Delvino cut to 12-1 for Cheltenham Festival glory after smooth triumph

Dermot McLoughlin may have been keeping his cards close to his chest post-race, but the trainer must have a tingle of excitement at having a horse with genuine Cheltenham credentials in classy mare Delvino.

After she beat some smart rivals with authority in the 2m mares’ maiden hurdle Paddy Power cut the five-year-old to 12-1 (from 20) for the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

The one disappointment was that it was not more of a test of jumping. Low sun meant the two flights in the straight were omitted, meaning only four were jumped.

Watch Delvino win at Naas

Delvino jumped the four flights in good style and picked up well in the final furlong to see off favourite Castra Vetera by four lengths.

The right horses filled the places, and the fact the runner-up was an impressive winner of a Listed bumper last time, and the third Royal Illusion was a wide-margin winner of the 2019 Irish Cesarewitch, showed the depth of quality of the race.

McLoughlin prefers to let his horses do the talking and did not reveal what Delvino’s main target is, but he is clearly taken with her.

He said: “She’s a good mare. She relishes those conditions. I suppose we didn’t learn a lot with only four hurdles jumped, but she’s a grand strong mare and Adam [Short, jockey] felt it was game over turning in provided she didn’t stop.

“She’s filled out over the summer and is a strong, grand mare. She’s certainly a nice one going forward.”

He added: “Adam said it rode a good race and on paper it was more like a Listed race than a maiden hurdle. We’ll step her up now and see what she’s made of.”

Lyons off the mark

Kilkenny trainer Louise Lyons sent out her first winner as Ryan Treacy rode Espion Du Chenet to victory in the 2m handicap chase, another race to suffer with fences being omitted due to low sun.

It did not appear to be to the advantage of the winner, who jumped solidly, but he took control quickly after jumping the final fence and won going away by three lengths from Shopping Around.

The winner ran in the colours of well-known owner-breeder Nick Teehan, for whom Lyons does breaking and pre-training.

The trainer, originally from the Wirral, said: "I'm absolutely made up! I have 12 in, two for other owners and the rest are ours. I mainly pre-train, I love bringing horses on and I love jumping as I am from an eventing background."

She added: "We knew the horse had a chance, we're still learning with him. He's had a few problems with tendons, so we have had to go steady. He's learned to settle now. He has a good jump in him but he has a bit of speed too."

Results, replays and analysis

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