Dublin Racing Festival: Intellotto and High Class Hero two to watch for Kevin Blake

• Kevin Blake's early look at the Dublin Racing Festival

• Intellotto looks overpriced for the Spring Juvenile Hurdle

• Willie Mullins could have a High Class hurdler with Hero

With the weather succeeding in creating havoc in British and Irish racing over the coming days, now might be a good time to close our eyes and cast our minds ahead by two weeks to the promise of the Dublin Racing Festival.

The two-day meeting has only existed in its current form since 2018, but in that time it has been a resounding success despite the best efforts of Covid-19 to stall its progress.

It's ultra-tight race programme represents what many might consider the right shape for a National Hunt championship meeting.

Where the best meet the best

The Grade 1 options are confined to just one short trip and one long trip, no mid-range trips or other scope for ducking and diving. If you want to run, you do it against the best in one of two trip categories. The only alternatives are valuable handicaps.

The public have responded to the obvious attraction of this distilled excellence, with the aggregate crowd for the two days climbing to 34,591 which is just a couple of thousand short of a sell-out on both days.

It is also a telling fact that 27% of the tickets were bought by UK-based customers, with the dominant feedback from our British visitors being the value for money it represents for racegoers.

Where champions are made

Besides all of its attractions as a race meeting, the most significant element of it is that many of the very best horses in Ireland run there over the two days. It regularly results in significant changes in the pecking order of numerous divisions, with many a future champion having first announced their arrival at the top table over these two days.

With multiple divisions in National Hunt racing currently having a wide-open look to them, the Dublin Racing Festival promises to shine a brighter light on what the pecking orders really are. This is likely to very much be the case in the juvenile and novice hurdles.

Triumph clues aplenty in Spring Juvenile Hurdle

The Spring Juvenile Hurdle has been an excellent guide to the eventual divisional champion in recent years, and will offer plenty of clues ahead of this year's Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.The last three renewals of it delivered just that, albeit Lossiemouth was unlucky in defeat at Leopardstown prior to gaining her vengeance later in the campaign.

After enduring a nightmarish campaign with their juveniles last season, the British are responsible for the leaders in the division at this stage in Burdett Road and Sir Gino, but that could all change after the Spring Juvenile Hurdle.

Intriguingly, Burdett Road holds an entry in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle. His connections want a sound surface for him and Leopardstown usually provides this, so he would be a very interesting contender. He would also be a very welcome British challenger at a meeting that has lacked them in recent years.

If he does turn up, he'll face the best of the Irish juveniles seen thus far. The pick of them in terms of form in the book is the Gordon Elliott-trained Kala Conti based on her Grade 2 win at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting, but she was well positioned that day and a couple of those that finished in behind her are likely to fancy their chances of reversing the form.

The market is currently headed by the Willie Mullins-trained Storm Heart who was impressive when making a winning Irish debut at Punchestown, though a lot of focus will be on the well-touted French import Salvator Mundi if he makes his Irish debut for Mullins in this.

At the current prices, one that looks underestimated is the Joseph O'Brien-trained Intellotto.

Rated 87 on the Flat, he made a winning hurdling debut in what is usually a strong maiden at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting. He set himself a fair task by jumping the second flight slowly and losing a few lengths, but his jumping improved as the race went and having wheeled to the outside on the home turn, he picked up notably well and won with his ears pricking all the way up the run-in by 4½ lengths.

He looked overpriced at 10/111.00 for this contest.

Potter can go well over the minimum trip

The novice hurdle division is arguably in need of even more illumination and the Grade 1 novice hurdles over two miles and two-miles-six-furlongs promise to provide it.

The market for the Tattersalls Ireland 50th Derby Sale Novice Hurdle over two miles is still open to plenty of change as much will depend on which soldiers Willie Mullins decides to send into war. Though, one that isn't in Closutton that will have a big chance is the Gordon Elliott-trained Caldwell Potter.

The son of Martaline seems to have been damned with faint praise in comparison to his ill-fated brother Mighty Potter, but his racecourse achievements warrant much more credit than he has been given so far.

He has won his last two starts in great style, including a Grade 1 at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting. There is a thought that testing ground and a longer trip will suit him best, but he deserves his chance to show what he can do on a sounder surface over the minimum trip. It wouldn't surprise me if he acquitted himself very well indeed.

Hero could turn out to be High Class

The Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle over the longer trip is always a particularly interesting race as it caters to both those that might end up being best suited by two-and-a-half miles and three miles later in the season.

More so than the shorter novice hurdle, this could well turn out to be a real Willie-fest. Mullins is responsible for the first seven in the betting and one suspects he'll run plenty of them.

Perhaps the most interesting of the lot is High Class Hero. The seven-year-old hasn't been seen since maintaining his unbeaten record on the racecourse with a resounding success in a Listed novice hurdle at Limerick in October, but that absence is likely to have been by design.

His form hasn't worked out too badly at all since then and this slightly longer trip promises to suit. The market will be shaped by whatever Paul Townend chooses, but whatever he decides to do, High Class Hero will be worth keeping a close eye on.