Sceau Royal team 'seriously considering' Dublin Chase due to prize-money

The lucrative prize-money on offer at the Dublin Racing Festival has tempted connections of Sceau Royal to switch him from Newbury's Game Spirit Chase to a tilt in Ireland.

The 11-year-old's owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede already have the market leader for the Ladbrokes Dublin Steeplechase in Blue Lord, trained by Willie Mullins, but racing manager Anthony Bromley said they would not be averse to running both horses in the race, such is the money on offer.

Sceau Royal is one of only two British entries for the eight Grade 1s across the two-day meeting at Leopardstown on February 4-5, the other being the Nigel Twiston-Davies trained Weveallbeencaught, who is a possible for the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors "50,000 Cheltenham Bonus For Stable Staff" Novice Hurdle.

Sceau Royal, who is trained by Alan King and was last seen finishing fourth in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, has run in the Game Spirit – which he won in 2021 – for the last three years, but the €88,500 first prize for the Dublin Steeplechase is a far greater sum than the £34,170 Funambule Sivola picked up for winning the Betfair-backed Grade 2 last year.

Bromley said: “We’ve made an initial entry and we’re seriously considering it if the ground is not desperately soft, but Leopardstown has a habit of not being too bad.

“He usually goes to the Game Spirit but the Irish race looked tempting as there's so much prize-money and it may not be a big field.

"The Game Spirit could end up being quite hot, with the likes of Edwardstone and Shishkin potentially running, so if the ground is okay at the Dublin Racing Festival we could go there."

With the Mullins-trained Energumene likely to head to Ascot for the Clarence House Chase, Bromley hasn't ruled out running both Sceau Royal and Blue Lord in the Dublin Steeplechase.

He said: “I would’ve thought Energumene would go to the Clarence House and if it’s Blue Lord and a couple of others I would throw Sceau Royal at it.

“We'll assess what the likely field will be but there could be some nice place money up for grabs. We’re not kidding ourselves – he’s in the twilight of his career but he’s still got a bit of zip and getting a good place in that race could be a good idea.

“There isn’t any reason why we wouldn’t run two. It’s a €150,000 race."

Bromley added: "Blue Lord needs to back up his Leopardstown win with another good performance, but the plan is the Dublin Racing Festival and that will tell us the route for the rest of the season – whether or not he needs to go up in distance or stay at the two miles."

Weveallbeencaught: one of two British-trained entries in Grade 1s at the Dublin Racing FestivalCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Weveallbeencaught finished third behind Hermes Allen in a Grade 2 on his hurdling debut before winning a maiden at Cheltenham on New Year's Day and Twiston-Davies is using the weather as a guide before deciding where he heads next.

He said: “It’s very much about keeping our options open, in case of rain, snow or whatever happens and we might end up in Ireland. He’s shown a high level of form already but we’ve got to find out how good he is.

"The most likely option that we’ve got is to go to Lingfield or Cheltenham, but if they look like being off then we could easily go over there. We’ve just got to keep looking."

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