IRELAND'S CALL ONCE MORE...TO BE SURE!

Robert Cooper recommends whacking a few quid on The Real Whacker at Cheltenham

No such thing as a certainty? I’m not so sure: there will have to be serious issues with boats and planes from across the Irish Sea to stem the flow of Irish-trained winners at Cheltenham – beyond doubt the most crucial four days of jumps racing on the calendar.

If the adage ‘an embarrassment of riches’ applies to anyone it befits Willie Mullins to a tee; it will be beyond embarrassing if another trophy cabinet isn’t commissioned.

As I type, Mullins is 5/6 to train eight or more winners at the Cheltenham Festival; the firepower from Closutton is totally absurd.

Take Fergal O’Brien, one of the most successful British-based trainers, who is still searching for that breakthrough Festival winner. Fergal has trained 100 plus winners for the past three seasons, breaking the £1million prize money barrier twice, yet there has been no Festival joy. Like it or lump it, every trainer’s CV requires a Cheltenham winner. The drought will end if Dysart Enos can win the Ryanair Mares’ Novices Hurdle, bossing a couple of unbeaten contenders from the juggernaut yards of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, Jade de Grugy and Brighterdaysahead.

All questions Fergal may be resolved at Uttoxeter’s Cheltenham Preview evening on Sunday March 10 when O’Brien, long-serving stable jockey Paddy Brennan and the yard’s conditional Liam Harrison (tipped Good Time Jonny to win Pertemps Hurdle last year) are on the panel, plus ‘fast talking’ Johnny Dineen. Oh, and I’m in the chair – and if that’s not an incentive, the pie and peas will have you purring with delight.