Gold Cup questions to be answered

So many questions will be answered in the next five days.

Is Bristol De Mai legitimately the best horse in training?

Can Might Bite be trusted to concentrate to the end of his races?

Can we hope Sizing John might become the next Best Mate?

Can Thistlecrack, 12 months on from his brilliant win as a novice, return to his best?

Is Yorkhill a safe enough conveyance to add to your Gold Cup ante-post bets?

In five days we will be so much the wiser!

Tough times training

At the turn of the year, a glance at the National Hunt trainers’ championship shows that, even by adding together the number of winners trained by those in third and fourth places, Joseph O’Brien and Henry de Bromhead, the total is short of the number trained by either Gordon Elliott (122) or Willie Mullins (117).

Only six trainers have trained more than 20 winners this season. All the headline figures on the strength of Irish racing look good. These last few weeks the horse industry has received some well-deserved attention. That shouldn’t mask how difficult it still is to keep a decent-sized yard paying its way.

McKeever delight

The entries for the Christmas Festival meetings have been eagerly received this week but, again, at the top level a few owners and trainers make up the bulk of the likely runners. With that in mind, we were delighted to hear of a small breeder thrilled at being represented over the Christmas.

Christopher McKeever, breeder of the Noel Meade-trained She’s A Star, was the subject of Heart of Racing column last year. With his three mares, Lobinstown Girl, Miss Audacious and Apache Rose, the family have only three runners to date, and the three of them are down to run in the next week.

Iamastartoo in Limerick on the 26th, She’s A Star in Leopardstown on the 27th, Vet On Call on the 27th in Limerick. All three are by Kedrah House sire Well Chosen. Long House Hall, a half-brother to Apache Rose is also engaged over the Christmas period at Kempton.

“It’s surreal that the three homebreds from two mares are down to run and then Long House Hall as a bonus,” an excited son David McKeever told us.

We wish them good luck for the festive racing season.