Down Royal Day One: Owner, Trainer and Jockey To Follow The biggest meeting of the season at Down Royal takes place across Friday and Saturday with Grade 1 action due at the venue on the outskirts of Belfast. Day one is headlined by the Grade 3 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Feathard Lady Mares Novice Hurdle, as they race at Down Royal from 1.02-4.20 on Friday and we've picked an owner, trainer and jockey to follow on the card. Owner — Barry Maloney Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Minella Indo will forever be the horse most commonly associated with owner Barry Maloney, while the likes of Monalee and Monty's Star have also performed admirably. Maloney and Henry de Bromhead have openly plotted to have less horses together, but to source better quality. The owner, reported to have made €50m from his shares in tech firm East Digifone before moving on to pastures new, continues to try and acquire just those sorts of horses. Koktail Divin is his only runner of the afternoon at Down Royal but he's an exciting prospect. The French bumper winner won a Leopardstown maiden hurdle over 2m4f in March and then ran a cracker when fourth in the Grade 1 Mersey Novices' Hurdle at Aintree a month later. A five-year-old, he's turning attention to chasing early and will square up to Grade 1-winning hurdler Romeo Coolio in the BetVictor Beginners Chase (3.47) on Friday. His savvy owner will be hoping he has a big future over fences. Trainer — Gordon Elliott Gordon Elliott handler has long targeted this meeting, more so than champion trainer Willie Mullins, and his results are testament to that. The Cullentra handler has a strike-rate north of 26 percent at Down Royal from nearly 300 runners across the last five seasons. On Friday, Elliott will saddle 15 runners across the afternoon and some of them are hugely notable, including Grade 1 winner The Yellow Clay, Galway Plate hero Western Fold and exciting novice chaser Romeo Coolio. The Yellow Clay will make his reappearance against stablemate Casheldale Lad in the Listed Bottlegreen Hurdle (2.37), while Romeo Coolio will jump a fence in public for the first time in the 2m4f beginners' chase (3.47). Romeo Coolio won the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown last Christmas and was placed in the Supreme at Cheltenham and in Aintree's Top Novices' Hurdle. "Romeo Coolio schooled very well on Wednesday. Jack [Kennedy] rode him and he jumped very well," said Elliott. "I think anything from two miles to two and a half miles will suit him, so the trip shouldn't be a problem. We have no concrete plan made for afterwards." Jockey — Darragh O'Keeffe Darragh O'Keeffe is now the top jock at Henry de Bromhead's yard following the retirement of Rachael Blackmore. This is the first major Irish meeting of the winter and plenty of eyes will be trained on him. He has good memories of Down Royal, having steered home Envoi Allen to win the feature Ladbrokes Champion Chase here last season and he'll be hoping to taste success this weekend. His day begins on once-raced point-to-point winner Some Song in the opening maiden hurdle (1.02) while he also partners Full Of Life in the feature Feathard Lady Mares Novice Hurdle (2.02) for the de Bromhead team. His rides later on the card include Koktail Divin in the BetVictor Beginners Chase (3.47) in the famous Minella Indo silks.
