Dusty plans to deliver

Cheltenham Festival Focus on Rathgar Beau: Today's new highlight is the Daily Telegraph Trophy, a race long demanded because it gives specialist two and a half milers the chance to try for a worthwhile festival pot. Except the nagging suspicion remains it hasn't really quite got the star-spangled field it was supposed to.

It's always good for a new idea to kick off with a "spectacular." Think back to the first Dubai World Cup and you immediately remember Cigar. The American superstar provided the new race with the perfect start. Sheikh Mohammed knew that more than anyone. He didn't own Cigar but no one cheered louder.

Not convinced? Whisper it to Australians but when Vintage Crop travelled down under for the Melbourne Cup 12 years ago no one was happier to take a kick to national pride than Victoria's racing authorities. Flemington was opened up to the world because the invader won out.

It's in the context of making that sort of immediate splash that the Cheltenham authorities must have prayed that Kicking King would switch from the Gold Cup to today's race. Or that Moscow Flyer would start showing his age last autumn and force Jessica Harrington to switch. But neither happened.

What we have now is a field of good, talented horses that look to just fall short of some of that genuine star quality. Or at least they do at the moment. Maybe Our Vic or Thisthatantother will do a spectacular.

Maybe, but from an Irish point of view surely the time has never been better for Rathgar Beau to step up to the plate.

For much of his life Rathgar Beau seemed condemned to a career as virtual trial tackle for Moscow Flyer.

Always running well and always getting close but never close enough. That is until the last few months when he has gone on a blinding streak of success.

It's been so impressive that his trainer Dusty Sheehy was sorely tempted to run him instead in the Champion Chase. But this is one horse that has ended up where he should.

"This has always been the plan from day one. When he really came to himself we thought about the Queen Mother but the ground didn't turn soft so we left it.

"I wouldn't have minded running in the other race but I suppose he has more of a realistic chance in the Daily Telegraph," Sheehy says.

A realistic chance of a first winner at the festival is a tantalising thought for the 33-year-old Graignamanagh trainer who missed out with Justified in Tuesday's Supreme Novices Hurdle.

He was christened Eamon but has been known as Dusty since he was 10 when he pulled on a pile of earth with a hurley in the schoolyard and covered himself with dust. Since taking out a licence in 1996, Sheehy has broken into the leading ranks of trainers in Ireland in recent years and now has care of a 70-strong string.

A festival victory now would seal that graduation. Nothing would be more appropriate either than for Rathgar Beau to provide it. He has been the mainstay of Sheehy's career to date.

"He gets two and a half miles very easily on soft ground so on this kind of going I don't think the extra furlong will be a problem. He is effective at two miles also but the only thing I would say is that he probably jumps better at the longer trip because they don't go out as hard early on," he says.

Shay Barry will be on board again today which is important because Rathgar Beau, although completely genuine, can be tricky. The later he hits the front the better.

"Shay rides him brilliantly. I'll leave that all up to him. Our Vic is an obvious danger, especially with Martin Pipe's record around the place, but I honestly wouldn't swap mine. He is on a high. He's never been as good and has never jumped better," Sheehy declares.

In fact if Rathgar Beau manages to put it all together he could just put in the sort of performance that the new race needs. Not that Sheehy cares about such things.

"They are a collection of horses that aren't good enough for the Gold Cup or the Champion Chase," he says. "Possibly in the future it will become a bigger event. But right now, for me, it's a big enough pot."