Can Hello Neighbour get the better of the Brits in the Triumph?

Irish domination at the Cheltenham Festival has become something of a norm in recent years and our raiding party is set to be strong yet again in 2025.

One race in which the British challenge appears particularly strong is the Triumph Hurdle, with Lulamba and East India Dock atop of the market.

Hello Neighbour won the Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival, signalling himself to be perhaps best of the Irish, but will Gavin Cromwell's rising star topple the home team in the Cotswolds?

Hello Neighbour's star on the rise

Hello Neighbour was produced late on in the Gannon's City Recovery & Recycling Services Juvenile Hurdle by Keith Donoghue to thwart Willie Mullins' Lady Vega Allen (third) and fellow closer Galileo Dame from the Joseph O'Brien yard.

He travelled supremely well through the race and had few problems in going about his business once asked. Galileo Dame came at him late on, but the winner left the impression there was more in the tank.

That has been a trait of Hello Neighbour in his career to date, which encompasses Flat wins at Navan and Roscommon before bagging a Grade 2 around Leopardstown at Christmas on his first jumping test.

He only had a short-head to spare on Lady Vega Allen that afternoon, Mullins' French import finishing well. Many felt the form might be reversed at the DRF when they met again, but it proved to be the opposite, Hello Neighbour seeing her off with something to spare.

Overdue success for Cromwell

Most observers were taken aback when Cromwell confessed in an RTE interview that it was his first Grade 1 win in Ireland in four years.

The Co Meath-based handler has risen through the ranks and is on the coattails of Ireland's top trainers, this season so far he has arguably overtaken Henry de Bromhead behind the power duo of Mullins and Gordon Elliott.

The trainer also suggested after that DRF win that Hello Neighbour is a 'proper one', asserting his conviction that the best is yet to come.

"I brought him along slowly and he's answered every call, hopefully, he'll improve again," said the trainer.

"He was still a little bit keen, but I think he's going to learn every day. He's a straightforward horse, but he just wants to get on with it. The more he does, the more he'll improve."

Strong British challenge awaits in Triumph

The Mullins-trained favourite Sainte Lucie was a bitter disappointment in the Leopardstown Grade 1 and Cromwell will anticipate a strong challenge emerging from Closutton come March 14th.

He also has to contend with a pair of top British-based hopes in Lulamba and East India Dock for Nicky Henderson and James Owen.

Henderson has won this particular Festival race a record seven times and Lulamba impressed in the silks of Joe & Marie Donnelly on his UK bow at Ascot in January, doing enough to gain favouritism for the Triumph Hurdle. There's plenty more to come from him.

Like Hello Neighbour, East India Dock has pedigree on the Flat. He's a son of 2015 Derby winner Golden Horn and attained a rating of 90 on the level himself when trained by James Fanshawe.

There was depth to what he achieved in that code and he is heading to Cheltenham with three wins from three over hurdles.

Two of those successes came at Cheltenham and by a combined winning margin of 28 lengths. He made all on Trials Day in January, but is equally at home sitting just off the pace.

He's not contested a Grade 1 yet, but East India Dock looks tailor-made for this and he could be the one to ensure Hello Neighbour loses his unbeaten record at the Cheltenham Festival.

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