The Cheltenham Festival is on the horizon as Henry de Bromhead and team Knockeen send their arsenal to the Cotswolds, bidding to add to their tally of 21 Festival successes.
The 2023 Festival was one to remember for de Bromhead, with three victories - those coming courtesy of Honeysuckle (Mares' Hurdle); Maskada (Grand Annual) and Envoi Allen (Ryanair Chase).
Race Planner Robbie Power admits that while some familiar faces have departed the course and it is a changing time, there is still plenty of cause for optimism ahead of the Olympics of national hunt racing."
"We are very happy with how things have gone on, I suppose there is a bit of a changing of the guard this year", he told Boylesports. "Some of the big guns, the likes of Minella Indo, are dropping down in class in the Cross Country Chase, which he will be very competitive in. A Plus Tard has been retired, Honeysuckle has been retired, so there is a little bit of changing of the guard but we have a nice bunch of novices to go to war with, Slade Steel and Monty’s Star for example. So it is a bit of a change but we have a good team going over, around 20 horses to head there. It’s a rebuild, exactly. I don’t think our expectations have dropped though, we would still like a couple of winners. We might not have as many big guns but we do have a nice bunch of horses to go with."
Minella Indo, a former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, currently leads the market for the Cross Country Chase on Thursday, before a potential tilt at the Aintree Grand National.
"I think Minella Indo will go well in the Cross Country. His run back at Cheltenham over the banks was a huge performance, especially with 12 stone on his back and giving a stone and a half away to the first and second so he will take a lot of beating in the Cross Country. He’s never been out of the first two at the Festival."
Power also believes this year's Ryanair Chase is wide open, as Envoi Allen bids to defend his title and land a fourth Cheltenham Festival success in the process.
"I think this race is wide open. Banbridge is very ground dependent, if you’re thinking of backing him ante post then I wouldn’t, I’d be waiting for the ground. The performance he put up at Kempton when he beat Pic D’Orhy has worked out really well when Pic D’Orhy won at Ascot, so that form is very strong for Banbridge. Envoi Allen for Henry, he was very good when winning this race last year and the ground won’t matter at all to him, he has a massive chance of beating Banbridge."
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