Ryanair Chase

CHELTENHAM, UK--St Patrick's Thursday at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival could turn out to be a pivotal day in the career of Dan Skelton, with the prize-money pocketed by his two winners--taking his overall tally for the week to four--seeing him leapfrog his long-time mentor Paul Nicholls in the battle to be crowned champion trainer in Britain. Skelton had been the one man to put up any resistance to the Irish on Wednesday's card when winning the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle with Langer Dan (Ire) (Ocovango {GB}) and the Johnny Henderson...

Colm Murphy has been dealt a hammer blow with the news that his Cheltenham Festival-winning mare Impervious will miss the first half of the season at least due to injury.  A gallant winner of the Grade 2 Mrs Paddy Power Mares´ Chase at Cheltenham last season, Impervious was a general 10-1 chance to win the 2024 Ryanair Chase.  However, the JP McManus-owned daughter of Shantou has been sent back to Martinstown Stud after injuring a joint in preparation of the new season and Murphy explained that he is holding out...