Allaho enjoys smooth success in Cheltenham Ryanair warm-up at Thurles

The Willie Mullins team will hope lightning can strike more than twice after Allaho set himself up for a potential record third Ryanair victory at Cheltenham in March by winning at Thurles on Sunday.

Lightning was one of the few weather problems not in the Storm Isha mix at Thurles although the significance of Allaho’s success in the Grade Two Horse & Jockey Chase was lost on no one.

The strapping 10-year-old landed a contest still widely referred to as the Kinloch Brae in both 2021 and 2022, before producing dominant Ryanair performances at the festival.

Having missed all of last season due to a rare spleen injury, neither a facile comeback victory at Clonmel or a tired third in the King George over Christmas discouraged speculation that Allaho’s best days might be behind him.

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Sunday’s all-the-way win over stable companions Stattler and Appreciate It was hardly a definitive riposte to that since the absence of both the current Ryanair title holder Envoi Allen and Capodanno robbed the race of some competitive element.

But based on Allaho only being able to beat what’s in front of him — and making it 10 wins in 20 career starts — it was very much a case of job done for the 8-13 favourite.

“He still retains plenty of ability — I’m glad I didn’t desert him today!” joked champion jockey Paul Townend afterwards.

Although younger stars such as Banbridge and Stage Star are prominent in the Ryanair picture, Allaho remains a 5-2 favourite with most firms.

“If he turns up there in top form, he’ll give them all a race. I’ll definitely be putting him very high on the list,” Townend added.

The sentiment was echoed by Patrick Mullins, standing in for his father, and who enjoyed a John Durkan Chase victory himself on Allaho in 2021.

“Allaho looked back to himself having not quite got home in the King George. He isn’t getting any younger. It took him a while to warm up into his jumping [at Kempton] and he is better going left-handed.

“Paul was a little worried that he got a hard race in the King George and was coming back quite quickly but the further he went, the better he travelled and jumped.

“He is a big, big horse who likes better ground and going left-handed at Cheltenham suits him down to the ground. I’d imagine it is all roads back to the Ryanair now,” he reported.

Allaho and Albertas Run (2020-11) are the only horses to have won the Ryanair twice in its 19-year history since it was introduced as part of the Cheltenham festival’s expansion to four days in 2005.

The merits of getting the job done, and the danger of presumption with odds-on favourites, were underlined earlier when Allaho’s stable companion Hauturiere failed to confirm Christmas form at Limerick with Harmonya Maker claiming the win.

The latter had more than 35 lengths to make up but made light of that task under Jack Kennedy to secure a valuable Grade Two success in the Carely Glass Mares Novice Chase,

“She threw her race away jumping left at Cork two runs ago — whatever that was about that day — but she jumped straight today. She had been disappointing in her last couple of runs but did what we had been expecting her to do all along.

“For whatever reason, she had been disappointing, but it is great for her to put her best foot forward and is back to what we thought she’d be,” Kennedy said of the winner who was cut to 16-1 by some firms for Cheltenham’s Mares Chase.

Having also ridden Sunday’s opening winner, Purse Price, for Gordon Elliott, Kennedy is closing in on a “century” for the season. With 93 winners in the bag he still holds a significant lead on Townend who reached 77 on Sunday when also scoring on High Class Hero.

In other news, L’Homme Presse cemented his credentials as a legitimate cross-channel-based Gold Cup contender with an impressive comeback success at Lingfield on Sunday.

The 2022 Cheltenham festival winner hadn’t run in more than a year but secured a lucrative success in the Fitzdares Fleur De Lys Chase under jockey Charlie Deutsch.

The Venetia Williams-trained star was cut to as low as 8-1 for Blue Riband glory in March after proving 2¼ lengths too strong for his big rival Protekorat.

L’Homme Presse joins Nicky Henderson’s Shishkin as leading the potential home defence of the Gold Cup against defending champion Galopin Des Champs.

Martin Brassil’s Fastorslow, who has beaten Galopin Des Champs on the two occasions they’ve met, is second favourite for the festival highlight.

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