Should Fact To File run in the Ryanair?

Fact To File began this season with a gutsy and classy display to win the Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown in November, but he has suffered successive losses to stablemate Galopin Des Champs since at Leopardstown.

The latest of those saw the latter winning his third Irish Gold Cup crown at the Dublin Racing Festival with a vintage showing, as Fact To File could only finish third.

The big question now for owner JP McManus is should his charge have another crack at Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham over the longest trip he'll have faced in his career, or drop back to the intermediate trip that has served him well for the Ryanair Chase in the Cotswolds?

Gold Cup positives hard to find now

When Fact To File led home the field in the John Durkan all talk centred on what would be billed as a Cheltenham Gold Cup with much depth to it.

Spillane's Tower, like Fact To File a second-season chaser showing real promise, split the Mullins-trained pair that afternoon, while Fastorslow was just behind in fourth.

He's since been ruled out for the season and Spillane's Tower disappointed in the King George, leaving trainer Jimmy Mangan to take him out of the Gold Cup reckoning and look instead to the Ryanair.

Fact To File was put in his place at Leopardstown in the Savills Chase as Galopin Des Champs dominated back up in trip after the 2m3½f of the John Durkan.

In that contest, Fact To File was perhaps a touch too keen under Mark Walsh throughout the race.

In the Irish Gold Cup, every effort was made to ensure he settled early on - and he did - but it mattered not in the finish as Galopin Des Champs powered home and even 66/1 shot Grangeclare West surged late to deny Fact To File the silver medal.

Can that superiority really be turned around with an extra two-furlongs to cover up the Cheltenham hill?

It's a hard case to make at this stage, though connections may believe the returning to the Cotswolds, where he has been second in the Champion Bumper and won the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase, could be a big plus.

Ryanair could be the optimal test

He did of course win that the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase over the extended three-mile trip last March, but the horses he defeated haven't won a race between them since.

Fact To File's best form has come at intermediate distances. He thumped Zanahiyr at Leopardstown over Christmas in 2023 at 2m5½f and did something similar to Gaelic Warrior at the Dublin Racing Festival soon after.

He travelled like a dream in that John Durkan victory and always looked the likeliest winner, whereas his two runs since when up in trip haven't promised in the same way.

He could be a tough nut to crack in the Ryanair coming down in trip, and he won't have to worry about Galopin Des Champs.

Verdict

It could be argued that twice clashing with Galopin Des Champs around Leopardstown, where he has thus far proved unstoppable, has not been ideal.

Maybe Fact To File would stand a better chance at Cheltenham, where he himself has also excelled, though there is nothing in Galopin's back catalogue to suggest weakness at Prestbury Park.

With Galopin Des Champs utterly dominant in the Gold Cup betting now, are they all playing for second place?

The make-up of the Ryanair is harder to predict. Spillane's Tower looks to be headed here but Fact To File took care of him readily enough at Punchestown.

Protektorat won last year but isn't getting any younger. The likes of Gaelic Warrior, El Fabiolo and Il Est Francais could yet be Ryanair-bound. It could even end up with more depth than the Gold Cup.

What it won't have is a bona fide superstar like Galopin Des Champs. On the evidence we have seen, Fact To File faces a thankless task having another pop at him, leaving the Ryanair Chase as his best chance of Festival glory in 2025.

Given that he has never jumped a hurdle on a racecourse and is still just eight-year-old, connections could also be cognisant of the fact that the Gold Cup dream will be there in 2026 and beyond for Fact To File.

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