Gaelic Warrior capitulation leaves Fact To File to claim just second Grade 1 match in Ireland

It is an event that has been lauded for many of the right reasons since its 2018 inception, but the Dublin Racing Festival descended into a farce when a €150,000 Grade 1 was reduced to a lamentable match.

The facts to file are that the JP McManus-owned Fact To File won the Ladbrokes Novice Chase at odds of 6-4 after the odds-on favourite Gaelic Warrior deposited Paul Townend on the Leopardstown turf as he clambered over the last fence a beaten and tired horse. His capitulation was the race's final woe. 

Sent off at 4-7 having already landed a Grade 1 at Limerick over Christmas, Gaelic Warrior jumped out to his right throughout and it was all Mark Walsh could do on Fact To File at the halfway stage to keep his mount behind Townend's. Walsh eventually led under duress after the fourth-last fence.

Townend hardly moved on Gaelic Warrior as it was clear he was running on fumes, and he was a distant second when failing to negotiate the final fence safely. Fact To File came home alone in what was just a second Grade 1 match in Ireland, the first coming when Briar Hill landed the 2013 Navan Novice Hurdle, a race that subsequently lost its elite status. 

Officially there were five still in the race at 9am on Sunday morning. However, shortly after, as had been expected, Gordon Elliott withdrew Found A Fifty following his exertions in second behind Il Etait Temps 24 hours earlier. Then the race began to fall apart when he also took out American Mike due to the official change in going, which went from soft on Saturday to yielding to soft, soft in places. Shortly after that, Mullins scratched Grangeclare West after the horse got cast in his box.

It meant €27,000 of prize-money was was left on the table and returned to the central fund to be redistributed elsewhere. Once the field was reduced to a single finisher from the final fence, another €30,000 was forfeited, meaning €57,000 was returned to sender on one of the biggest days of the jumps season. 

Circumstances played a part to a point, but it was a poor indictment of the game that demonstrated the jeopardy of so many good horses being confined to so few stables.

Sunday's sponsors cut the winner to 2-1 favourite from 10-1 for the Turners Novices' Chase at Cheltenham, while he is 3-1 from 5-1 for the Brown Advisory. What he ultimately achieved here is hard to quantify, but Mullins, who was non-committal about where he would go at Cheltenham, has always had a soft spot for the horse. 

Fact To File jumps well on his way to Grade 1 successCredit: Patrick McCann

"From the first day I saw him in the yard, he was a horse I had marked down who could be anything and he is doing everything right," said Mullins of his 11th winner of the 2m5½f affair. 

"I know the race fell apart, but he was right there. Something happened to Gaelic Warrior around the fourth-last. I'd say Paul was only going because there was only one horse in front of him. Otherwise he looked like he might have pulled up."

Asked about the relative shortage of opposition in some of the weekend's Grade 1s and what more the authorities could do to entice deeper opposition, he said: "It is frustrating. It's unfortunate Grangeclare West wasn't right this morning and had to be withdrawn. I never dreamt American Mike would come out, I don't know what happened there. 

"It is unfortunate, but we run everything we can. We just aim for these festivals and hope they all turn up. As you can see they don't all get there, Grangeclare West and then Gaelic Warrior had a blowout, and yesterday we had a few favourites beaten. It's racing, and that's why you have to come to find out." 

Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (Cheltenham, March 13)
bet365: 11-4 Fact To File, 3 Grangeclare West, 4 Stay Away Fay, 6 Grey Dawning, Embassy Gardens, 8 Corbetts Cross, 10 Monty’s Star, 12 bar

Turners Novices' Chase (Cheltenham, March 14)
Paddy Power: 6-4 Fact To File, 11-4 Ginny's Destiny, 5 Gaelic Warrior, 6 Facile Vega, 8 Grey Dawning, 10 bar

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