'It'll be another tough battle' - Elimay and Scarlet And Dove set to clash again

Thursday: 2.23 Clonmel
TA Morris Memorial Irish EBF Mares Chase (Listed) | 2m4½f | 4yo+ | RTV

Top-class mares Vroum Vroum Mag, Shattered Love and Mount Ida feature on the recent roll of honour for this Listed contest and we can expect another quality winner to join them this year.

Elimay and Scarlet And Dove – first and third in the Mares' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival – set a solid standard with marks of 150, but they lack race fitness, having not run since the Punchestown festival.

Just a half a length separated the pair at Cheltenham, where Elimay got the upper hand when in receipt of 3lb, but Scarlet And Dove gained compensation when beating her by 15 lengths in April.

Joseph O'Brien on Scarlet And Dove: 'She seems to have done well over the summer'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

That winning margin is not a fair reflection of their relative abilities. Elimay failed to fully fire for Willie Mullins at the end of last season and their Cheltenham encounters shows there's little between them.

Scarlet And Dove was runner-up to Mount Ida in this last year and improved in the spring, while Elimay also tends to need her first run.

Dolcita, who is rated 138, should be suited by the ease in the ground and receives 11lb from the big two. Ballyshannon Rose, a Grade 2 mares' novice chase winner last season, will not be found wanting for fitness but is a stone wrong at the weights with the market leaders.

What they say

Paul Fahey, trainer of Ballyshannon Rose
She's a lovely mare and we're trying to get as much black type with her as we can. We've had our eye on this race and hopefully some of the other big chances in the race have their eye on March. She has fitness on her side and we'd be delighted if she was in the first three.

Ballyshannon Rose: won a Grade 2 last seasonCredit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

Willie Mullins, trainer of Elimay and Dolcita
It looks like it's going to be another tough battle with Scarlet And Dove but it's nice to get Elimay and Dolcita started for the season. I'm not expecting anything but I am hopeful they can run well and we'll be happy to get their season off to a nice start.

Joseph O'Brien, trainer of Scarlet And Dove
This looks a lovely race to start in. She seems to have done well over the summer. I think she'll improve for the run and fingers crossed it can set her up for a good winter.

Paul Nolan, trainer of Western Zara
It's a big ask for her after two runs over fences but a lot of the nice handicaps are not open to her until after her third chase. She'll improve for the run. We don't have any big expectations against good mares when she has such little chasing experience.

WIN hospitality for four on Gold Cup day at the Cheltenham Festival 2023! It's simple and free to enter – all you need to do is download our brand-new app, open the home screen and wait for the pop-up to make your entry. Download here.