Ryanair Chase favourite Allaho strengthens festival claims with comfortable Grade 2 success

The Willie Mullins-trained Allaho powered 13 lengths clear of stablemate Stattler to land the Horse & Jockey Hotel Chase and fill connections with hope for a hat-trick of wins in the Ryanair Chase.

Despite being clear favourite for his Cheltenham Festival target, the four-time winner at the highest level still went into the Thurles Grade 2 with questions to answer.

He had spent 561 days on the sidelines due to a bleed on his spleen before his successful reappearance at Clonmel in November, is now aged ten and was beaten for the first time since the 2021 Punchestown festival when third in the King George VI Chase at Kempton last month.

However, Allaho demonstrated here that a third Ryanair Chase could be in the offing come March, and bookmakers trimmed him to 5-2 (from 3-1).

After electing to take a lead in the King George, Paul Townend returned his mount to his more typical front-running tactics and the 8-13 shot dominated from the off, jumping well, if at times to his left, in the testing, windy conditions.

Allaho attacked the fourth- and third-last in aggressive fashion and a particularly agile leap at the penultimate fence gave him a two-length advantage over nearest pursuer Stattler.

Odds-on backers would have had cause for concern momentarily between the final two fences as it looked like he might be beginning to flounder while Stattler was building a head of steam, however it proved short-lived as Allaho regathered himself to win the race for the third time.

Paul Townend with Allaho after the ten-year-old's third Horse & Jockey Hotel Chase winCredit: Patrick McCann

Allaho prepped for his 2021 and 2022 Ryanair wins with victory in the Horse & Jockey and Patrick Mullins, assistant trainer to his father Willie, believes the return to a left-handed track will help the Cheveley Park-owned star in his bid to emulate his Thurles hat-trick at Cheltenham.

"He looked back to himself as he probably just didn't quite get home in the King George," he said. "He isn't getting any younger and it took him a while to warm up to his jumping, but he's better going left-handed.

"It was a Grade 1 in all bar name, which was brilliant for Thurles and the Horse & Jockey Hotel. It's a brilliant race that we try to target every year.

"Paul was a little worried that he'd had a very hard race in the King George and was coming back quite quickly. But the further he went, the better he travelled and jumped.

"He's never at his best first time out and is a huge horse. He tends to get better with racing and likes better ground. Cheltenham suits him as it's left-handed on nice ground. I'd imagine it's all roads back to the Ryanair now."

The 2022 National Hunt Chase winner Stattler came back to form to finish runner-up under Brian Hayes, while Appreciate It completed a Closutton 1-2-3, although his display was underwhelming given he went off 11-4 second favourite. The Mouse Morris-trained French Dynamite finished last of the four runners.

Patrick Mullins said: "It was a brilliant run from Stattler. He's just been starting to show some spark in the last month, so that's great to see. He lost his form completely after the Gold Cup last year but now we can start aiming big again.

"Danny [Mullins] said he had a great position on Appreciate It and he travelled and jumped great but he was just found wanting. He was disappointing, but maybe nicer ground will help him."

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