Il Etait Temps and Dinoblue the star attractions at Clonmel

Jockey Paul Townend and Il Etait Temps (left) win from Sean Flanagan and Marine Nationale. Pic: Healy Racing.

The biggest day of the year on the racing calendar at Clonmel has attracted two Cheltenham Festival heroes and it'll be a seismic surprise if Il Etait Temps and Dinoblue fail to begin the road back to Prestbury Park with comfortable wins.

Neither horse will be a betting proposition in their respective assignments but seeing them strut their stuff will still be quite the treat for racegoers.

As was the case last season, Il Etait Temps faces just three rivals in the Grade Two Clonmel Oil Chase and anything but a similarly empathic victory for the diminutive grey will be a big disappointment.

Last year’s 18-length stroll set Il Etait Temps up perfectly for the Tingle Creek, a race he won by nine lengths at the expense of Jonbon, and Thursday’s straightforward task should tee the Willie Mullins-trained eight-year-old up perfectly for the defence of his Sandown crown next month.

Il Etait Temps is now unbeaten in his last seven completed starts, his sole blip in that timeframe coming when he took a tired fall at the second last fence when beaten in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot last January.

He bounced back from that mishap in style when bolting up, despite a stumble at the last, in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham before crowning his season in style when putting Marine Nationale firmly in his place at the Punchestown festival.

He won’t have to scale those heights to pick up where he left off.

Stablemate Dinoblue faces a similarly routine task in the T.A. Morris Memorial Irish EBF Mares Chase and the nine-year-old, victorious in the last two renewals of the Mares’ Chase at Cheltenham, ought to have far too much class for her four rivals.

The one slight concern is that she has been beaten on seasonal return in the last two years but she’s vastly superior to Thursday rivals on ratings and should have little difficulty in avoiding an unwanted hat-trick.

Like Mullins, Gordon Elliott may be able to double up by winning the first and last race on the card.

Unflinching gets the vote in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden Hurdle, the race that kicks off proceedings.

A point-to-point winner when in the care of Colin Bowe, Unflinching made a perfect start to life at Cullentra House when narrowly justifying favouritism in a Fairyhouse bumper last November. 

He then shaped encouragingly when sixth in a decent maiden hurdle at Limerick last Christmas, his final outing of the season.

With the step up in trip likely to suit, Unflinching could be tough to beat.

Newcomer Greenbrier is an intriguing contender in the bumper. The Poet's Word gelding finished a close third in a point-to-point for Denis Murphy last May and begins life with Elliott in a race the trainer has successfully targeted before. 

The market may be the best guide on his prospects on Thursday.

Elsewhere on the card, Hopeful Hero can get back to winning ways in the Clonmel Oil Service Station Handicap Hurdle.

The Denis Hogan-trained five-year-old began last month by winning at Thursday’s venue before finishing fifth in the Grade Two Persian War Novices' Hurdle at Chepstow a week later.

Back up in trip and back in calmer waters, Hopeful Hero can again make his presence felt.

CLONMEL

Selections

12.50 Unflinching (Nap) 

1.25 Rokanako 

2.00 Hopeful Hero (NB) 

2.35 Dinoblue 

3.10 Il Etait Temps 

3.45 Courtbrack Boy 

4.20 Greenbrier 

Next best 

12.50 Midtown Manhattan 

1.25 Pros And Cons 

2.00 Zoffman 

2.35 A Snow White Park 

 3.10 Kappa Jy Pyke 

3.45 Dontcavein 

4.20 Red Seagull