Mares' Novices' Hurdle: 'We're hoping she can reach a high level' - Maughreen and Sixandahalf clash

With just three favourites successful and an average winning starting price of 10.6, punters siding with the market have found picking the winner of this race tough since its inception in 2016.

Those three winning favourites came in the first three runnings at odds of 8-11, 11-8 and 4-7 and were all trained by Willie Mullins, who made it five in a row with 50-1 Eglantine Du Seuil (2019) and 9-2 Concertista (2020).

Mullins has only managed one third-place finish from 13 subsequent runners, though, with seven of those coming at odds of 8-1 or less, including 11-8 favourite Dinoblue in 2022 and Jade De Grugy at 2-1 last year.

He fields a team of seven this time, headed by the highly regarded Maughreen, who has comfortably won a bumper and a maiden hurdle. That form is nothing special, though, and she has enough to find with the other fancied runners, including stablemate Aurora Vega.

The seven-year-old has won three of her four starts over hurdles, with her sole disappointment when pulled up at odds of 1-10 explained as she was found to be clinically abnormal post-race, and her Racing Post Rating of 132 for her last run is the second highest in the field.

Top on that score is the Gavin Cromwell-trained Sixandahalf, who looked exciting when winning easily on her hurdling debut.

She jumped quickly and accurately that day before scorching 12 lengths clear from a rival who had finished just three-quarters of a length behind Karoline Banbou previously.

Her bumper form is incredibly strong too, with her Naas defeat on soft enough ground last May coming to a subsequent Listed and Grade 3 winner, while she had Colcannon, who has won a Grade 2 since, 11 lengths behind at Punchestown in April. Sixandahalf is useful on the Flat (rated 94) and could be special over jumps.

The inclusion of Galileo Dame is fascinating. She was last seen finishing fast for second behind Hello Neighbour in Grade 1 company at the Dublin Racing Festival and would likely have had a chance in the Triumph, yet Joseph O’Brien has opted to try to utilise her 10lb weight-for-age allowance here.

There have been eight four-year-olds line up in this race since its inception, with those producing finishing positions of P090PP0P. Six were sent off at 66-1 or bigger, with the French-trained Titi De Montmartre, who had won two Grade 3s among 11 runs before the festival, finishing closest to the winner in 2017, beaten 18 and a half lengths at 25-1.

However, none of those eight runners had anywhere near the same level of form as Galileo Dame and it would be unwise to rule out a four-year-old trained by O’Brien, who showed once again that he was a dab hand with juveniles when landing Tuesday’s Fred Winter.

Jubilee Alpha, who has won her last two with a bit in hand, is the pick of the British, while the well-regarded Diva Luna would be a player if tapping into her strong bumper form, although she probably wants further.
Race analysis by Harry Wilson

What they say

Rachael Blackmore, rider of Air Of Entitlement
She hasn’t run since Down Royal over Christmas, so she goes into the race fresh and well. She's dropping down in trip, but that shouldn’t be an issue for her as she has lots of pace. She’s an exciting mare.

Emma Lavelle, trainer of Bluey
She's a lovely straightforward mare who's done nothing but keep improving. There are lots of runners here and she's a good jumper. She quite likes to get on with it and she's more than entitled for a place there.

Gordon Elliott, trainer of Disco Dancer
She's already had a very good season, winning a few times and running well in a lot of races, but this will be tough for her.

Ben Pauling, trainer of Diva Luna
Hopefully she's come right for the festival. It doesn't look the strongest race in the world and she'd have a good chance on her bumper form.

Jamie Snowden, trainer of Hollygrove Cha Cha
She's won five of her six starts, which is brilliant going. She won a Grade 2 last time and she's taken a similar path to You Wear It Well, who won this for us two years ago.

Paul Nicholls, trainer of Jubilee Alpha and Just A Rose
Jubilee Alpha has done nothing wrong, winning some nice Listed races. She's in good shape and a sharp mare. She's won over the trip as well, so hopefully she's got a nice chance. Just A Rose is unexposed having won her only start. I'd have loved to have run her again to find out more but we felt the ground was too heavy in the Jane Seymour, so it's a little bit of an unknown territory, but we think she's a nice mare.

James Fenton, manager of Closutton Racing Club, owners of Maughreen
I was delighted with her at Punchestown. She travelled well and jumped well on the whole. She made a couple of novicey mistakes, which can be forgiven on her hurdles debut. She got a bit tired going into the last, it being her first run back, and she idled a bit on the run-in. When she heard another horse coming behind her, you could see her prick her ears and she quickened away. We're going for a big race with one run under her belt against some experienced rivals, but we're hoping she can reach a high level over hurdles.

Gavin Cromwell, trainer of Sixandahalf
She has plenty of experience on the Flat but only the one run over hurdles. She jumped really well then, though, and is in good form.

Joseph O'Brien, trainer of Galileo Dame
She's prepared well for this. It looks a competitive, open race but we think she has an each-way chance.
Reporting by Maddy Playle

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