WITH so many of the best horses running, Christmas is a time that can provide clarity to pecking order in the various divisions ahead of the spring, but the 2025 version seemed more about chaos. Consider the staying chase pecking order for the moment, where we have a Gold Cup market with seven horses priced between 6/1 and 12/1.
The King George finish had four horses covered by less than a length while the Savills Chase result left unanswered questions. I do wonder if the winner, Affordale Fury, is being too readily dismissed as a fluke, odds of around 20/1 making some appeal for Cheltenham.
He was well-backed from 33/1 to 7/1 here, Noel Meade saying afterwards that he never had him better and perhaps there is no more improvement to come, but I would argue otherwise.
He may have been the horse in the field with race fitness on his side, this being his fourth start of the season, but he was also the joint-youngest and one of the least exposed, with natural progression through the rest of the season as likely as not.
Young horses that win or run well in the Grade 1 three-mile chases at Leopardstown over Christmas and at the DRF have a habit of being very competitive in the Gold Cup as we have seen recently with the likes of Sizing John, A Plus Tard, Galopin Des Champs and Inothewayurthinkin.
Perhaps Affordale Fury got it soft in front, but he looks like a horse that could do with a lead for as long as possible. When Galopin Des Champs came alongside him after two out, he picked up the bridle again and found more, while his tendency to jump right might also be down to needing a lead.
Renewing rivalries
It would be no harm for him to miss the DRF and go straight to Cheltenham though the Irish Gold Cup will likely see many of these renew rivalry. Galopin Des Champs is the one to beat there and put in a satisfactory return in third though I would prefer not to be with a 10-year-old in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, modern great though he may be.
With Inothewayurthinkin, Idonthaveacluewhattothink. There is a sense with this horse that others will always know more about how he will perform but even by comparison with past campaigns, his efforts this season have been dismal.
He has been trained with spring in mind for both the last two campaigns, but he was never beaten more than 36 lengths in any of those races, yet his two defeats this season have been by 53 and 41 lengths. Answers on a postcard, or on a betting slip, more likely. The Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase was a race of high drama, Solness reproducing the form of his two course-and-distance wins last season while returning from a 242-day absence. It is possible he has improved again as it has been a long time since he had a substantial break and this may have been the pause that refreshes.
It is unusual that a tendency to go right helps a horse win at a left-handed course but that looks the way with him as that trait put him out on the favoured outer part of the track while the opposite is true of Majborough; his inclination to go left put him down the inner and could actually be a negative at Leopardstown.
Otherwise, Majborough had no excuses, having every opportunity to take a gap before the final fence but not looking quick enough and he may need further now.
Champion Chase
The unlucky horse was Marine Nationale, turning sideways after the second fence, and he continues to look a big player in the Champion Chase over a furlong and a half shorter though I would prefer Solness for the Dublin Chase, this track suiting him ideally.
My performance of Leopardstown was Teahupoo in the Christmas Hurdle. The ground was a worry beforehand, but he had no issue with it, dispatching younger rivals easily as this race was over after the second last. Few of his rivals ran to form, but he looked as good as ever here and remains the one to beat the Stayers’ Hurdle.
The December Hurdle on the final day of the meeting was run at an average pace until Anzadam ran away with Patrick Mullins after halfway; the horse has bags of ability and is a slick hurdler, but after showing attitude in the finish of the Fighting Fifth, produced another set of quirks mid-race here. He is hard to like.
Lossiemouth had to do a lot of running to pick him after two out, and is probably better than the form, while the tactics on Brighterdaysahead were different to the forcing ride she got in the race last year.
Connections were keen to give here a positive experience on her first start since Punchestown, especially after a troubled early winter period, and it worked as she looked sweet in herself. Expect her to be more forward next time, likely at the DRF in a rematch with Lossiemouth, but I would still just favour the Mullins mare.
MUCH of the Christmas racing brought more confusion than clarity, but there were exceptions. Narciso Has took a huge jump forward from Fairyhouse to win the Grade 2 Changing Times Brewery Juvenile Hurdle, that improvement foretold in the betting, and looks the one to beat in the Triumph Hurdle where odds around 5/1 are fair.
He brushed aside promising types like Barbizon under a forceful ride, his time comparing well with the other races on the card and is a strong staying type that should prove ideally suited by the New Course at Cheltenham.
Christmas didn’t give much shape to the Champion Bumper picture with seven different trainers winning the eight bumpers over that period, but the Martin Brassil-trained It’s Only A Game had his claims enhanced in abstentia at Down Royal on St. Stephen’s Day.
He had been a visually impressive winner at Punchestown on the John Durkan undercard, and the runner-up then was Boycetown who won by 18 lengths at Down Royal. That is a significant form boost for a horse that had already caught the eye, and he is worth backing for Cheltenham at around 25/1.
GORDON Elliott was asked what he wanted for Christmas in a recent racing preview for Racing TV and the Tote and his response was simple: ‘winners.’
He got those winners and then some, 18 in total over the four days of Christmas racing, to round of a terrific month.
Elliott has had better months in terms of pure winners than the 38 he managed this December prior to New Year’s Eve, but only once when he had 42 winners in November 2023, but rarely has a period felt as meaningful.
It wasn’t just the volume of the winners but the quality and depth as he had success in everything from novice to open Grade 1s, maiden hurdles to bumpers and of course big handicaps.
We won’t know until the end of the season, but this felt like an upward turning point for the yard, though it was hardly floundering beforehand.
One positive for racing is that this seems likely to increase the competitiveness of the Dublin Racing Festival, the trainer saying soon after Christmas that he was keen to have a big team for that meeting.
Since the DRF began in 2018, Elliott has had 16 winners at the fixture, but nine of those came in 2020 and before.
He had only one DRF winners last year, and only five runners sent off single-figure SPs, but that seems likely to change in 2026.