National Hunt fans were treated to a host of stunning performances from the biggest stars of the sport at the 2022 Dublin Racing Festival.
Willie Mullins was the headline act, winning six of Leopardstown's eight Grade 1 contests, but we also witnessed another brilliant display from the superstar mare Honeysuckle, who won the Irish Champion Hurdle for a third successive season. Henry De Bromhead's stable star is well and truly on course to retain her Champion Hurdle crown in March.
It was a weekend that had a major bearing on ante-post prices for the 2022 Cheltenham Festival across most divisions so we've picked out five major talking points from the weekend action with one eye on the March showpiece.
Conflated needs to get lucky to win a Gold Cup
Dominant Irish Gold Cup winner Conflated was slashed into 8/1 from 50/1 for the Gold Cup at Cheltenham, making him the biggest ante-post mover of the entire weekend.
His six-and-a-half length demolition of Minella Indo was a career-best performance by some distance and on the face of it he looks a bona fide contender for the festival's blue-riband event. However, the form could hardly be less reliable.
Not a single one of the market principals ran their race and that includes the runner-up, whose performance was around 18lb shy of the level he achieved in winning the 2021 Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
Conflated might be able to improve on what he did at Leopardstown but he'll need to because that form won't be good enough to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup unless he gets incredibly lucky and the race falls apart around him. The fact that he's never even been to Prestbury Park before is also a negative to his chance.
Gold Cup betting with Grosvenor Sport
Vauban vs Pied Piper set to be one of the clashes of the week
There is almost nothing separating Vauban and Pied Piper at the head of Grosvenor Sport's Triumph Hurdle betting list and that feels appropriate given the pair were separated by just half a length at Punchestown in December.
Pied Piper gave that form a huge boost by bolting up at Cheltenham but Vauban gave it an even bigger shot in the arm by clearing away from the hugely talented and previously unbeaten Fils Dor in Saturday's Spring Juvenile Hurdle.
It was a performance of real class from the Rich Ricci-owned four-year-old, who is the best of the owner's growing squad of young horses, and the rematch with Pied Piper now has the potential to make the JCB Triumph Hurdle one of the races of the entire 2022 Cheltenham Festival.
Triumph Hurdle betting with Grosvenor Sport
Facile Vega looks special but he's no certainty in the Champion Bumper
Facile Vega arguably posted the performance of the entire weekend in Saturday's Goffs Future Stars and there is no doubt that he looks pretty special. The son of legendary mare Quevega made some hugely promising rivals look like trees, sauntering clear up the straight to win as he likes. It was a performance that had bookmakers running for cover, so much so that he's an odds-on chance with many for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper in March.
However, 12 months ago Kilcruit won the very same Leopardstown bumper by an even bigger margin before getting turned over by Sir Gerhard at Cheltenham. The festival contest has not been particularly kind to favourite backers in recent years, indeed even Willie Mullins, who has farmed the race, has won it with two 25/1 chances in the last decade. The moral of the story? Simple, Facile Vega is no certainty at Cheltenham.
Weatherbys Champion Bumper betting with Grosvenor Sport
Don't be lulled into backing Chacun at Cheltenham
Chacun Pour Soi reminded the world just how brilliant he can be on his own turf by running away with Sunday's Ladbrokes Dublin Chase for the third year in succession on Sunday.
Ordinarily, it was a performance of such class that he would have to the horse to beat in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, but there are two reasons why that isn't the case with Chacun Pour Soi. Firstly, we've been in this position before with him and he's failed to deliver. Willie Mullins' 10-year-old has travelled over the Irish Sea twice and on both occasions he's run a long way below the level he shows back at home. He's a bad traveller and that's most unlikely to change at his age.
Secondly, this is the strongest edition of the Queen Mother Champion Chase for a while, certainly compared to last year, with Shishkin and Energumene set to renew rivalry. Chacun will need to be at his very best to beat Shishkin, and the form book tells us that he won't be.
Queen Mother Champion Chase betting with Grosvenor Sport
Sir Gerhard won't win a Supreme Novices' Hurdle jumping like he did at Leopardstown
Sir Gerhard landed his first Grade 1 contest as a hurdler in the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle on Sunday, completing a hat-trick of top-flight wins on the day for his trainer, and on the face of it, his six-length success makes him a leading candidate for next month's Supreme Novices' Hurdle.
However, the winning margin masks a sloppy round of jumping, one that he wouldn't get away with in the heat of battle against much stronger rivals at the Cheltenham Festival. There is no doubting his class but he won't get away with taking half the hurdles with him at Prestbury Park and that's why he was only nudged in half a point by the layers for the festival curtain-raiser.
Supreme Novices' Hurdle betting with Grosvenor Sport
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