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English/Ire

Kopek Des Bordes to miss Dublin Racing Festival

Kopek Des Bordes will now head straight to the Cheltenham Festival on the back of one run over fences after not being declared for the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown on Saturday.

Kopek Des Bordes.
Kopek Des Bordes. Picture: Getty Images

Willie Mullins' Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner missed an engagement at Christmas due to a setback but seemed on track for a clash with Gordon Elliott's Grade 1 winner Romeo Coolio.

However, he failed to feature at declaration stage on Thursday, leaving Romeo Coolio to top a field of just three. Willie Mullins will saddle his talented mare Kargese in opposition, with Downmexicoway rounding out the trio.

Owner Trevor Mccarthy noted the reason being that he just needed "a little more time" but as a result of his Dublin Racing Festival defection, Kopek Des Bordes has been pushed out to 5/1 for the Arkle at Cheltenham in March.

Whilst Willie Mullins will be without Kopek Des Bordes, he will be able to rely on dual Cheltenham Gold Cup scorer Galopin Des Champs as he bids to equal Florida Pearl's record of four Irish Gold Cup wins.

Audrey Turley's ten-year-old will take on twelve rivals at Leopardstown on Saturday, including Savills Chase conqueror Affordale Fury, stablemates Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File, who both finished third and sixth in the King George VI Chase on their last starts, and last year's Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Inothewayurthinkin.

The unbeaten chaser Spindleberry adds further interest as does Grand National winner I Am Maximus, but the Rebecca Curtis-trained Haiti Couleurs, a winner of both the Irish and Welsh equivalent, will not make the journey and instead be aimed at the Denman Chase at Newbury.

Haiti Couleurs' trainer Rebecca Curtis told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast: "Obviously our main aim for him in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March and this was only ever a prep run.

"As it turned out there were just too many negatives, they'd cancelled both local ferries to take horses - Fishguard and Pembroke - and it would have been such a long journey getting him up to Holyhead and Dublin, he'd have been in the box 13 hours.

"Obviously on that ground, it was under water, we don't know how testing that's going to be. And at the end of last week, he'd just come off a very small course of antibiotics for a small sinus he had, which isn't an issue at all, the horse is A1, so with all these things adding up we just thought is that the best route now?

"We're going to run him now next Saturday at Newbury, it just seemed the right thing to do for the horse. He's in great form and there are no issues with him."

Elsewhere on the card, Narciso Has will look to enhance his Triumph Hurdle claims Gannon's City Recovery & Recycling Services Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle, while Doctor Steinberg puts his Albert Bartlett credentials to the test in the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle.


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