Acid test of Gold Cup credentials for returning Monty's Star in Grade 3 at Tramore

Monty's Star will need to put up a big performance on his first start in open company if he is to press his claims as a potential Cheltenham Gold Cup contender. 

Twice Grade 1-placed as a novice chaser in the spring, the Henry de Bromhead-trained eight-year-old faces much more experienced rivals on his reappearance in this acid test of his credentials.

Monty's Star ran a cracker to finish runner-up to Fact To File in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham in March and then bumped into another smart rival in Spillane's Tower at the Punchestown festival, going down by three-quarters of a length.

Despite being only slightly younger than his rivals here, he is much less exposed and it is hard not to envisage him improving past them. Enthusiasm may be tempered by the fact he came on plenty for his first run in the last two seasons, but he should be much closer to the finished article now and the forecast testing ground will suit him.

Classic Getaway finished runner-up in the race last season but lost his form in three starts afterwards and is best watched on his return.

Minella Indo, an illustrious stablemate of Monty's Star, won this two years ago in similar conditions and made an encouraging comeback when runner-up at Punchestown in October. He is getting on in years but has not lost his enthusiasm and arguably should be clear second favourite ahead of Classic Getaway.

Another interesting contender is Appreciate It, whose best run for quite some time came in the 3m1f Punchestown Gold Cup last season. He ran well when third in the Hilly Way last month over shorter but this is probably the trip he wants nowadays, although he is not the force of old.

The jury is out on Capodanno after he struggled on his reappearance at Haydock, while Minella Crooner suffered similarly at Punchestown and needs a resurgence. 

Bronn may be worth a few quid each-way. He was classy in his novice chasing days, finishing third in the Brown Advisory behind The Real Whacker, and found the trip and ground too sharp on his stable debut for Tom Gibney at Clonmel. He could relish the testing ground and outrun his odds.

'We're hoping he's improved' - De Bromhead going for third win on the bounce

This is a race that trainer Henry de Bromhead targets at his local track and he's going for his third success on the bounce, saddling Monty's Star and Minella Indo in the Barry Maloney colours.

Monty's Star, the pick of Rachael Blackmore, was one of the top staying novice chasers last season and is likely to go clear third favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup if he makes a winning start to the season.

The evergreen Minella Indo was a hugely popular winner of this race two years ago when he rallied to defeat Stattler and showed plenty of his old spark last season when finishing fourth in a handicap over the banks at Cheltenham and third in the Grand National. The 12-year-old returned with a runner-up effort at Punchestown in October and has Mikey O'Connor in the saddle.

De Bromhead said: "Minella Indo won it two years ago, which was an incredible day. He looked beaten and battled back. It's a great race to win and we love having runners at Tramore and it's even better to have winners. 

"Monty's Star has been aimed for the race. He had a good season last time and we've decided to go for the Gold Cup with him. His form is rock solid and he was beaten in two Grade 1s last season by Fact To File and Spillane's Tower. We're hoping he's improved and he seems well."

What they say

Willie Mullins, trainer of Classic Getaway, Appreciate It, Capodanno and Embassy Gardens
The conditions of this race suit Capodanno as he's one of the highest-rated in the field but he has to get over that tough race in Haydock. Embassy Gardens hasn't been seen since pulling up behind Spillane's Tower at Punchestown in the spring. He has to improve a little bit but is another with a chance as he likes the ground. I liked the way that Appreciate It shaped on his first run back in Cork over a trip that would have been a bit too short for him ideally. I'm expecting a good bit of improvement here. Classic Getaway had this race at his mercy last year and possibly just went a little too soon. We might just change the tactics and I'm hoping that really puts him in here with a chance.

Read the rest of Saturday's previews:

1.30 Cheltenham: Broadway Boy out to give excellent Coral Gold Cup another boost in competitive handicap chase 

2.05 Cheltenham: Gemirande bids for another big Cheltenham handicap for hot team of Charlie Deutsch and Venetia Williams 

No sign of the regulars, so who will challenge Gemirande in the New Year's Day feature handicap at Cheltenham? 

2.20 Musselburgh: Is Corrigeen Rock primed to win a race that punches above its weight? 

2.40 Cheltenham: 'We'd expect him to run really nicely' - can Catch Him Derry bounce back for team Skelton in competitive handicap? 

3.15 Cheltenham: Red-hot Relkeel to help decide Golden Ace's Cheltenham Festival target - but the market only wants to know one runner 

Golden beginning? New Year Ace who had Brighterdays behind her aims to get 2025 off to a flyer 

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