- PLUS why it is almost impossible to overstate how profound the Aga Khan’s impact was on horseracing
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Nothing sets the Cheltenham ante-post markets alight like the Dublin Racing Festival. Each year, you think you have an idea of how things are going to unfold, then Willie Mullins takes aim with his battalion and the landscape changes dramatically.
So after two brilliant days in Dublin, we have a clear picture and there are now 10 horses priced 2-1 and under for the Festival. They are: Kopek Des Bordes, Jonbon, Lulamba, Constitution Hill, Galopin Des Champs, Ballyburn, Brighterdaysahead, Teahupoo, Fact To File and Sir Gino.
Already giddy punters are looking at a super accumulator, which begins with Kopek Des Bordes in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and ends with Galopin Des Champs in the Boodles Gold Cup, and thinking it cannot fail to pay. The odds for all 10 obliging are a whopping 2,231-1.
There is no denying they all have mesmerising claims and if you wanted to be even more ambitious, you would throw Final Demand – another Mullins horse – into the equation. He was breathtaking on Saturday and the word from those close to him is that he is jet-propelled.
Final Demand’s target remains unclear – he could run in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle over two-and-a-half miles or step up for the Albert Bartlett over three miles – but the other 10 look like good things.
The more Racing Confidential has been on course in recent weeks, the stronger the word has been for Nicky Henderson’s Lulamba in the Triumph Hurdle, while defeat for Sir Gino in the Arkle isn’t being considered. Jonbon and Constitution Hill, meanwhile, appear bombproof.
Easy money? You’d be inclined to think that way, given what we have seen from those 10 so far but, before you start making grand plans, a word of warning. We have been here before and one of those that seems unbeatable always loses.
El Fabiolo (1-5 in last year’s Champion Chase), Douvan (2-9 in the 2017 Champion Chase), Dunguib (4-5 in the 2010 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle) and, most famously of all, Annie Power (1-2 in the 2015 Mares’ Hurdle) are proof that there is no such thing as a certainty – particularly at Cheltenham.
Incredulity at the PRA’s ham-fisted plan
The fallout continues from the debacle started by the Professional Racing Association’s threatened trainers’ boycott of television interviews unless they received payment from TV companies.
When the subject was raised at the Dublin Racing Festival, there was incredulity that such a ham-fisted plan had been devised – and then announced – without proper thought. There was equal bafflement about how a blackout would make the training profession look.
Nigel Payne – who was once part of the ownership group of 1998 Grand National winner Earth Summit – had been advising Peter Savill, the driving force behind the PRA, but the damage that has been done from the threat they issued 10 days ago is untold.
Racing Confidential understands a significant number of trainers are incredulous, bordering on furious, that they have been tarred with this brush.
It is obvious that the sport has areas that could be improved but the PRA have set the situation back.
The passing of a racing great
The death of the Aga Khan, announced on Tuesday, was greeted with widespread sadness across racing and with good reason.
It is almost impossible to emphasise how profound his impact was not just in major races for several decades but in terms of how he helped shape the breed.
His distinguished silks – green with red epaulets on the shoulders – were easily recognisable and in 2024, they were a huge part of the summer’s narrative on these shores, with Calandagan being a spectacular winner of Royal Ascot’s King Edward VII Stakes and Ezeliya taking the Betfred Oaks.
His daughter, Princess Zara, was prevented from being on course at Epsom that afternoon last May as her flight from France was grounded by bad weather. There were no such problems a few weeks later, though, when she saw Calandagan deliver on his rich potential.
Readers will have their favourites who raced for the Aga Khan and plenty will say Shergar, the runaway train who careered off with the 1981 Derby. But this correspondent’s choice would be Kalanisi, whom Sir Michael Stoute nurtured to win the Champion Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Kalanisi, like all Aga Khan horses, was handsome and powerful and given every opportunity to fulfil his talent. It would be a fitting tribute if Calandagan could return to Royal Ascot this summer and land a race in his late owner’s honour.
Still time for Acheson to turn things round
Brian Acheson is a true sport, a man who loves his horses almost as much as he loves his family. His string run under the banner ‘Robcour’ and he has enjoyed terrific success in the last few years, with Slade Steel running away with the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham 12 months ago.
This campaign, however, would have tested the patience of Job and the latest setback for the Robcour horses arrived on Monday when Gerri Colombe, who finished second in the Gold Cup in 2024, was ruled out for the foreseeable future.
Acheson took the news in his stride and appreciates this development has simply followed the narrative of the winter. Slade Steel, for whom there had been such high hopes, hasn’t progressed, while many others have been finding one too good for them in the big races.
There is, though, still time for things to turn around and the apple of his eye – Bob Olinger – is being primed for a crack at the Aintree Hurdle on the opening day of the Grand National Festival in April. He finished second at Leopardstown over Christmas and Liverpool is his big target.
Parkin-Foley verdict due this week
Rows are part and parcel of racing and the outcome of a spectacular fallout between two big figures will be revealed in an Irish court this Friday.
Steve Parkin is a powerful owner and the founder of Clipper Logistics, his horses running in gunmetal grey silks and being predominantly trained in Yorkshire.
Last year, his Fallen Angel landed the Irish 1,000 Guineas for Karl Burke before he sold the filly to Wathnan Racing for more than £5million.
Joe Foley, meanwhile, is a respected figure in the bloodstock world and the owner of Ballyhane Stud in Ireland. He had been a friend of Parkin’s for more than 20 years, providing advice and counsel. So close was their bond that Parkin described him as ‘like a brother’.
But their relationship disintegrated over the ownership of a young stallion called Sands Of Mali.
Parkin is alleged to have made serious threats to Foley and wants Sands of Mali – who was sold for £225,000 but is now worth more than £3million – removed from Ballyhane Stud. A judge will decide the outcome before the end of the week.
