Another Vautor, Douvan or Min? Novice stars do battle in Moscow Flyer

1.20 Punchestown
Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle | 2m30yds | Grade 2 | 5yo+ | RTV

There cannot be a Grade 2 race with a more illustrious roll of honour than the Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle.

Vautour (2014), Douvan (2015) and Min (2016) all won this on their way to greatness, while Gold Cup winner Don Cossack finished second to Mozoltov in 2013.

It has been a stepping stone to stardom in the past and there may be another star here. It could be the Willie Mullins-trained Ganapthi, successful at Cork on his Irish debut and obviously expected to oblige there given he went off at 2-5. He was workmanlike in beating Rajsalad by a length and three-quarters, but got the job done.

Mullins has won this event six times since 2011 and Ganapathi looks his number one hope this time with Paul Townend booked. He also runs Power Of Pause and Echoes In Rain, but both of those will need to improve.

You could not fail to be impressed by Magic Tricks at Navan. Gordon Elliott thinks he could be very good and he looked just that in beating Great Bear by a wide margin.

Dreal Dreal has won his last five races and has soared to a rating of 141 over hurdles. He had a mark of just 84 in September when he landed a handicap hurdle at Navan having been backed from 20-1 into 6-4. If he wins this, he might have to contest a Grade 1 next.

It would be foolish to rule out Fire Attack and he might be the most interesting of all at the prices. He was far too keen at Leopardstown, but a repeat of his hurdling debut at Navan would make him very interesting.

Ganapathi and Magic Tricks will have their fair share of admirers, but Fire Attack – the only one of the seven not to have won last time – could prove to be the value option.

What they say

Ronan McNally, trainer of Dreal Deal
His preparation hasn't been ideal, so whatever he does here he might improve on. We're going to swerve the Dublin Racing Festival and bring him to Cheltenham fresh after this, all being well.

Joseph O'Brien, trainer of Fire Attack
He's in good shape. He was a little disappointing at Leopardstown, but his previous run at Navan was good.

Willie Mullins, trainer of Power Of Pause, Ganapathi and Echoes In Rain
Paul [Townend] has opted to ride Ganapathi from our three. He won nicely down at Cork and we’re hoping he could show a good bit of improvement. We need to get him out and more experience into him. He won before a lot of our horses came into form and we’re hoping he’s going to prove up to this standard. Power Of Pause improved to win here last time and I think he’s improved again since but the bare form would suggest he has to have done to be really competitive. Echoes In Rain won at Naas when there was more galloping than hurdling with the amount of hurdles they missed. We’ll see how she jumps here with the full complement.

Gordon Elliott, trainer of Magic Tricks
He's a nice horse and I couldn't believe he got beaten in a bumper the first day. He was very good at Navan and we think he's come on a good bit from that.

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