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The curious case of the Cheltenham Festival favourite being campaigned like anything but

Denis Harney is intrigued by the route Supreme fancy Davy Crockett is taking

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Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett: won the same Galway novice hurdle as Mystical Power in 2023 Credit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

The jumps season is yet to start in earnest but the Willie Mullins-trained Davy Crockett has already been hard at work, posting impressive wins at Galway and the Listowel harvest festival to now find himself 12-1 joint-favourite for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

To my mind, there is something unseemly about a horse campaigned over the summer heading the market for the Cheltenham Festival opener – and a study of Mullins's previous top novices backs up those doubts.

Mullins has won the Supreme eight times and his blueprint is well established. His 2013 winner Champagne Fever was the earliest to appear of the octet in the season in question, and even that wasn't until November 18. This year's winner Kopek Des Bordes didn’t jump a hurdle in public until December 26. 

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