Thistlecrack can preserve chink in Mullins' pedigree

Today is Cheltenham Festival trials day, an occasion even more important than usual for a British team in danger of being utterly overwhelmed by a Willie Mullins-led Irish challenge at Prestbury Park in March.

Mullins has the favourite in nine of the Festival’s 13 Grade One contests and two more are also Irish-trained. This leaves Thistlecrack, who heads the betting for the World Hurdle, and Barters Hill, the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle favourite, but these home guardians need to be word-perfect in this afternoon’s dress rehearsals to keep it that way.

Thistlecrack’s main rival in the Cleeve Hurdle is Camping Ground – both recorded impressive, wide-margin victories last time – and, although his superior stamina is likely to prove decisive on the prevailing gluepot ground, anything less than a flawless display from Colin Tizzard’s eight-year-old will mean yet another Mullins prodigy, either Annie Power or Vroum Vroum Mag, pitching for World Hurdle favouritism.

Camping Ground finished one place in front of Thistlecrack, conceding more than a stone, in last season’s Imperial Cup at Sandown, but that was over two miles and Tizzard is convinced it will be a different story over this longer distance.

“Thistlecrack has been brilliant and improved three stones since going over three miles,” he said. “He’s the one they all have to beat.”

Barters Hill, unbeaten from six starts and such an exciting breakthrough horse for trainer Ben Pauling in his third season, takes on Mullins’ Up For Review, his chief Festival adversary according to the bookies, in a Doncaster trial, the River Don Novices’ Hurdle. These are similar types, relentless gallopers who find ever more when asked, and we will be wiser after this.

Mullins will be centre stage for the day’s main attraction, Cheltenham’s Trial Chase, in which last year’s Gold Cup runner-up Djakadam, the favourite for this year’s running, makes his final appearance before attempting to go one better on 18 March.

At around 4-7, Djakadam is a shorter price today than his form entitles him to be – classy opponents such as the Grand National winner Many Clouds are not exactly cannon fodder, while he would be giving less weight to the Hennessy Gold Cup winner Smad Place if this were a handicap.

Mullins’ horses, whatever the price, just keep on winning. Even so, from a form perspective, if Djakadam can win this as easily as the betting suggests, Cheltenham might as well save time and present him with the Gold Cup as well.

Mullins has replaced eight-time champion Paul Nicholls as favourite to be this season’s leading trainer in Britain, but there is another market indicator of his dominance that is far more astonishing: while Nicholls is 6-4 to draw a blank at the Cheltenham Festival, the Co Carlow-based handler is only the same price to win 10 races or more.

It is almost certainly part of an overreaction to all things Mullins. Nicholls, and Nicky Henderson for that matter, will surely get among the big prizes this spring and in the meantime there are some decent smaller pots to count towards final tallies, like today’s Sky Bet Chase (better known as the Great Yorkshire Chase) at Doncaster, in which Nicholls’ young and progressive Le Mercurey holds a favourite’s chance.