TimeformBlog

The most valuable race run this weekend was the Irish Hennessy at Leopardstown on Saturday, and it was won by the Willie Mullins-trained Kempes, who travelled and jumped well to beat the ill-fated Glencove Marina by four and a half lengths. Kempes is not yet fully exposed as a staying chaser, and will head to Cheltenham for the Gold Cup (currently an 18.0 shot), but he will need to improve plenty again to get in the mix for a place, and his form as things stand is about 20 lb short of what Imperial Commander ran to when winning the race last year.

There were three further Grade 1 races on the card at Leopardstown on Saturday and there were potential Cheltenham pointers in each one of them. Perhaps the most striking performance came from Jessica Harrington's Oscars Well, who announced himself as the best novice hurdler in Ireland with an impressive success in the Deloitte Novice Hurdle over two and a quarter miles. Oscars Well is now the 7.2 second favourite for the Baring Bingham at the Festival, but his form as things stand is the best on offer in the division, and looks well up to scratch for what is normally required at Cheltenham.

Oscars Well was the second leg of a Grade 1 double on the card for Jessica Harrington, whose Bostons Angel took the Dr P. J. Moriarty Novice Chase. Bostons Angel isn't far off the best staying novices on form now, though he's likely to find a couple too good in the RSA Chase, for which he can be backed at 25.0.

The other Grade 1 hurdle at Leopardstown was the Spring Juvenile Hurdle, in which Dermot Weld's filly Unaccompanied fully confirmed the promise of her hurdling debut to beat Sailors Warn by three lengths. She is now the 8.0 second favourite for the Triumph Hurdle, and bearing in mind her fillies' allowance, will line up on the day with a major chance, particularly as further progress is on the cards.

In the absence of Newbury, the most interesting race in Britain on Saturday was arguably the Kingmaker Novices' Chase at Warwick. The most interesting contender there was leading Arkle contender Finian's Rainbow, who extended his unbeaten record over fences to three. In the event, the race wasn't particularly competitive and Finian's Rainbow's jumping wasn't as slick as it had been in two previous starts at Newbury, but he still clearly has plenty of potential and will head to the Arkle with a major chance. He currently disputes favouritism in the ante-post market for the race at 5.7, along with Ghizao and Medermit.

Finian's Rainbow's connections were also responsible for the most interesting horse seen out in Britain on Sunday in the shape of novice hurdler Spirit Son, who barely came off the bridle to beat a previous winner by 21 lengths. Only Cue Card is ahead of him in the ante-post market for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, Spirit Son available to back at 8.0 for that race.

They also raced at Navan on Sunday, where there were three Grade 2 events on the card. The most interesting of them, at least so far as Cheltenham is concerned, was arguably the three-mile Ten Up Novice Chase, which was won by the Colm Murphy-trained Quito de la Roque. He will be a leading contender for the National Hunt Chase at the Festival (the one to beat if conditions were testing) and is a 10.0 shot for that race, though his form entitles him to take his chance in the RSA Chase if connections so wish (25.0 to back).

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