Will Apolon De Charnie back up Cheltenham Festival brilliance as the Irish jumps season finishes with a bang?

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The Irish jumps season finishes with a bang on Saturday, when two Cheltenham Festival winners bid to back up that form in Punchestown's equivalent Grade 1 races.

After a mighty tussle for the trainers' championship, in which Gordon Elliott couldn't stave off Willie Mullins' inevitable late surge, it seems somewhat fitting that the dominant duo are responsible for the two big-race favourites, with Elliott sending out Mares' Hurdle heroine Wodhooh in the four-runner Grade 1 SBK Irish Mares Champion Hurdle (4.15) before shock Triumph Hurdle winner Apolon De Charnie attempts a similar double for Mullins in the Ballymore Champion Four Year Old Hurdle (4.55).

Elliott is set to finish the campaign with his biggest prize-money haul in nearly a decade and the redoubtable Wodhooh could put the finishing touches to a phenomenal domestic campaign for the trainer, who will no doubt take solace in the fact Jack Kennedy seems set to secure the jockeys' championship for a second time ahead of Darragh O'Keeffe, who at least made sure the jockeys' championship was no formality with a spectacular treble on Thursday.

There is an endless list of Elliott-trained horses with whom Kennedy has enjoyed a fruitful relationship, but Wodhooh has to be near the top of the pecking order as the pair are five from five together.

In 11 starts over hurdles, Wodhooh's sole defeat came to Lossiemouth at Aintree last year and she made her Grade 1 breakthrough in this year's Mares' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, defeating Jade De Grugy by a length in decisive fashion. Those two square off again on Saturday. 

Elliott's admiration for the unassuming Wodhooh has always been clear. 

"She's been a superstar," he said. "She’s not fancy at home and when you look at her on the gallop, she just does what she has to do. That’s maybe why she’s so good, because she’s so laid-back.

"She's come out of Cheltenham very well and she's in very good form at home. It's going to be a tactical race, but I'm very happy with her and we're looking forward to it."

Jade De Grugy: main threat to WodhoohCredit: Patrick McCann

The Mullins-trained Jade De Grugy joined an illustrious roll of honour alongside the likes of Lossiemouth, Benie Des Dieux, Apple's Jade and Annie Power when justifying even-money favouritism last year, but it is tough to see how she reverses Cheltenham form with Wodhooh.

Nonetheless, her rider Paul Townend envisages another good tussle, telling Betway: "It will be another great clash and we’ll be in there trying our best to reverse the form from Cheltenham. We have the cheekpieces on here to try and eke out a bit of improvement, so hopefully that can help us turn the tables with Gordon’s mare.

"It looks like it's between the two of them, but Wodhooh is a very good mare, and she’s extremely tough, so it certainly won’t be an easy assignment. There isn’t much between them on ratings, so we’ll be in there giving it our best shot, but I’m going there in hope rather than expectation."

Triumph fluke or dominant juvenile?

The big juvenile hurdle seems much more likely to go the way of Mullins, who has nine runners, with Proactif, Majolique and Macho Man providing serious back-up to Apolon De Charnie. .

Owned by Ed Ware, Apolon De Charnie powered home at odds of 50-1 on his stable debut at Cheltenham under Patrick Mullins when beating Maestro Conti by a length and a half. 

He had been runner-up to Proactif at Auteuil in September prior to joining Mullins and round three between them occurs after Proactif got his head back in front when beating Macho Man by a neck at Fairyhouse.

Apolon De Charnie (red cap): was a 50-1 winner of the Triumph HurdleCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Townend now takes over on the Triumph winner and said: "This will be the first time I’ve ridden Apolon De Charnie on the track, but I was seriously impressed with him in the Triumph Hurdle when Patrick was on board. He’s a pretty unassuming horse because he was doing nice work going into Cheltenham, but he wasn’t blowing us away by any stretch of the imagination.

"He was really professional that day, though, and he’s probably the one open to the most improvement, so he was the obvious choice."

Townend added: "There’s very little between Proactif and Macho Man on their recent runs, and they should both run well again, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Majolique reversed that Fairyhouse form with the pair of them. I felt we were a little bit unlucky that day, but if Sean [O’Keeffe] can get a bit of cover on her and keep her straight, she could finish ahead of the boys this time."

However, this is a particularly hot running and the race's largest field since 2014. The Padraig Roche-trained Saratoga made light work of an opening mark of 130 when he bolted up in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham and has earned his shot at Grade 1 company. Between six Flat runs and four hurdle starts, he has plenty of experience under his belt, but is open to plenty of progress in this discipline.

"He came out of Cheltenham great," said Roche. "He handled good ground well at Cheltenham, so conditions won't be a worry and he'll have to improve again in this grade, but hopefully he can."

Matin Midi Et Soir is the unknown entity in the race. Trained by Henry de Bromhead, he landed a Grade 3 at Auteuil in September, form which has been franked, before being purchased by owners Robcour. He is a fascinating prospect under Darragh O'Keeffe.

Harry Derham has already enjoyed a brilliant Punchestown festival, having secured his first Grade 1 success as a trainer earlier in the week with Le Frimeur. He relies on outsider One Horse Town, who finished down the field in the Triumph Hurdle.

"We're realistic," he said. "He wasn't good enough to win at Cheltenham and we're not expecting him to win here, but we've freshened him up and we always aimed to end up here at the end of the season if he could – so hopefully he'll give a good account."

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