The festive period is a telling time in the National Hunt racing season. With graded racing from Kempton Park to Newbury and Leopardstown to Limerick, the road to the Cheltenham Festival is ramped up a notch in late December.
Key races like the Christmas Hurdle, King George VI Chase and Savills Chase begin to shape the Cheltenham Festival odds for the prestigious Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup at the Festival, and many big names start to make their anticipated seasonal reappearances for the top yards.
But such is the unpredictability of elite jumps racing that not every horse can live up to its billing, and the bookmakers would have breathed a sigh of relief a few times over Christmas and New Year as some red-hot favourites failed to justify their support.
That said, here are four horses who particularly disappointed over the festive period and may now have a big point to prove before the Cheltenham Festival in March.
Mydaddypaddy
Mydaddypaddy shot to the fore of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle ante-post market after winning on his hurdle debut at Carlisle in November before following up in emphatic fashion in an Introductory Hurdle at Haydock at the beginning of December.
Despite that, question marks still surrounded his true ability at the top level, and the Grade 1 Formby Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on Boxing Day was the chance for him to prove his doubters wrong.
However, he failed to deliver on the big stage in Merseyside—finishing second by over three lengths to Idaho Sun.
The last couple of obstacles being removed perhaps didn’t play in his favour. But it’s hard to put the blame entirely on that, and the Dan Skelton-trained horse has to bounce back massively if he wants to win a Supreme.
Inothewayurthinkin
Gold Cup hero Inothewayurthinkin has had a disappointing start to the campaign in the iconic JP McManus colours.
Fifth of 10 on reappearance at Punchestown in November, albeit over too short a trip in the John Durkan, Inothewayurthinkin was expected to come on from that first outing of the season in the Savills Chase.
But a stark drift in the horse racing betting odds before the off told the story, and Inothewayurthinkin ran no race at all at Leopardstown—coming home over 40 lengths behind eventual surprise winner Affordale Fury.
McManus’ racing manager, Frank Berry, had no excuses for the poor showing from the Gavin Cromwell-trained horse. It will be interesting to see if we can identify a discrepancy in that form or if there is something genuinely off. He remains among the favourite in the Gold Cup antepost odds, nonetheless.
El Carios
Another supreme disappointment from another Supreme Novices’ Hurdle challenger, El Carios had the race at his peril when falling with the finish line in sight at Leopardstown.
Making his yard debut for Gordon Elliott in the Maiden Hurdle on Boxing Day, the five-year-old was two lengths clear and going easily when stumbling and falling after an awkward landing after the last obstacle.
He remains the favourite for the Supreme despite that shock incident, but a victory would have looked much better on his race record, and you can sometimes never really know how a horse might come back from a heavy fall like that.
Majborough
Letting punters down for the second time this season, Majborough has failed to justify strong market support on both of his appearances.
Firstly, he finished second to Found A Fifty at Cork, but then he couldn’t deliver in the Grade 1 Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase at Leopardstown—coming home third behind Marine Nationale and Solness.
The Willie Mullins-trained horse is still in contention for the Champion Chase, but his jumping—which also cost him in last year’s Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival—will need to be a lot sounder to win a race of that quality.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
