9.4 out of ten! Mighty Majborough raises bar for Arkle aspirants

Willie Mullins was told that Majborough had been bought as a Triumph Hurdle horse when he walked into Closutton in 2023. The master trainer took one look at the imposing young thoroughbred who stood before him and thought he'd never seen a horse less typical for the juvenile showpiece. He viewed him more as a three-mile chaser, perhaps a Gold Cup horse. 

The gelding had won in France earlier that year before being purchased by JP McManus and switched to his care. He clearly had the potential to be something of a schoolyard bully, but his big shell of a frame was a work in progress and time was going to be his friend. 

Mullins gave him as much of that as he dared with the Triumph in mind, skipping the Christmas programme and delaying his stable debut until the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown in February. 

Majborough dwarfed his rivals in the paddock and caught the eye of just about everyone in finishing a close third to Kargese. By the time of the Triumph, the following month, Mullins viewed him as his No 1 and he duly turned the tables on Kargese to take the spoils. 

Most Triumph winners struggle in their second season over hurdles, but Mullins and McManus didn’t even entertain the idea. Instead, they hatched a plan to send him straight over the larger obstacles. A collectors’ item, if ever there was one. 

So, having had just 12 minutes of racing, Majborough made his keenly anticipated chasing debut at Fairyhouse on Saturday morning. And it was no gimme, either, with Mullins also pitching in two other smart and much more experienced horses, Tullyhill and Asian Master, against him. 

Majborough drifted from 8-13 to odds against in the minutes before the tapes rose but the drift proved a red herring. Mark Walsh sent him straight to the front and supporters of the combination had few anxious moments as they powered to a 6½-length win without being anything like fully extended. 

The big horse was easy on the eye as he glided over the ten fences, with his only semblance of a mistake coming at the sixth. 

That was reflected by the RaceiQ data. And then some. 

His Jump Index score, reflecting his entry/exit speeds, time spent in the jumping envelope (30 metres before and after the fence) plus speed recovery time, was measured at 9.4 out of 10. That’s a spectacular figure for a seasoned performer, let alone one making his chasing bow before his fifth birthday. 

To put that into context, the two-time Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs has never been credited with a score greater than 7.9 out of ten since his first Gold Cup triumph in 2023. Even the super slick Fastorslow has never been awarded a score greater than 9. 

Jonbon, the leading two-mile chaser, has one score of 9.4 to his name (Aintree in April 2023) but that was a clear standout for him. He has six scores of 7.9 or under. 

Majborough’s efficiency from getting from A to B helped him gain 15.21 lengths in the air, enabling Walsh to take things relatively easy in the closing stages. 

The runner-up, Tullyhill, earned a score of 6.1 and gained only 2.37 lengths. He really should surrender any treats he gets given over the coming days to his stablemate, as he was given a free lesson in jumping. 

Majborough was especially fluent after that minor blemish at the sixth, jumping best at each of the last four fences. He attacked the second last at 34.92mph and, emboldened by that, motored to the final fence at 35.16mph. 

There’s little margin for error jumping at the speed but  Majborough did not touch a twig and his speed recovery times – just 0.2sec and 0.3sec – meant he lost no momentum the other side. 

Without wishing to pick on the outstanding Galopin Des Champs, he has never travelled at more than 34.93mph at any stage in his races over the past 21 months, albeit he has obviously been running over longer distances. 

All in all, this was an electrifying introduction, which hints he could, quite literally, soar to great heights. He’s now a best-priced 5/1 for the Arkle at Cheltenham in March (with Unibet) and is no bigger than 10/1 for the Brown Advisory 24 hours later. 

The Arkle is surely a more logical target, given that the Brown Advisory is over a mile further and can be attritional for even the most mature of horses. 

Admittedly, five-year-olds have a poor record in the Arkle since the 5lb age allowance was scrubbed 16 years ago. They are 0/16 in the race since then, although the McManus-owned Fakir D’Oudairies went close four years ago. And I’m not sure those before him have had anything like his scope. 

Between 1998 and 2006, four renewals of the Arkle were won by five-year-olds. They included Well Chief, and Voy Por Ustedes, and it certainly didn’t do them any harm in the long term. 

It can also be used as a stepping stone to Gold Cup glory. 

Triple Gold Cup winner Best Mate would have run (as a hot favourite) in the Arkle had the meeting that year not been abandoned because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth, while Kicking King was second in the 2004 renewal before landing the big one 12 months later. Sizing John emulated him in 2016 and 2017.

I’m surprised that Majborough is not outright favourite for the Arkle after his impeccable first offering. 

Instead, the market is still headed by Ballyburn, his stablemate. He sparkled as a novice hurdler last season, but he was a C+ to Majborough’s A- when making his chasing debut over 2m 3f at Punchestown last month. 

An easy victory for Ballyburn – his seventh from eight outings under Rules - could not mask the fact that his jumping lacked polish. 

He got a score of 6.7 on the Jump Index, gaining only 3.39 lengths with his leaping. Up until the tenth fence, he had lost 2.7 lengths in the air, with his speed recovery time being 0.9 sec or worse at eight of the 14 obstacles. 

Ballyburn lost 5.39mph on average at his fences and there were only two other horses in this beginners' event that lost more than that. Oracle Des Mottes (7.04 lengths), Release The Beast (9.23) and Ataboycharlie (5.48) all gained more lengths than him, despite being vastly inferior to him over hurdles. 

It was disconcerting that he lost ground at fences eight (1.54 lengths), nine (1.74 lengths) and ten (0.7 lengths) at a time when you would have been expecting him to have got his eye in. 

Whether he drops to 2m or steps up to 3m will no doubt be partly determined by who else Mullins has for each category. 

We now know, without a question of doubt, he has Majborough in his squad. He’s twice the price of Ballyburn for the Arkle and I’d know who I would rather be with. 

Of course, there's still the small matter of Sir Gino to consider. But his path seems entwined with Constitution Hill and, unless he gets going over fences at Christmas, then he's going to be running out of time.