Galileo Dame tests Triumph claims for Joseph O’Brien

The last four Triumph Hurdle winners have all run in the Gannon’s City Recovery And Recycling Services Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown and Joseph O’Brien is hoping Galileo Dame can add her name to the list.

Quilixios and Vauban took both races, while Lossiemouth and Majborough were both placed before winning at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Galileo Dame was smart on the Flat and finished a fine second to the reopposing Wendrock on her jumping debut at Leopardstown over Christmas, a run from which she is entitled to be sharper, believes her trainer.

“Hopefully she’ll improve from her first run, she should certainly benefit from her first experience,” said O’Brien.

“We’re looking forward to seeing how she gets on, she should enjoy the ground on the slow side and she has prepared well.

“We know she’s got ability from the Flat and while she’s still a maiden, we may as well run her in nice races that are worth winning, but at the same time this also looks the right race to run her in.

“It’s not a big field and it looks an open race, so this looks the right spot for her.”

Willie Mullins is bidding for a fourth successive win after Vauban, Gala Marceau and Kargese, and again the champion trainer holds a strong hand.

Only one of the aforementioned was partnered by Paul Townend, who this year rides the Rich Ricci-owned Sainte Lucie, who made a very impressive debut at Punchestown when winning by 11 lengths.

“I was really taken with her, I didn’t expect that,” said Mullins.

“I thought she was half-decent but I thought that was a huge performance, knowing that she’s only half-ready. She’s going to improve a lot, I hope.”

Lady Vega Allen pushed Gavin Cromwell’s highly-touted Hello Neighbour, who also runs in this, when first and second in a Grade Two at Christmas.

“She put in some run the other day,” said Mullins of Sean O’Keeffe’s mount.

“We were only hoping to get a run into her, to see what she was like and look what she did, so I think with normal improvement, hopefully she’ll put in a really good run in Dublin.”

Sony Bill, who will be partnered by Danny Mullins, was third in the same race.

“He ran well, he had plenty of experience in France, so I don’t know how much improvement he has in him, because he had all that experience, so he might not have as much improvement in him as some of the others,” said Mullins

Mullins also runs Willy De Houelle, who was the early favourite for the Triumph but has failed to win in two starts to date in Ireland.

Cromwell will equip Hello Neighbour with a hood as his handler seeks a more restrained performance.

“He didn’t do everything right when he won the last day and we’ve put the hood on him here to help him settle, which he seems to have taken well to at home. If he does things right here, then he’d have a very good chance,” he told William Hill.

“The ultimate aim with him is the Triumph Hurdle. As expected, it looks a very strong race with a couple of exciting British horses in there. Hopefully we’ll be in the mix come March.”

The eighth and final runner is Declan Queally’s Bacchanalian, a winner at the third time of asking over obstacles at Fairyhouse.

“If it gets a bit sticky and tacky, I think it will really play into our hands against a lot of Flat-bred juveniles that don’t handle the ground,” said Queally.

“I think we are there to run a big race in tough conditions, because he’s 17 hands – he’s a really big, strong horse that loves the dig in the ground.

“It is a big step up, but if the track is gluey, I think he will handle it, so he deserves to take his chance anyway.”