Meade looks to have a genuine Gold Cup contender in Pandorama
Certainly, given the shocking weather on the run-in to Christmas, and that the meeting was reduced to three days from four and started two days late, then you would have to regard it as a real success.
Rescheduled programmes are never the same, but attendances were healthy and just over 12,000 was impressive on Wednesday.
We also saw the bookmakers hold almost €1.2m on Wednesday and that has to be regarded as more than respectable.
Ireland is crying out for a genuine Cheltenham Gold Cup candidate and, in Pandorama, we just might have found one.
Of course he remains, at least in theory, a fair way short of the required standard, following his success in the Lexus Chase, but is a young horse who is rapidly on the upgrade.
His trainer, Noel Meade, has had more than his fair share of heartbreak at Cheltenham over the years and, for a very long time, couldn’t manage a winner there.
He is a hugely popular figure on the racecourse, appears to be a man who knows how to enjoy life and always goes out of his way to facilitate the press.
Meade has been at the top of his profession for decades and few would begrudge him the ultimate prize, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
In Pandorama he has at least a horse with which to go to war. Of course the son of Flemensfirth will always need soft ground to be most effective and that is something of a rarity at Cheltenham these days.
But if climate change can produce temperatures of minus 17 degrees in Ireland then anything is possible!
There was much to admire in what Pandorama did in the Lexus. He came into the contest with just three races over fences as a novice and then he jumped only seven obstacles in the Hennessy at Newbury, when nothing went right.
So, he arrived at Leopardstown, to take on seasoned campaigners, with, realistically, four and a half races over fences under his belt.
He travelled and jumped beautifully and impressively bounded clear from the last to score by six lengths.
Is this a Gold Cup which is going to take a lot of winning? Kauto Star will be eleven in the New Year and cannot go on for ever.
The holder, Imperial Commander, and the enigmatic Denman, apparently, are going to head straight to the race.
I don’t know, maybe I’m dreaming, but I think Pandorama actually has a real life.
Leopardstown produced lots more which needs to be digested, top of the list being that superb performance by Hurricane Fly in the Festival Hurdle.
He has been held back by a couple of injuries and we still don’t really know how good he is. But Willie Mullins has been getting a clear run with him of late and the horse is finally getting a chance to tell us.
The manner in which he quickened the other day was serious and it is terrific Mullins intends giving him another run before Cheltenham.
There is such a tendency of late for trainers to allow their horses massive breaks before Cheltenham and it’s becoming a bit ridiculous.
You can understand, perhaps, the likes of Imperial Commander and Denman being trained that way, at this stage of the game, but what about Menorah and Cue Card? What’s to be gained from depriving them of much-needed match practice.
Anyway, the more often you see class acts like Hurricane Fly in action the better. That 4-1 offer by Ladbrokes about him for the Champion Hurdle, non-runner no bet, was real value.
After Prima Vista had strolled to a four and a half lengths success in a handicap hurdle, Noel Meade was speculating with the press as to what sort of penalty the handicapper might give his horse.
You could almost sense he was hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. His fears were well founded, with the handicapper’s retribution a massive 15lbs.
