Racing: It's five years since Barry Geraghty guided the young Moscow Flyer to success in Leopardstown's St Stephen's Day highlight, the Durkan New Homes Novice Chase, and while Glenfinn Captain may never reach the heights of that great champion, he does look to provide Geraghty with a favourite's chance of getting punters off to a Day One festival flyer.
Even besides Moscow, the Grade One feature has an enviable record of identifying future top chasers with a winners list that includes the champion Klairon Davis and Le Coudray, who won for Geraghty in 2002.
Le Coudray carried the colours of JP McManus, as does Glenfinn Captain, who will be joined by the leading owner's other hope, Wanango. Throw in the likes of the Drinmore runner-up Schindlers Hunt and the Cheltenham winner Sky's The Limit and this will be a competitive event.
But even with such exciting new talent tasting Grade One action over fences for the first time, the impression remains that if there is a real future star in the race, it will probably have to be Glenfinn Captain. Of course that could have as much to do with what he hasn't done as much as with what he has.
His sole start over fences yielded a visually impressive victory at Fairyhouse in October, and while the bare form was not subsequently franked by the runner-up Khetaam, he remains something of an unknown compared to opposition that have either been exposed, taken turns beating each other or have just plain disappointed.
Conna Castle and Sky's The Limit were ultra-smart hurdlers who have yet to win over fences, and Blueberry Boy looked to have his limitations exposed in the Drinmore earlier in the month.
Nevertheless, his free-wheeling front-running style, and some wonderfully accurate jumping, could have the others on the stretch this Tuesday, and only then will we see if the unexposed McManus duo are up to passing him.
Wanango showed distinct promise at Fairyhouse when winning, but there's no doubt Glenfinn Captain's trainer, Tom Taaffe, will be disappointed if his horse isn't up to the job.
"My horse was a very good novice hurdler last season but he has always looked a chaser in the making," the Gold Cup winning handler said this week. "At Fairyhouse he won more or less as we expected, and all round it was a very good performance. He missed a run at Navan when the meeting was called off but it shouldn't be a problem. He's in very good form and this race has been the aim for quite a while."
Glenfinn Captain is as short as 12 to 1 for the Arkle at Cheltenham, the top Irish hope in the betting, and next week may indicate the bookmakers have got things about right.
The main support is the Grade Two Juvenile Hurdle, and that big race specialist Geraghty again looks the man to follow on board Lounaos. The French-bred mare ran twice without success in Marseilles last year, but she has a 50 per cent strike rate since coming to Ireland in 2006 with four wins that include the November Handicap on the flat.
Her progress looked to continue when she turned to jumping at Navan last month and she looks the best of the Irish three-year-olds seen so far.
Lounaos's trainer, Eoin Griffin, could well be on the mark in the second maiden hurdle too, as Peoples Cause looked to run an encouraging race behind the odds-on hotpot Orbit O'Gold at Navan last Sunday.
Jockey Paddy Flood has broken through this year and he can further advertise his talent with a high-profile Christmas double that could be completed by Laureldean in the handicap chase. This horse gets into the weights proper at precisely 9.10 and Flood is a big asset off these low weights.
Flood could also fancy his chance in the handicap hurdle on board Killenaule Boy, who put three uninspiring bumper efforts behind him with a wide-margin win at Downpatrick earlier in the month. Top The Charts, an eye-catching runner from Tony Martin's stable, has form that looks best on a better surface than he is likely to get at Leopardstown.
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