Sunday Irish Racing Tips: Dinoblue to put Cheltenham woes behind her

The Fairyhouse Easter Festival got off to a relatively low-key start on Saturday, but the action really steps up a gear on Sunday, with the track playing host to a pair of Grade 1 races, the second of which sees the return of Galopin Des Champs following his luckless fall at Cheltenham last month.

Willie Mullins' charge faces a field of just five in the Gold Cup Novice Chase at 16:55 and barring any unfortunate events such as that witnessed at the final fence in the Turners, he really should be taking this with the minimum of fuss.

At long odds-on, Galopin Des Champs is obviously no punting vehicle, particularly with that fall fresh in the memory, though he seems sure to have learned from that - a fall that was more unfortunate than anything else.

He actually jumped the fence well enough but just buckled on landing, handing the race to the seemingly beaten Bob Olinger.

He's clearly the best novice chaser around, and should have little more than an exercise gallop here, with Master McShee and Riviere D'Etel likely to fight it out for minor honours.

Dinoblue looks sure to have learned from Cheltenham

The other co-feature on the day is the Grade 1 Mares Novice Championship Final at 15:10, where unbeaten Cheltenham winner Love Envoi is sure to be popular. Harry Fry's daughter of Westerner has quickly developed into a useful performer and beat Ahorsewithnoname in the Dawn Run at the Festival despite a couple of things not going her way early on.

She's a strong traveller who looks sure to put up another good showing but I'm prepared to take her on with one who finished in the ruck behind her at Cheltenham.

The inexperienced Dinoblue was all the rage in the betting for the Dawn Run having won a Clonmel maiden hurdle by 15 lengths on her sole start in January.

The fact she was backed into 11/8 favourite in a 19-runner field at the Festival tells you plenty about the regard this mare is held in, but she simply failed to do herself justice on the day, ridden a little too aggressively while failing to settle on the front end.

I'm expecting Mark Walsh to revert to more patient tactics this time on the daughter of Doctor Dino and I expect her to have learned plenty from that outing. If she settles and jumps, she'll undoubtedly serve it up to the favourite and definitely looks the value at current prices.

Brandy Love forms a strong one-two punch for Willie Mullins in here (the Closutton handler runs seven in total) and she'll be fresher than most having skipped Cheltenham. We saw at Aintree that plenty of runners who'd done well at Prestbury Park disappointed so it could be that she holds a bit of an advantage over some.

Hurdling newcomer also worth an each-way play

While I'm relying on Dinoblue for my win bet in the race, I can't let another Willie Mullins trainee go unbacked from an each-way perspective, particularly with an extra place available on the Sportsbook.

Night And Day hasn't yet made her National Hunt debut having been bought from the flat in France, but she's certainly bred for the job being a half-sister to Supasundae amongst others.

She was placed three times on the level in 2020 and it looks significant that her master trainer starts her off in a race of this calibre rather than going for any old maiden/novice hurdle. I'm more than interested in her at 26.025/1.

Team Mullins can also strike away from Fairyhouse

Over at Cork, I'm really keen on another Mullins inmate, Ganapathi, who look sure to take all the beating the in the conditions hurdle at 14:20.

It's probably fair to say it hasn't all been plain sailing for this one since he made a winning debut for this yard over hurdles a couple of years ago but he made an eye-catching reappearance in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham last month, making a big mid-race move before the lack of recent outing told late on.

I did have him earmarked for a good handicap hurdle this spring, though I think this is a clever bit of placing by his trainer as he's the highest-rated horse in the field yet doesn't have to concede any weight to his rivals.

Given he was ultimately beaten a long way at Cheltenham, I'm hoping the majority may not have spotted that he fared much better than the bare result there, and any price in the 4/1+ region will be well worth taking.