Hopefully Brighterdaysahead was an aptly named winner of Sunday’s Dublin Racing Festival feature at Leopardstown after earning another tilt at next month’s Champion Hurdle in Cheltenham in some style.
If February began with all hands to the pumps to overcome monsoon like weather and belatedly start the €2 million festival, a promise of some sunny racing uplands crystallised around Brighterdaysahead’s success in the Times Sash Irish Champion Hurdle.
Making light of the ultra-testing ground conditions, the 11-4 shot was up against a quartet of Willie Mullins trained rivals but ultimately proved much too strong for Ireland’s other top mare, the odds-on Lossiemouth.
Gordon Elliott’s star was over three lengths on top at the line and is now a 2-1 favourite with some firms for hurdling’s ultimate championship prize in six weeks’ time.
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Brighterdaysahead was only fourth in that race last year and was set to start over fences this season only for repeated delays to prompt her owner, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, into ordering her back to flights, a decision that could yet yield the ultimate Cheltenham dividend.
“The plan was to go chasing this year, but Michael put his foot down. He said that half the season was gone and so right he was. He normally is right!” said Elliott.
Taking a break from trading barbs with Elon Musk, O’Leary himself made a rare racing appearance to welcome back his big-race winner. He, Elliott and jockey Jack Kennedy previously won the €200,000 feature in 2019 with Apples Jade.
“It was probably the best she ever jumped today and maybe the heavy ground helped,” Kennedy said. “Hopefully she can improve again, she’ll probably have to. On that ground it was probably a tough race but there doesn’t seem to be a bother on her.”
Lossiemouth’s rider Paul Townend had a different tale and commented: “I was never comfortable. It surprised me that I actually got in with a chance at any stage. Everything was hard work today.”
A big imponderable between now and then will be the potential impact of competing on barely raceable ground conditions this close to Cheltenham.
What was unraceable going on Saturday barely made it back to raceable in time for Sunday’s action which passed a morning inspection and rewarded the considerable improvisation of Leopardstown’s officials.
Perhaps it was to the benefit of Majborough who finally lived up to his reputation with a Ladbrokes Dublin Chase rout although the addition of first-time cheekpieces on the recommendation of jockey Mark Walsh appears to have been a major factor too.
Jumping that hitherto had been hit and miss suddenly looked a cinch for the newly concentrated Majborough who made most to beat the reigning two-mile champion Marine Nationale by 19 lengths.
Cheekpieces had earlier also proved crucial to Kaid D’authie who’d landed the Grade One Ladbrokes Chase for the same team of Walsh, Willie Mullins and owner JP McManus.
All of it was a timely boost for Walsh who will be the main loser from McManus’s call to appoint Harry Cobden as his top rider in Ireland and Britain next season.
Talk of Walsh’s potential retirement as a result appeared to be knocked on the head when the famously taciturn jockey said: “I’ve had loads of winners in these colours and hopefully there’s more to come.”
Majborough is now the new favourite to finally deliver McManus an elusive first success in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Gordon Elliott also won a handicap with Bowensonfire to complete a 40-1 double and was denied another Grade One as Ballyfad was touched off on the line by Talk The Talk.
“He’s probably going to be favourite now [for Cheltenham’s Supreme Novice Hurdle] and he’ll have a favourites chance,” Joseph O’Brien said.
Despite all that, the most dramatic outcome came in the Grade Two Mares Bumper where jockey Stephen Connor looked to throw away success on the 9-1 shot Royal Hillsborough by stopping riding about 50 metres from the line.
The 22-1 Moonverrin rallied and by the time Connor realised his error and got down to ride again it was too late. The Co Galway amateur returned to scales and immediately informed officials he has mistaken the winning post. He got a 14-day suspension.
