'It’ll take a monster performance to stop him’ - Ireland’s best chances on Day Two of the Cheltenham Festival

Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase - Romeo Coolio

Gordon Elliott ’s Romeo Coolio is almost certainly the best horse in this race, but it all comes down to whether or not he stays the trip. The son of Kayf Tara is unbeaten in four starts over fences and three of those victories have come in Grade 1 races.

Most impressive over 2m4f in the Drinmore, he has managed to get away with it over shorter trips at Leopardstown in his last two, but connections have rightfully realised that it would be difficult to do so against Lulamba and Kopek Des Bordes in the Arkle.

This is definitely a brave move, but he was an impressive winner over three miles in his point-to-point days. Many fancy him as a future Gold Cup horse and you would imagine he will be bang in the mix for 2027 if winning here.

BetMGM Cup - Storm Heart

Willie Mullins won this race last year with handicap plot Jimmy Du Seuil and the market suggests that Storm Heart is his most likely winner this time around. He’s unbeaten in two starts so far this season and is right near the top of the weights, with a mark of 141.

Danny Mullins takes the ride and the six-year-old kept on well to win a Grade 3 at Gowran last time out. Fifth behind Majborough in the 2024 Triumph Hurdle, this isn’t his first trip to the Cheltenham Festival and it would be very unwise to rule out a big run here.

Cross Country Chase - Favori De Champdou

Veteran Favori De Champdou was an impressive winner of a competitive handicap chase at Leopardstown over Christmas and he managed to follow up impressively over course and distance in January. Previous form on this track is vital and he has now ticked that box.

It would have been a good boost to his confidence, as he fell here in December and he drew clear up the run-in to score by eight-and-a-half lengths. There’s plenty of work to do off this sort of mark, but carrying big weights is often not an issue on the Cross Country course.

Queen Mother Champion Chase - Majborough

This wouldn’t have looked likely before the Dublin Racing Festival, but Majborough is going to be very hard to beat here. Blundering away his chances in last year’s Arkle, he also jumped poorly on his seasonal debut in the Hilly Way Chase at Cork.

More positive tactics made a huge difference in the Dublin Chase last time out and his jumping was much more accurate. Defending champion Marine Nationale is out of the race and that means it’ll take a monster performance from one of his rivals to stop him.