No Fact To File, no problem for Heart Wood? - Cheltenham Festival runner-up bids for Grade 2 success

There is no Fact To File to concern Heart Wood as the Ryanair Chase runner-up bids to return to winning ways on this drop in class. 

Making an argument for Henry de Bromhead's improving seven-year-old is easy. He was denied by a neck in the Drinmore, has beaten the ill-fated Corbetts Cross easily this season and gets lumps of weight from Found A Fifty, who is rated only 1lb higher than him. He ticks plenty of boxes. 

The worry is what sort of a mark the Ryanair fight has left on him. He had a tough race there and gave absolutely everything under Darragh O'Keeffe. It was a career-best effort by 3lb and a reproduction would surely suffice here. Can he repeat the trick 39 days later? That's the big question. 

Stablemate Journey With Me was kept away from Cheltenham and didn't show up at Aintree either. He won this race on bottomless ground last year and, while it won't be so testing this time, the ease underfoot is likely to spark a much-improved effort. He is the overpriced one at a double-digit price. 

Journey With Me: bids for first win since this race last yearCredit: Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images

The conditions of the race don't favour Found A Fifty but he has a touch of class, likes the track and won't have any issues with this longer trip. He has already won twice over this sort of trip at Down Royal. 

Like so many races, Willie Mullins has dominated this in recent years. Un De Sceaux (2018) and Easy Game (2021, 2022, 2023) have given him four of the last six runnings.

Paul Townend has picked Blood Destiny even though he is rated 8lb lower than stablemate Saint Sam. Townend's mount can be expected to improve plenty from his return at Thurles in January and his light campaign could make a big difference. 

The same could be true for Journey With Me and, if the ground proves very testing, he might bounce right back to form. 

What they say

Gordon Elliott, trainer of Found A Fifty and Ash Tree Meadow
Found A Fifty probably ran better than the distance he was beaten in the Champion Chase. That was his first run since Christmas and he's come out of it in good order. Two and a half miles shouldn't be a problem to him. He has to give weight away to some good horses, though, which won't be easy. Ash Tree Meadow unseated in the Topham. The better the ground the better his chance, so hopefully it dries out a bit for him.

Henry de Bromhead, trainer of Journey With Me and Heart Wood
Heart Wood ran a cracker in the Ryanair and seems to be in good form since Cheltenham. I'm very happy with him and looking forward to seeing how he gets on. Journey With Me has been disappointing but he won this race last year and we think we have him back to where we want him to be. He should like the ground.

Pat Foley, trainer of Rebel Gold
He seems in good form and it was nice to see him get his head back in front at Wexford the other day. It's a hot race but hopefully he can run well.

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