Donn McClean Takes A Closer Look At The Novice Chase Divisions

We get a new tranche of entries for the Cheltenham Festival every week these weeks.

Two weeks ago it was the Gold Cup and the Champion Chase and the Ryanair Chase.

Last week it was the Champion Hurdle and the Stayers’ Hurdle and the Mares’ Hurdle.

This week it was the novice chasers: the Arkle and the Turners and the Brown Advisory Chase and the National Hunt Chase, the one that used to be the four-miler, now the three-mile-sixer.

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You get your headlines from the entries. Michael O’Sullivan and Marine Nationale were on the front page of the Racing Post on Wednesday morning, the morning after the entries were released, and that makes sense.

Marine Nationale is a headline act. Barry Connell’s horse was a hugely exciting novice hurdler last season, three for three, impressive winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and probably the best novice hurdler around last season, and he was superb in winning his beginners’ chase on his chasing bow at Leopardstown over Christmas. 

Owner/Trainer Barry Connell had told us that his schooling over fences could not have gone any better, that he could be even better over fences than he was over hurdles, and the French Navy gelding lived up to all of that at Leopardstown.

His jumping was excellent, sharp and fast and efficient and clever and accurate.

He won with tons in hand, he left the impression that he could have gone faster, and he still clocked a time that was over three seconds faster than the time that Dinoblue clocked in winning the Grade 1 race over the same course and distance 35 minutes later.

And they didn’t hang around in the Grade 1 race. Gentleman De Mee set a good strong pace. He set it up for a good strong time.

Marine Nationale remains unbeaten. Two for two in bumpers, three for three over hurdles and now one for one so far over fences.

He was no better than 7/4 for the Arkle before he ever jumped a fence in public, and he was an even money shot after he jumped his first 11.

Now he is no better than 8/11 with betting sites, wherever you look, and he is as short as 1/2 in places. 

He is one of the most exciting young steeplechasers that we have seen in years, and you just can’t wait to see him race again. (At the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown next month, all going well.)

But there were other pockets of interesting information in the entries for the novice chases at the Cheltenham Festival if you dug a little more deeply.

There was Iroko for starters. We thought that Iroko was out for the season. Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero’s horse suffered a setback after he won his beginners’ chase at Warwick in early November that looked set to leave him on the sidelines for the rest of the term.

Thankfully, it appears that there is a possibility that he will make it back in time for Cheltenham now.

JP McManus’ horse won the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at last year’s Cheltenham Festival, he stayed on strongly up the hill to win well in the end.

As such, he left the impression that he would improve for a greater test of stamina. The Martin Pipe Hurdle is often a stamina race, you usually need to see out the two-and-a-half-mile trip well if you are going to win it, and it is often won by a horse who improves when he steps out in trip.

Think Sir Des Champs and Don Poli and Early Doors and Champagne Classic and Galopin Des Champs.

Iroko stepped up to three miles for his final run last season, when he finished third in the Sefton Hurdle at Aintree. He ran well there, he stayed on to take third place. You wouldn’t have said that he didn’t see out the trip.

His jumping was very good at Warwick on his chasing debut, he was slick over the five fences down the back straight, and he won impressively.

Oliver Greenall said afterwards that he could step up to three miles for his next race and go for the Kauto Star Chase at Kempton.

But he hasn’t been entered for the Brown Advisory Chase at Cheltenham over that trip. He has been entered in just two of the novice races, the Arkle over two miles and the Turners over two and a half.

Maybe the thinking is that he is in a race against time to get to Cheltenham and, if he does get there, better to run him over a shorter trip than to test his stamina over the longer trip.

Maybe he was put into the Arkle because his owner doesn’t have another potential Arkle horse now. It’s such a shame that Inthepocket is out. Henry de Bromhead’s horse could have been a real live Arkle contender.

You have to think, though, that Iroko’s best chance of victory at the Cheltenham Festival this year will be in the longer race.

And staying on the subject of Henry de Bromhead, another point of interest from the novice entries is that Monty’s Star has only been entered in the Brown Advisory Chase, not in the National Hunt Chase.

Barry Maloney’s horse was a high-class staying novice hurdler last season, he won the Grade 3 three-mile novices’ hurdle at Clonmel in February.

He shaped well on his chasing debut this season too, in a hot beginners’ chase at Fairyhouse on Hatton’s Grace Hurdle weekend, when he finished third behind Corbetts Cross and Three Card Brag, with subsequent Fairyhouse winner Nick Rockett behind him in fourth.

The Walk In The Park gelding took a step forward from that last time when he won his beginners’ chase at Punchestown, reversing places from Fairyhouse with Three Card Brag.

He was very good that day, his jumping was highly efficient, Rachael Blackmore was able to allow him to fill himself up after nearly every fence, and he stayed on strongly from the second last fence to win well, beating a good horse in Three Card Brag.

The National Hunt Chase was always a possibility for him at Cheltenham, but the Brown Advisory always looked the more likely target. A half-brother to Brown Advisory Chase runner-up Monalee, has the class to be a Brown Advisory Chase horse.

A lot of the Willie Mullins horses have multiple entries in the Cheltenham novice chases, and their targets are probably interdependent. Gaelic Warrior has been given entries in the Arkle, as well as in the Brown Advisory Chase and in the Turners Chase.

So has Facile Vega and Il Etait Temps. Blood Destiny is in the Arkle and the Turners. Fact To File is in the Brown Advisory and the Turners.

Embassy Gardens and Meetingofthewaters are in the Brown Advisory and the National Hunt Chase.

Grangeclare West and Nick Rockett and Minella Cocooner are in the Brown Advisory and the Turners and the National Hunt Chase.

Hunters Yarn is only in the Arkle, so that looks like his Cheltenham target all right.

Owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, there was a lot to like about the performance that the Fame And Glory gelding put up in winning his beginners’ chase at Fairyhouse on Saturday, his mistake at the second last fence notwithstanding.

He would have won his beginners’ chase at Fairyhouse last month had he not come down at the final fence and, as mentioned before, that is the beginners’ chase that the same owners and trainer won with Blue Lord in 2021 and with El Fabiolo in 2022.

Blue Lord won the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown next time, and finished third in the Arkle at Cheltenham, while El Fabiolo won the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown and the Arkle at Cheltenham.

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Flooring Porter was given an entry for the Stayers’ Hurdle last week, but his only novice chase entry is in the National Hunt Chase.

Winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle in 2021 and again in 2022, trainer Gavin Cromwell said earlier this week that the National Hunt Chase looked like the right race for him.

He is nine now, but he looked very good in winning on his chasing debut at Cheltenham’s October meeting, which took his Cheltenham record to 1141, and he could be a big player in the National Hunt Chase.

Don't miss out on The Jump Zone each week which features tips and analysis from the Racehour, Donn McClean and Tanya Stevenson for all the upcoming national hunt racing action.