Let's Talk Racing: connections of Joyeuse knew the rules

Before we dive into the column, we want to take a moment to send our thoughts and prayers to Michael O'Sullivan, along with his friends and family. 

Mikey is not only an exceptional talent in the saddle, but more importantly, he’s a true gentleman away from the racecourse as well. Generous with his time, Mikey has become both a friend of the podcast and a personal friend beyond the cameras. 

We never take for granted the risks jockeys face every time they step into the saddle. Our thoughts are with Mikey and everyone close to him during this difficult time. 

JOSH: Congratulations, Adrian! Your chances of getting a little richer in March have certainly increased. However, the news of Sir Gino being ruled out is a huge blow for the Festival. The prospect of seeing Sir Gino, Majborough, and L’Eau Du Sud go head-to-head was truly exciting, and I'm gutted it won't happen. Not only is Nicky Henderson's star now sidelined, but L'Eau Du Sud didn’t exactly impress from the last to the line when winning the Kingmaker at Warwick. We were hoping for something special, and frankly, I needed to see more to consider him a genuine threat to Majborough next month. 

ANDREW: A very strong position to be in now that we unfortunately will not see the clash that so many of us had hoped for, which is a massive shame for the entire Festival. Majborough looks to be in a league of his own now in the division, and I would agree with Josh that L’Eau Du Sud was not as impressive as one would have hoped at Warwick on Saturday. Perhaps, the Gavin Cromwell-trained Only By Night might end up here now, as she seems to possess an awful lot of raw pace and a quickly run Arkle might be right up her street. 

JOSH: If I owned him, it would have been gutting to miss the opportunity to see a fully fit and firing nine-year-old Energumene running for a potential third Queen Mother Champion Chase – that’s a real missed moment. 

In a similar vein, I felt we were robbed of what could’ve been a clash for the ages in the 2020 Queen Mother. Just four days before Cheltenham, it looked like we'd witness a showdown between Altior, Chacun Pour Soi, and Defi Du Seuil. But due to various issues, only Defi Du Seuil made it to the starting line – and, to be honest, he might as well have stayed at home! 

ANDREW: A slightly odd take on this question, as none of them could have run with the race abandoned - but I thought it was a massive shame we did not get to see the Cross Country Chase last season, as it looked to be filled with some of the best horses that division has ever, and will ever see. The fact that it would have also been the last time the race was run off level weights, meant we had some titanic horses such as Minella Indo, Delta Work and Galvin all running against each other, with a host of good challengers in behind. 

The fact that the aforementioned trio went on to fill the frame in the Grand National, all within very close proximity of each other, further made it difficult to swallow that we didn’t get to see them fight it out around the unique test at Cheltenham. 

JOSH: This might be a controversial opinion, but no. If you’ve been watching Let's Talk Racing this season, you'll know I’m a fan of the horse and was hoping to see her line up at Cheltenham. However, the rules were clearly laid out at the start of the season for everyone to see. I suspect the rule change was introduced to give the handicapper more evidence of a horse's ability, reducing the chances of a Grade One horse masquerading as a handicapper. This, in turn, raises the competitiveness of the Grade One races and prevents the likes of State Man or Galopin Des Champs from ending up in a County Hurdle or Martin Pipe. 

If they were intent on running at Cheltenham, Nicky Henderson and his team could’ve planned her campaign differently. They knew she needed five runs over hurdles, and it’s still very possible for her to achieve that. Of course, we all want to see impressive winners of premier handicaps try to follow up at the Cheltenham Festival, so could we introduce a 'win and you're in' concept for certain top handicaps? It’s an idea. But until then, the rules are the rules. 

ANDREW:  Josh and I might be two of the minority here, but I do operate on the “rules are rules” mantra in these instances, and connections would have known from the start of the season that this mare needed five runs to get into a Festival handicap. One could argue that five runs is too many, but the rule was introduced in September, so they can't be complaining that they didn't know the situation. 

The fact that connections saw to protect her mark for the William Hill Hurdle is up to themselves, but I don't feel bad in my own head that they now can't run in a County Hurdle (unless they run her again beforehand) due to this. They have landed a big pot with a handicap blot but have sacrificed Cheltenham as a result. If they really wanted her at Cheltenham - they needed to campaign her differently before Saturday - but would that have scuppered her chances for that race? Possibly so. 

JOSH: All eyes were on the opener at Naas on Saturday, given its rich history of producing Fred Winter winners at Cheltenham. With Andrew having selected Holy See as an ante-post pick before Naas, I was hopeful for an encouraging performance, but unfortunately, he didn’t deliver despite receiving significant market support. 

Murcia and Bacchanalian were the only two I took from it. Of the two, Murcia looks to have a massive chance if she can step forward again from her performance this weekend 

ANDREW: To answer the question bluntly, no. I have been back home this week and one the main reasons I set off to Naas on Saturday was to see this race, as I was eager to see a good performance from Holy See - who looked to have a decent profile for a Fred Winter horse. However, he blotted his copybook with a rash display of jumping, and it allowed the consistent but slightly exposed Bacchanalian top defy an equally poor jumping effort from Murcia. 

Holy See has been given 119 from the Irish assessor, which with British tax should get him into the race, but it would take a much braver man than me to press up after that effort. Bacchanalian is now in the low 130s, which might see him a bit exposed, while Murcia might need a bit more street smarts to have any chance in a big field handicap. 

JOSH: Corbetts Cross is a tricky horse to get a handle on, and unfortunately, given the connections, I suspect I’ll be left scratching my head until he inevitably lands a big one. After cruising to victory in the National Hunt Chase, I didn’t expect him to be running in an Ascot Chase almost a year later. I did wonder if they were getting him handicapped for the Grand National, but he’s not even entered! 

The form is there, having finished behind Gerri Colombe in a competitive Grade One as a novice, but the key word here might be behind. My hunch is that he’s a good horse, but not quite a top-tier one 

ANDREW: I think the only way to handle Corbetts Cross is to wait for the big day frankly, and I am not sure whether we will see anything close to his full ability until lining up in the Gold Cup. Emmet Mullins is a master of target training, even when it comes to Grade One horses like this gelding. He has been only so-so this season, and I feel that the Ascot Chase is not the demands of a race that I would have had in mind for him. 

However, I had similar queries about his form going into last year's Festival - including his jumping being erratic at best. This led me to taking him on, and just like a mouse following a block of cheese, I was caught in the trap. I still feel he is one of the most likely to run a big race in the Gold Cup, and although winning it might be beyond him, I would not rule out having a bet in the 'without the favourite' market come the day. 

NOLAN / MCKIERNAN / CONNELL HORSE TO BACK (FROM ANDREW): Back to the Bushmans Pass well this weekend as the honourable Oliver McKiernan-trained gelding is entered in the Grand National Trial at Punchestown. This extreme test of stamina should suit and hopefully we get as much rain as possible, as this horse simply cannot have it deep enough. I am hopeful he should run another good, honest race.  

NEWCOMER TO FOLLOW (FROM JOSH): Live Conti makes his British debut for Dan Skelton at Wetherby on Wednesday. His French form combined with yard whispers would make me think he's a good'n.