Big festival fancy No Flies On Him out to enhance his claims for new Jack Richards Novices' Handicap Chase

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No Flies On Him has certainly not lived up to early expectations, but he must be on somebody's radar for the new Jack Richards Novices' Limited Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, as he is 7-1 second favourite with William Hill.

When he won his point for Derek O'Connor in 2023, No Flies On Him had the now 153-rated chaser Jango Baie behind him, and his hurdling career began with a bang when winning a Leopardstown maiden hurdle.

He was second to Tullyhill in a Listed race afterwards, but there has been very little to get excited about since. Well, apart from a fine effort at 50-1 in a Leopardstown beginners' chase over Christmas.

That's the run that has put him in the Cheltenham picture. The stewards on the day inquired into that effort, as he finished strongly to take third behind the giant Jeannot Lapin, and they noted the explanations of trainer Edward O'Grady and jockey Mark McDonagh.

No Flies On Him rocked up at Thurles a few weeks later for another beginners' chase and took another backward step. On everything we have seen from him, a price of 7-1 for a festival event seems extremely skimpy. This is his first handicap, though, and it will be interesting to see what he can do off a mark of 132 with Mark Walsh back on board for the first time since Punchestown last season.

Theonewedreamof brings recent winning form to the table. She is 2lb out of the handicap, but Conor Stone-Walsh's 5lb claim offsets that, and a mark of 114 might not be the ceiling of her ability over fences, as she was value for more than the winning margin at Punchestown last time.

Shannon Royale made far too many errors in the Thyestes last time, but his previous win over High Class Hero has been franked since, while he pushed leading Brown Advisory fancy Dancing City all the way to the line the time before. The booking of 5lb claimer James Smith is interesting. It will only be his third ride for the stable.

Fascile Mode needs to bounce back from some tame efforts, but perhaps this step up in trip will allow him to jump better than he did on his latest start at Leopardstown, where he was backed into 4-1 but never got in any sort of rhythm. He lost a shoe there, so that may have been to blame for the poor show.

Of the others, Nas Na Riogh, whose name appears in the race title, is very interesting. He has found 2m on the sharp side the last twice, but he should be a different proposition now upped to a more suitable distance. A mark of 122 seems fair and early double-digit quotes seem on the generous side.

There have been some big-name winners of this Listed prize in the last decade – subsequent Irish Gold Cup winner Edwulf won it in 2017, Home By The Lee was successful in 2021 and Limerick Lace, last year's Mares' Chase winner at Cheltenham, did the business in 2023.

Going update

The ground is heavy following 26mm of rain since Tuesday. There is the possibility of a further 10mm of rain before racing.

What they say

Gordon Elliott, trainer of Shannon Royale
It just didn't happen for him in the Thyestes. He made mistakes which put him on the back foot, and you could tell from an early stage it wasn't going to be his day. His previous form with the likes of Dancing City and High Class Hero looks solid. If he can bounce back to his Punchestown form, he definitely has a chance here.

Tom Mullins, trainer of Fascile Mode
He has lost his confidence jumping, so I'm stepping him up in trip in the hope that two and a half miles on slower ground will allow him to jump better. Hopefully we can get his confidence back and he'll put up a good show. The longer trip will be no bother to him.

Rachael Blackmore, rider of Nas Na Riogh
He's stepping back up to two and a half miles, the distance of his two wins over hurdles last year. He is a lovely, big horse who jumps well and seems to be quite ground versatile. He has won on yielding ground, but he has run well on soft, too.

Gavin Cromwell, trainer of Global Export and Theonewedreamof
Theonewedreamof won nicely at Punchestown and gets in here with a nice low weight. We had a lot of rain on Friday and it could be very testing at Naas, so hopefully she'll be fine on it. I'm not sure how Global Export will handle the ground, but it's a big pot, so we said we'd give it a shot and see how he gets on. He wasn't beaten far at Cork.

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