'I think they will all have to go to beat her' - Shark Hanlon on Skyace

3.20 Punchestown
Coolmore Kew Gardens Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle (Grade 1) | 2m4f | 4yo+ | RTE2/RTV

Concertista is going to be a tough nut to crack here and quotes of odds-against seem generous.

Last season's runaway winner of the mares' novice hurdle at Cheltenham was chasing a four-timer at this year's festival but, after getting to the front over the last and trading at a low of 1.2 in running on Betfair, she was collared close home by Black Tears in the Mares' Hurdle.

There are those who say she should have won. The race was there for the taking but she didn't take it. That said, a repeat performance might suffice here.

Concertista is officially rated 153. That puts her 5lb clear of Stormy Ireland on the figures and 9lb ahead of Burning Victory. She is rated 13lb superior to star novice Skyace. She really should be winning this.

Willie Mullins, who has won the race seven times since 2010, has opted to apply a tongue-tie for the first time and Patrick Mullins takes over from Paul Townend.

There is plenty of pace in the race as Stormy Ireland only knows one way to run so Concertista should have no problem settling. Everything points to her being value at anything above evens.

There could be more improvement to come from Skyace, but this looks deeper than the Grade 1 she landed at Fairyhouse, while Burning Victory is returning from a 414-day absence.

She has not been seen since running out a fortunate winner of the Triumph Hurdle last year, taking advantage of Goshen's last hurdle agony, but we saw with Klassical Dream earlier on this week that long absences are no barrier to success for the Closutton team.

'The faster the ground, the better chance she has'

Shark Hanlon has never hidden his admiration for Skyace, nor has he ever failed to tell us what he really thinks, so it is no surprise to hear he is bullish about the chances of his new stable star.

There is a caveat, however. The ground is not ideal. Hanlon is worried it might be on the soft side for Skyace but, if it dries out, he thinks she will take the world of beating.

Hanlon said: "I think they will all have to go to beat her, but I'm worried about the ground. They've put plenty of water on and it will be on the soft side. It might not be as suitable as it was at Fairyhouse. The faster the ground, the better chance she has.

"Look, she's up in grade but she's in great form and I'm really looking forward to it. She did a nice bit of work during the week and I couldn't be happier with her."

Skyace: one of the stories of the seasonCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Skyace became Hanlon's first Grade 1 winner last month when she landed the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle Championship Final at Fairyhouse's Irish Grand National meeting and the form of that was franked by the runner-up on Thursday when Gauloise was a wide-margin winner of the Listed mares' novice hurdle.

This time Skyace takes on her elders, but she has taken everything in her stride so far so who is to say she cannot do the same here.

What they say

Willie Mullins, trainer of Concertista, Burning Victory, My Sister Sarah and Stormy Ireland
Burning Victory is a top-class mare but she hasn’t run since landing the Triumph Hurdle last year. However, she's in good form and could have improved a lot since last year. Concertista looks the best of ours on paper. She was beaten in the Mares' Hurdle but a lot of ours are running a lot better this week than they did at Cheltenham. On ratings it's hard to see My Sister Sarah winning and we'll be pleased if she finishes in the first five. Stormy Ireland has a chance of gaining some more black type.

Henry de Bromhead, trainer of Minella Melody
She didn't run to her best at Cheltenham but she had been showing some very good form all season before that so hopefully she'll give a good account here. She seems to be in good form.

Lorna Fowler, trainer of Politesse
She's in brilliant form. We haven't had much luck with her this season so far. This seems quite a lofty target and she's being pitched in at the deep end but we're going to have a go and I think she deserves her place in the line-up.

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