown's seven-year-old has bounced back admirably from a poor reappearance to prove his mettle in open company and adds to the theory that a talented second-season chaser is the ideal candidate for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Indeed, after slowly developing, last year's RSA second and third now sit second and third in the Gold Cup market, with Lostintranslation, another second-season chaser with a similar profile, fourth in the market. If the betting is correct, only last year's Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo stands in the younger generation's way.

Relive Sunday's Irish Gold Cup won by Delta Work

Power concentration remains a concern

The power dynamic at the top of the jump racing in Ireland is still as difficult as ever to break, although Paul Nolan managed to win his first Grade 1 since 2013 when Latest Exhibition won the first race of the Dublin Racing Festival under Bryan Cooper.

However, 20 of the 23 Grade 1 races to have been run at the three Dublin Racing Festivals (the Dublin Chase was a Grade 2 in 2018) have gone to four trainers – Willie Mullins (eight), Joseph O'Brien (five), Gordon Elliott (four) and Henry de Bromhead (three).

Willie Mullins: winner of three Grade 1 races at the weekendCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

One of the remaining three was Nolan, while another was Warren Greatrex, who struck last year with La Bague Au Roi, a rare Grade 1 runner at the meeting from a British trainer again. The 2018 Irish Champion Hurdle win of the Jessica Harrington-trained Supasundae is the other name to be mentioned.

With the top races kept to so few trainers it is therefore vital to the appeal of the Dublin Racing Festival that smaller trainers can pick up some of the lesser, albeit still lucrative, prizes across the two days. Wins for the likes of Robert Widger and Paul John Gilligan keeps that dream a realistic prospect for many.

Both the ground and a lack of British competition need looking at

The two main criticisms levelled at the Dublin Racing Festival in its infancy were the ground conditions and the lack of British challengers.

There is no quick or easy fix for either problem but both were again mentioned in the build-up, and going concerns featured during the meeting itself.

Of the two suggested issues, the state of the ground is more concerning. There was not widespread non-runners like 2019, but A Plus Tard and Fakir D'Oudairies were notable withdrawals and Gordon Elliott expressed his displeasure at the underfoot conditions. However, he was rewarded for running Delta Work after some suggestion on Saturday that he would not participate in the Irish Gold Cup.

Ultimately, neither issue detracted significantly from the immense quality of jump racing on the track, with some of the finest races of the 2019-20 jumps season taking place in the last two days, not least Faugheen's memorable Flogas Novice Chase victory at the age of 12.

The level of quality throughout the meeting also explains why British trainers are so reluctant to send their runners over. But Leopardstown will want to avoid any going discussions next year if the meeting is to fulfil its potential.

View Faugheen's fantastic Flogas victory at the age of 12

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